More than two years ago, Austin Russell?became the world's youngest self-made billionaire when his company went for IPO in December 2020 when he was aged 25.?
And now, the 28-year-old billionaire, who is the?Chairman and CEO of automotive technology company Luminar Technologies, has become Forbes' owner as he has acquired an 82 per cent stake in Forbes Global Media Holdings. It publishes the Forbes magazine, and the deal values the media house at nearly $800 million.
As far as the deal is concerned, Hong Kong-based Integrated Whale Media Investments will retain a minority stake in Forbes, whereas the Forbes family will not, though Steve Forbes will remain involved, as per a?Bloomberg report.?
Forbes family had already sold 95 per cent of the company to Hong Kong-based investor group Integrated Whale Media Investments in 2014.?Russell plans to serve as a visionary for the Forbes brand and won't be involved in day-to-day operations, according to the statement.??
¡°This is an important milestone in Forbes¡¯ history?and an achievement that everyone on the Forbes team should be proud of," said Forbes CEO From Mike Federle.
"Over 105 years, innovation has been part of Forbes¡¯ DNA and has kept us at the forefront of our industry. It is only fitting that now through this transaction, a true innovator and visionary, Austin Russell, will be the new steward for the brand.¡±
Forbes plans to appoint a new board consisting of American media, technology and artificial intelligence experts. Integrated Whale will keep one board seat.
Russell will not be involved in day-to-day operations at Forbes, founded in 1917 by BC Forbes, and the publication plans to appoint a new board with US media, technology and artificial intelligence (AI) experts.
College dropout Austin Russell founded and runs automotive sensor firm Luminar Technologies, which went public in a SPAC merger in Dec. 2020.?An optics prodigy, Russell developed the idea for Luminar when he was just 17 and studying physics at Stanford University.
Austin had dropped out of college in 2012 after receiving a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship, a program funded by billionaire Peter Thiel to nurture entrepreneurs. Russell's?Luminar competes with laser lidar makers like Velodyne and Aeva, which make high-tech sensors to help self-driving vehicles "see" their surroundings.
Luminar Technologies currently has a nearly $2.1 billion market cap.For the past decade, Luminar has built an advanced hardware and software platform to enable its more than 50 industry partners, including the majority of global automotive OEMs.
From Volvo Cars and Mercedes-Benz for consumer vehicles and Daimler Trucks for commercial trucks, to tech partners NVIDIA and Intel's Mobileye, Luminar is poised to be the first automotive technology company to enable next-generation safety and autonomous capabilities for production vehicles.
In Q1 2023, Luminar said it exceeded its revenue guidance and maintains a strong balance sheet for accelerating business growth and reaching positive cash flow.?It had reportedly posted revenue of $14.5 million, up 112 per cent year-over-year. Luminar expects at least 100 per cent revenue growth in 2023.
"Luminar is firing on all cylinders and successfully proving our ability to execute, industrialise and capitalise on our business. Over the past quarter, leading automakers have continued to expand our technology across their vehicle lineups, betting on the future of their ADAS and autonomous roadmaps in partnership with Luminar," said 28-year-old Russell.
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