95 years after going into business, Fortune Media has announced that they have picked a woman to run the magazine, event, and digital news brands. The announcement came on April 9 that Fortune Media’s chief financial officer Anastasia Nyrkovskaya had been promoted to CEO, thereby replacing Alan Murray, who announced late last year that he would step down this month.
When asked about the new CEO, Alan Murray stated: “Anastasia has steered Fortune through three years of profitable growth—almost unheard of in the legacy magazine business. She has helped lead Fortune’s transformation into a profitable global multi-platform media company and is the right person to lead it into its second century.”
Nyrkovskaya, who came to work at Fortune Media in 2019, reported to The New York Times in an interview that Fortune was profitable and had expanded its employee total by 130 in the last twelve months, bringing its total staff count to 360. She also stated that the company’s newsroom had doubled in size to 100 employees since 2021. They launched a paywall shortly after Nyrkovskaya arrived. The same year, it returned profits.
In her interview with the Times, Nyrkovskaya revealed that 40 percent of Fortune’s revenue had come from digital advertising and online subscriptions, 30 percent from branded events, and 25 percent from the print magazine.
“For the past five years, I have been focused on fiscal responsibility and the development of new revenue streams to sustain and grow the business,” Nyrkovskaya was quoted as reporting in the press release. “Looking ahead, I am excited to drive more focus and growth in journalism and business as Fortune expands globally.”
Nyrkovskaya, who started her career with KPMG in Russia after earning her MBA, moved to New York in 2001. What was supposed to be only a short stay in the United States turned into two decades, where she assumed financial leadership positions and built her media skills in corporate strategy and M&A, such as working on acquisitions including MSNBC, the Weather Channel, as well as the formation of Hulu. She claims that her early career at KPMG taught her many of the fundamentals necessary to work in her business—including agility, which is a quintessential skill for news businesses. Her extensive experience as a financial executive laid the groundwork for her new position, while her ten years at Business Insider have equipped her with the necessary skills and insights to modernize Fortune’s newsroom, aligning it with the evolving standards of digital media.
Fortune Magazine, which was founded by Time magazine co-founder Henry Luce in 1929, is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. Published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, it is known for regularly publishing ranked lists, such as the Best Companies to Work For, 40 Under 40, The Unicorn List, and Businessperson of the Year. Fortune is presently owned by Thai billionaire Chatchaval Jiaravanon, who is the chairman of Thailand’s largest business conglomerate, Charoen Pokphand Group. He purchased the magazine in 2018 for $150 million in cash.
