Five partners, several of whom had recently graduated from Harvard Business School, initially self-funded the startup.

[3] By 1982 it was ranked 362 on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing private companies in America,[4] with 170 employees and 40 part-time instructors.

[5] As clients moved, the company began conducting operations overseas in the late 1970s.

Pearson intended to merge Forum with FT Knowledge to generate sales of US$110 million in its first year.

[9] In July 2002, the Institute for International Research (IIR) expressed interest in purchasing Forum, and as FT Knowledge began consolidating Pearson decided to launch negotiations that November.