Mike Perlis is the first non-family member to lead the Forbes business as CEO. He spearheaded the innovative strategy, dramatically shifting towards digital and branded products, resulting in the sale of majority ownership in the company to Hong Kong based investors in 2014. 

He joined Forbes Media in 2010 from SoftBank Capital, where he served as a General Partner for 10 years. At SoftBank, he specialized in digital media working closely with Beliefnet, Huffington Post, Associated Content and BuzzFeed. 

Before joining SoftBank, he served as President and CEO of Ziff-Davis Publishing until its sale in 2000 to Private Equity investor Willis/Stein. Earlier in his career, Mr. Perlis served as Publisher of GQ, President of Playboy Publishing, President of TVSM, Publisher of Runner’s World and Men’s Health, and Chairman and CEO of IDG Peterborough. He began his career, entrepreneurially, as the co-founder of special interest publisher New England Publications in Camden, Maine.

He served on the Boards of Beliefnet, BuzzFeed, GSI Commerce (sold to eBay), and was Chairman of Associated Content before its sale to Yahoo! Previous board observer positions include Huffington Post (sold to AOL) and KickApps (sold to KIT digital).