Forbes Media named veteran media executive Mike Perlis president and CEO on November 15.
Perlis was most recently a general partner at SoftBank Capital, a venture firm specializing in digital and Internet-based properties. He focused on companies including Associated Content, BeliefNet and Huffington Post while at the firm.
Perlis has deep publishing industry experience as well, logging time as president of Playboy Enterprises’ Publishing Group, president and CEO of Ziff Davis Publishing and publisher of GQ. Earlier in his career, he was chairman and CEO of IDG Peterborough.
“Mike is a well liked, known and admired force in our business,” said Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, in a statement. “His experience, coupled with the range of arenas he has spent time in, are the ideal skills that Forbes demands in the days and years moving forward.”
Perlis, who will join the company December 1, has been tasked with expanding the venerable Forbes brand.
The media company, which includes the print magazine as well as Forbes.com and related websites, recently restructured its sales and marketing groups. In June, Lewis D’Vorkin returned to Forbes as chief product officer after a decade developing new media for AOL and then his own entrepreneurial venture, True/Slant.
The company also hired a chief revenue officer, Kevin Gentzel, in February. Tim Forbes remains chairman of Forbes Digital and a member of the board of Forbes Media.
The Forbes brothers will be less involved in day-to-day operations, according to a blog post by Forbes’ media reporter Jeff Bercovici.
