Binance Invests $200 Million in Forbes

The cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced a $200 million strategic investment in Forbes, the media group. The funds will support Forbes’s plans to go public through a merger with a SPAC-company Magnum Opus Acquisition in the first quarter.

#Binance is taking a $200 million stake in @Forbes.

“This is the first step into a marketplace that has really high potential when it comes to adoption of Web 3.0 based tools”https://t.co/mDIRMHC4dT

— Binance (@binance) February 10, 2022

According to CNBC, Binance will buy half of the post-issuance equity of the combined company and become one of its two largest shareholders. NYSE-listed Magnum Opus Acquisition shares will trade under a new ticker FRBS.

According to the publication, Binance’s investment in the traditional U.S. media sector will be the first from crypto-industry participants. Forbes has an audience of 150 million.

This is the first step into a market with truly high potential when it comes to the deployment of Web 3.0-based tools, Web 3.0— Binance said.

CNBC suggested the deal signals CEO Changpeng Zhao’s confidence that content creation will become one of the drivers of development of a new stage in the evolution of the internet.

In an interview with Forbes, Binance’s CEO confirmed similar conclusions.

As Web 3.0 and blockchain technologies advance, the media are becoming an increasingly important element in the adoption of cryptocurrencies. We expect Forbes’s digital initiatives to receive support as they become a platform for next-level investment analysis, he explained.

As part of the deal, Binance’s chief communications officer Patrick Hillmann and head of Binance Labs Bill Chin will join Forbes’s board of directors.

In 2014 Integrated Whale Media bought a 95% stake in the media group founded in 1917, at a valuation of $475 million.

In 2019 Binance invested in the Chinese crypto publication Mars Finance.

Earlier, Forbes did not include Zhao in the annual list of the 400 richest Americans. In January 2021 Bloomberg valued the fortune of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao at $96 billion.

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