Forbes Magazine to close down in Romania, while owner Adevarul holding changes hands

The Romanian edition of Forbes magazine, owned by Romania's richest person Dinu Patriciu, has closed down, according to paginademedia.ro. Meanwhile, Patriciu is close to selling Adevarul Holding, the company which edited Forbes and which publishes other media products. According to the same source, Romanian investor Cristian Burci will buy Adevarul Holding.

The news about closing down Forbes comes just before the Forbes 500 rich list was supposed to be out on the market. Mid-year, Forbes, published twice monthly, had 5,500 copies distributed per issue in the first quarter of this year, down from 7,900 the previous quarter. Forbes had a bad first quarter in 2011 too, when it distributed 5,800 copies per issue. Dinu Patriciu saw its retail business Mic.ro going insolvent at the beginning of this year. Patriciu, former owner of Rompetrol, also invested in real estate, taking over some investment funds in Europe, some of which have properties in Romania. Adevarul Holding runs several publications, including Adevarul daily, tabloid Click, foreign policy and satirical magazine Catavencii. Cristian Burci, ranking in the Forbes list of millionaires in Romania, has an estimated wealth of EUR 100 million. Burci founded the advertising group BBDO and started the TV station Prima TV, later on sold together with radio station Kiss FM to SBS group. Burci also started a new media project via the company Premium News SRL, which is coordinated by Razvan Ionescu, the former editorial director of Adevarul Holding. The businessman also created the Digital Catalyst Fund, which offers consultancy to entrepreneurs in Europe and the US. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Forbes Romania Facebook page)