Fast Company (magazine)

Fast Company

October 2009 cover of Fast Company
Editor Robert Safian
Categories Business magazine
Frequency 10 times per year
Publisher Fast Company, Inc
Total circulation
(June 2012)
757,858[1]
First issue November 1995
Company Mansueto Ventures
Country USA
Language English
Website www.fastcompany.com
ISSN 1085-9241

Fast Company is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes 10 print issues per year. Robert Safian has been the editor-in-chief since 2007, having previously worked at Fortune, Time, and Money. Fast Company is owned by Mansueto Ventures and is headquartered in New York, New York.

History

Fast Company was launched in November 1995[2][3] by Alan Webber and Bill Taylor, two former Harvard Business Review editors, and publisher Mortimer Zuckerman.[4][5]

The publication's early competitors included Red Herring, Business 2.0 and the The Industry Standard.[6]

In 1997, Fast Company created an online social network, the "Company of Friends" which spawned a number of groups that began meeting in person.[7] At one point the Company of Friends had over 40,000 members in 120 cities, although by 2003 that number had declined to 8,000.[8]

In 2000, Zuckerman sold Fast Company to Gruner + Jahr, majority owned by media giant Bertelsmann, for $350 million. At the time this was the second largest amount for any US magazine in history. Webber and Taylor left the magazine, and John A. Byrne, previously with Newsweek, was brought in as the new editor.[8] Although the magazine was not specifically about Internet commerce, readership declined sharply following the collapse of the dot-com bubble. By 2003 newsstand sales had declined by half, and advertising pages were one-third the 2000 numbers.[8]

In 2005, Gruner + Jahr sold the magazine, as well as Inc. magazine, to Joe Mansueto's company Mansueto Ventures for $35 million.[9]

Fast Company was named by the American Society of Magazine Editors as the magazine of the year in 2014.[10]

Current activity

Franchises

Fast Company currently operates a number of franchises such as "Most Innovative Companies", and "Most Creative People". For their Most Innovative Companies feature, Fast Company assesses thousands of businesses to create a list of 50 companies it considers the most creative.[11] The Most Creative People in Business is a list of 100 people from different industries.[12]

Online

FastCompany.com operates as a network of sites. It comprises three sites: Co.Design, Co.Exist, and Co.Create. Co.Design covers design and innovation.[13] Co.Exist covers environmental and social issues.[14] Co.Create covers creativity, marketing, and culture.[15][16] Fast Company also previously operated a fourth site called Co.Labs, which was shut down in early 2015.[17]

References

  1. "eCirc for Consumer Magazines". Alliance for Audited Media. June 30, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  2. Vanderbilt, Tom (March 5, 2000). "The capitalist cell". The New York Times.
  3. Alex French. "The Very First Issues of 19 Famous Magazines". Mental Floss. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  4. "A Brief History of Our Time". Fast Company. March 1, 2006. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  5. About Us | Fast Company | Co.Design | Co.Exist | Co.Create. Fast Company (October 25, 2011). Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  6. Bercovici, Jeff (February 2001). "Business 2.0 is put up for sale". Media Life Magazine. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  7. Alex Kuczynski (December 14, 1998). "Cultivating A Cult Audience; Fast Company Magazine Takes 'Community of Readers' Idea To New Extremes". New York Times. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  8. 1 2 3 Carr, David (August 11, 2003). "Fast Company's New Life in the Slow Lane". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  9. Gruner + Jahr sells 2 U.S. magazines The New York Times. June 21, 2005.
  10. "National Magazine Awards 2014 Winners Announced". American Society of Magazine Editors. New York. May 1, 2014. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  11. "Most Innovative Companies: Top 10 by Industry". Fast Company website. February 18, 2010. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  12. Fast Company. Retrieved on May 29, 2012.
  13. Lupton, E. (2014). Beautiful Users: Designing for People. Princeton Architectural Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-61689-384-2.
  14. "Co.Exist website". Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  15. "Co.Create website". Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  16. Krippendorff, Kaihan (2012-10-21). "Leadership". Fast Company. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  17. Robischon, Noah. "What's Next For Co.Labs?". Fast Company. Retrieved 11 January 2016.

External links


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