Bono's VC firm invests $300m in Forbes

Bono's venture capital firm Elevation Partners has invested around $300 million (€234 million) in the family-held Forbes media company, publisher of the Forbes business magazine.

The U2 frontman and campaigner against Third World debt is one of six partners in the $1.9 billion private equity firm, which will become a minority shareholder in a newly formed company, Forbes Media.

Steve Forbes, chief executive of Forbes and the editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, said the investment would help the company pursue opportunities for growth.

The company is keen to develop the web side of its business, Forbes.com.

The magazine, like other business titles in the US, saw its circulation figures and advertising revenues sink after the collapse of the dotcom bubble in 2001.

The company publishes local-language editions of the magazine in Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Dubai, Israel, Poland and Turkey and will launch Forbes Indonesia later this year.

Elevation Partners focuses on large-scale investments in media, entertainment and consumer businesses, mostly in the US.

The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed yesterday, but people close to the talks said Elevation Partners would receive a 40 per cent stake in Forbes for a price between $250 million and $300 million.

Mr Forbes said Bono's experience in the music industry gave him a greater understanding of how digital technology was rapidly changing media.

When asked if the U2 singer, who is a high-profile campaigner for social justice, was a reader of Forbes magazine, which relishes its reputation as a capitalist bible, Mr Forbes replied: "I'm told he was - and he certainly will be now."