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Fast Company

February 2008 cover of Fast Company.
Managing Editor	Bob Safian
Categories	Business magazime
Frequency	10 times per year
Circulation	approximately 750,000[1]
Publisher	Fast Company, Inc
First issue	November 1995
Company	Mansueto Ventures
Country	United States
Language	English
Website	http://www.fastcompany.com
ISSN	1085-9241

Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility. As of June 30, 2009, the magazine has a circulation of 723,230.^[2] Fast Company's current editor is Bob Safian, a veteran of Fortune and Smart Money.

History and Founding

Fast Company was launched in November 1995 by Alan Webber and Bill Taylor, two former Harvard Business Review editors. The publication began with $550,000 in funding from 11 individuals, raised to create a prototype.^[3]

In 1997, Fast Company created an online social network, the "Company of Friends" which spawned a number of groups that began meeting in person^[4].

In 2000, Fast Company was sold 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. ^[5]. G&J sold the magazine in 2005 and shortly thereafter exited the U.S. magazine market.

Current Activity

The magazine and its website are now owned by Mansueto Ventures, a private media company controlled by Joe Mansueto, the founder and CEO of mutual fund rating company Morningstar, Inc.. Mansueto became a billionaire and joined the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans when Morningstar went public in 2005. Mansueto Ventures also owns Fast Company's sister publication, Inc. magazine, which is dedicated to covering growing businesses and entrepreneurs.

FastCompany.com operates as a network of sites with Inc.com and is a member of the Online Publishers Association. The website features FC Now, which launched in 2002, and was one of the first staff-written blogs maintained by a print magazine.

Regular features include "Made to Stick" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, "Do Something" by Nancy Lublin, and short profiles in a section of the magazine called "Next."

References

External links

• Fast Company website