Ozi Amanat - Targets Forbes Media for acquisition

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Business magazine Forbes on sale at a roadside newsstand, Hanoi, June 26, 2013.

Entrepreneur B.K. Modi’s Spice Global, which makes money selling inexpensive phones to developing world consumers, wants to diversify by snapping up one of the world’s best-known brands for billionaires: Forbes.

Forbes Media is up for sale and Spice, which recently moved its headquarters to Singapore from India, is on the short list of potential acquirers. Other bidders include German digital media company Axel Springer, Chinese conglomerate Fosun International and others, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Spice Group’s fedora-wearing chairman Mr. Modi–who was worth around $850 million according to Forbes’ estimate last year — and its chief investment officer, Ozi Amanat, are trying to give Spice Global a more varied global footprint, according to people familiar with their plans.

Spice, which has been focused on telecommunications in India and other emerging markets, wants to use Forbes to capture more revenues from developed markets. While it has no experience running a news

organization, Spice hopes to bring to Forbes the kind of financial backing its needs to expand at home as well as the global connections it needs to promote the brand around the world.

As part of its diversification drive, Spice Global recently unveiled plans to build a multi-billion-dollar medical complex in the middle of New Delhi. It has joined forces with another well-known American name, GoogleGOOG +0.70%, to rebrand hundreds of its electronics stores in India, Singapore and elsewhere as Google stores.

The Forbes family has been seeking a buyer for its popular business magazine and Web properties. As with most U.S. magazines and newspapers, it has been struggling with a decline in advertising. Forbes’ owners, which put the business up for sale late last year, are hoping the company will fetch as much as $500 million.

In addition to a regular flow of business news, Forbes has built a popular niche for itself online with its many lists that rank the world’s rich. Its lists—including “Hong Kong’s 50 Richest,” “Top Earning Dead Celebrities,” and “Top Earning American Idols” – are irresistible click bait for readers fascinated by the fat fortunes of the world’s wealthy.

As it has expanded its online presence in recent years, it has become the ninth largest business news site in the U.S., behind Web giants like Yahoo Finance, but also ahead of competitors such as Bloomberg.com and BusinessInsider.com, according to comScore. The Wall Street Journal, owned by News CorpNWSA +0.76%., also competes with Forbes.

–William Launder contributed to this post.

Eric Bellman is the deputy bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal in New Delhi. Follow him and India Real Time on Twitter @EricBellmanWSJ and @WSJIndia.