bret pearlman

Forbes Media is reaching outside the family ranks for the first time to name a new CEO, the company announced Tuesday. Veteran venture capitalist and media executive Mike Perlis will assume his new post Dec. 1, replacing longtime CEO and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes.

For years, Forbes.com has been the envy of the financial press, with Web traffic far surpassing that of competitors such as BusinessWeek.com and WSJ.com. But the site's fortunes have taken a turn for the worse lately, and now someone is apparently answering for it: Jim Spanfeller, president and...