Forbes announces strategic investment from Binance

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance has reached an investment agreement in Forbes, the famous US magazine.

On the evening of Feb. 10, U.S. news channel CNBC confirmed that the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance is preparing to announce a $200 million investment in Forbes, according to insiders. Forbes is a well-known and long-standing magazine in the United States, founded in 1917. The magazine is a household name in the media and business, widely known for its ranking of the world’s richest billionaires. In 2014, the magazine was valued at $475 million, with 150 million readers worldwide. A source told CNBC that Binance will contribute half of the $400 million in capital that Forbes plans to raise to be able to proceed with the SPAC merger to the stock exchange in 2022. Binance will become one of Forbes’ two largest shareholders, holding two of the company’s nine board seats. Forbes plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange as early as the first quarter of 2022, with the trading code frbs. https://twitter.com/binance/status/1491767183608799232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1491767183608799232%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcoin68.com%2Fbinance-dau-tu-200-trieu-usd-vao-tap-chi-forbes%2F Binance’s official Twitter channel later confirmed the news. It’s unclear why Binance is investing in Forbes, a mainstream media company with little relationship to cryptocurrencies. Not to mention that in the past, Binance has sued Forbes for publishing “smear” articles related to the “front institutions” in the US. However, according to CNBC, the latest move of the floor may show that content creation will be one of the aspects that the platform is interested in in the near future, when Web3 and metaverse are considered by many experts to become an inevitable trend in the next few years. Forbes CEO Mike Federle confirmed that with the backing of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, his magazine will have more resources to simplify the complex aspects of blockchain, bring more useful information to readers, and continue to maintain its leading position in digital media. In the official announcement, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated:

“As Web3 and blockchain technology evolve and the crypto sector grows, communication will play an important role in educating and increasing consumer understanding. We will support Forbes’ digitalization initiatives as we evolve into their next-generation information platform.”

In addition, it is not excluded that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also wants to be on the Forbes list of billionaires. Last month, Bloomberg reported that the Binance CEO’s net worth could be as high as $96 billion, making him the richest businessman in the cryptocurrency industry. At the end of 2021, Zhao also confirmed that Binance’s U.S. subsidiary Binance.US is also in the process of calling for “billion-dollar” investments, following the recent massive fundraising deals of rival FTX. Binance has also consistently made million-dollar promotional deals with many sports organizations, but not always smoothly. Meanwhile, Binance’s rivals Coinbase, FTX and Crypto.com are also actively using sports to promote their names and attract more users, with the focus of the upcoming confrontation will be the Super Bowl on Sunday.