Walter Forbes (born 1942/43) is an American corporate executive best known for his role as CEO of CUC International and his involvement in one of the largest corporate scandals of the 1990s.
Walter Forbes was the CEO of CUC International from 1981-1997. CUC was a membership-based consumer services conglomerate with travel, shopping, auto, dining, home improvement and financial services. Under Forbes' leadership, CUC was considered an e-commerce pioneer.[1]
As early as 1981, Forbes envisioned CUC (formerly Comp-U-Card) as an electronic shopping service that would leverage home computers for members to shop conveniently.[2] However, with home computers still a decade away from widespread adoption, the company pivoted to direct-to-consumer home shopping clubs, where customers placed orders by phone, and manufacturers shipped products directly to their homes at wholesale prices. Customers paid an annual membership fee for access to these discounts. By the early 1990s, Forbes had built CUC into a $2 billion direct-marketing company with more than 50 million members buying from a database of more than 250,000 products.[3]
In 1994, Forbes increased the company's investment in online shopping, particularly on America Online, purchasing NetMarket, and developing a website, Shoppers Advantage, which was launched in the fall of 1995. CUC's presence online generated $400 million in product sales in 1996. At the time, no other company was selling as much merchandise online.