The family did well..they took out $250 mill when they sold a piece to Elevation Partners..They also got lots of cash..when they sold off all of ole Malcolm's toys...and maybe they sold at the top of the market...they kept the internet business..and they borrowed..that's called using OTHER PEOPLE's MONEY..rtaher than their own...the family is doing fine....they'll ride out the downturn
OTOH..let's look at Time.....Fortune's parent comany...or rather, let's not..because there ain't anything good to say about it..
I missed the inter-publication rivalry angle, LOL. Clearly the Forbes empire was huge, and some of it has been cashed out and redistributed. As you point out, the article is incomplete about whether it's been dissipated as well as redistributed. Since the Forbes fortune was built around publishing, it's a short step for the reader to confuse diversification with dissipation.