Self-Made Billionaire Austin Russell Acquires Forbes

Surprisingly, the news went largely unnoticed, despite its significance. Austin Russell, the 28-year-old founder, and CEO of Luminar Technologies (#LAZR), a company specializing in the development of vision-based lidar and machine perception technologies, made a remarkable acquisition. He recently purchased an 82% controlling stake in Forbes Global Media Holdings from Hong Kong Integrated Whale Media Investments (IWM), the majority owner since 2014, marking a major milestone for Russell’s personal family office. This acquisition holds great significance as Forbes Global Media Holdings is a century-old media company that has been valued at an impressive $800 million. With this purchase, Russell’s empire returns to the USA.

Making it all clearer:

■ Unlike Luminar, Russell won’t assume any operational or managerial responsibilities at Forbes. Instead, Forbes has plans to invite prominent figures from the media, technology, and AI industries in the USA to join its esteemed board of directors. Steve Forbes, the current chairman of the board and chief editor of Forbes Media, will continue to contribute his expertise and dedication to the company.
■ Russell’s stake in Luminar surpasses that of most public executives by a significant margin, emphasizing the extent of his ownership. It’s noteworthy that none of his Luminar shares will be sold as part of this deal. In fact, Russell has expressed his intention to acquire additional #LAZR shares using the proceeds from his personal investments, which now include Forbes.
■ Notably, Russell highlights the perplexing behavior of the capital markets towards #LAZR over the past two years. Despite the company’s consistent execution of roadmaps, successful business plans, and significant commercial victories, all while exponentially increasing its order book to an impressive value of over $3 billion, the market’s response has been somewhat irrational. Nevertheless, undeterred by this, Russell envisions Luminar’s ascent as it strives to become one of the most valuable technology companies of our generation.
■ The guy is so convinced of a major breakthrough that, according to Luminar’s current compensation plan, he won’t see a dime unless the company hits share price targets of $50, $60, and $70 within the next five years.
■ From a financial standpoint, American entrepreneurs and investors, many of whom have previously graced the pages of Forbes, have shown their support for Russell’s family office by contributing around $500 million in cash commitments. Once the deal is finalized, any additional external funding accepted will be of a passive nature, devoid of voting rights.

There’s not much information accessible regarding Russell’s background:

• Russell is a US citizen and is currently unmarried.
• During his time as a physics student at Stanford, aged 17, Russell had a groundbreaking idea for lidar, which later became the foundation for his venture, Luminar.
• In 2012, he made the decision to drop out of Stanford after being awarded a $100K grant from renowned investor Peter Thiel (Since 2011, the Thiel Fellowship has been providing $100K grants to exceptional students who are willing to dedicate two years to implementing their ideas rather than confining themselves to traditional classroom education.)
• That same year, Russell founded Luminar, focusing on developing lidar systems for major automotive players such as Volvo and Nissan.
• In 2020, Luminar Technologies merged with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and made its debut on the Nasdaq. At the time, #LAZR was valued at $3.4 billion, and its current valuation stands at $2.4 billion. Recently, #LAZR reported slightly higher-than-expected losses.
• In 2021, Russell earned the distinction of being named the world’s youngest self-made billionaire by Forbes.
• The following year, Russell was honored by Forbes once again and inducted into the 30 Under 30 Hall of Fame list, solidifying his status as the youngest self-made billionaire.

Intriguing parallels

Whether this acquisition is primarily driven by profitability or not may not be the central point. It has become fashionable to be involved in multiple companies simultaneously, following the footsteps of notable figures like Musk and Dorsey. However, by acquiring Forbes Global Media Holdings, Russell has aligned himself with a prestigious group of global investors in the expansive media industry. Notable examples include Jeff Bezos, who purchased the Washington Post in 2013, Lauren Powell (widow of Steve Jobs) acquiring The Atlantic in 2017, Marc Benioff (co-founder of Salesforce) taking ownership of Time magazine in 2018, and biotech investor Patrick Soon-Shiong acquiring the Los Angeles Times in the same year. Now, Austin Russell joins this esteemed league. While this narrative holds an allure, caution should be exercised when individuals make sudden shifts within such systems. It’s worth exploring further, as there’s likely a significant reason behind his emergence in the realm of big business.