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Ziff Davis

March 07, 2023

Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology- and health-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, internet connectivity services, gaming and entertainment brands, and cybersecurity and martech tools.[2] [3] [4]

Ziff Davis, Inc.
TypePublic company
IndustryDigital media and internet
PredecessorJ2 Global, Inc.
FoundedAugust 1927; 95 years ago (1927-08)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
FounderBill Ziff Sr.
Bernard Davis
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, U.S.
Key people
  • Vivek Shah (CEO)
  • Bret Richter (CFO)
ProductsMultimedia, software, video games, data licensing
Revenue US$1.38 billion (2021)
Number of employees
4,900[1]
Websiteziffdavis.com

History

The company was founded by William B. Ziff Company publisher Bill Ziff Sr. with Bernard Davis. Upon Bill Ziff's death in 1953,[5] William B. Ziff Jr., his son, returned from Germany to lead the company. In 1958, Bernard Davis sold Ziff Jr. his share of Ziff Davis to found Davis Publications, Inc.;[6] Ziff Davis continued to use the Davis surname as Ziff-Davis.[7]

Throughout most of Ziff Davis' history, it was a publisher of hobbyist magazines, often ones devoted to expensive, advertiser-rich technical hobbies such as cars, photography, and electronics. Since 1980, Ziff Davis has primarily published computer-related magazines and related websites, establishing Ziff Davis as an Internet information company.

Ziff Davis had several broadcasting properties, first during the mid-1970s, and later with its own technology network ZDTV, later renamed to TechTV, that was sold to Vulcan Ventures in 2001. Ziff Davis' magazine publishing and Internet operations offices are based in New York City, Massachusetts, and San Francisco.

On January 6, 2009, the company sold 1UP.com to Hearst's UGO Entertainment, a division of and announced the January 2009 issue of the long-running Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine would be its last.[8]

Former Time Inc. executive Vivek R. Shah, with financial backing from Boston private equity company Great Hill Partners, announced on June 4, 2010, the acquisition of Ziff Davis Inc. as the "first step in building a new digital media company that specializes in producing and distributing content for consumers making important buying decisions."[9]

On November 12, 2012, Ziff Davis Inc., was acquired by cloud computing services company J2 Global for $167 million cash.[10] According to an October 2015 Fortune article, Ziff Davis comprises 30% of parent company J2 Global's $600 million annual revenue (2014) and is increasing 15% to 20% each year. Analyst Gregory Burns of Sidoti & Company calculates that Ziff Davis is worth $1.9 billion.[11]

In April 2021, J2 Global announced that it would spin off its cloud services business as Consensus; the transaction was approved by its shareholders in September 2021, with J2 Global consisting primarily of its media business and VPN services,[12] and subsequently taking on the Ziff Davis, Inc. name and "ZD" ticker symbol.[13][14]


Digital media company

Popular Aviation

 
An early (June 1928) issue of Popular Aviation; the first magazine published by Ziff Davis. Artwork by Stewart Rouse. Ziff-Davis titles featured painted covers throughout the following decade.

The William B. Ziff Company, founded in 1920, was a successful Chicago advertising agency that secured advertising from national companies such as Procter & Gamble for virtually all African American weekly newspapers. In 1923, Ziff acquired E. C. Auld Company, a Chicago publishing house. Ziff's first venture in magazine publishing was Ziff's Magazine, which featured short stories, one-act plays, humorous verse, and jokes. The title was changed to America's Humor in April 1926.[15][16]

Bernard George Davis was the student editor of the University of Pittsburgh's humor magazine, the Pitt Panther, and was active in the Association of College Comics of the East. During his senior year he attended the association's convention and met William B. Ziff. When Davis graduated in 1927 he joined Ziff as the editor of America's Humor.[17][18]

Ziff, who had been an aviator in World War I, created Popular Aviation in August 1927 that was published by Popular Aviation Publishing Company of Chicago, Illinois. Under editor Harley W. Mitchell it became the largest aviation magazine, with a circulation of 100,000 in 1929.[19] The magazine's title became Aeronautics in June 1929 and the publishing company's name became Aeronautical Publications, Inc. The title was changed back to Popular Aviation in July 1930. The magazine became Flying in 1942 and is still published today by the Bonnier Corporation. The magazine celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2017.

The company histories normally give the founding date as 1927. This is when B.G. Davis joined and Popular Aviation magazine started. However, it was not until 1936 that the company became the "Ziff-Davis Publishing Company". (Popular Aviation, April 1936, was the first issue by Ziff-Davis Publishing.) Davis was given a substantial minority equity interest in the company and was appointed a vice-president and director. He was later named president in 1946. Davis was a photography enthusiast and the editor of the Popular Photography magazine started in May 1937.[18]

Fiction, hobbyist and bridal magazines

In early 1938, Ziff-Davis acquired the magazines Radio News and Amazing Stories.[20] These were started by Hugo Gernsback but sold as a result of the Experimenter Publishing bankruptcy in 1929. Both magazines had declined since the bankruptcy but the resources of Ziff-Davis rejuvenated them starting with the April 1938 issues. Radio News was published until 1972. The magazine Popular Electronics, derived from Radio News, was begun in 1955 and published until 1985. Amazing Stories was a leading science fiction magazine and Ziff Davis soon added a new companion, Fantastic Adventures (FA). In 1954 FA was merged into the newer magazine Fantastic, founded in 1952 to great initial success. ZD published a number of other pulp magazines and, later, digest-sized fiction magazines during the 1940s and 1950s, and continued to publish Amazing and Fantastic until 1965.

Ziff-Davis published comic books during the early 1950s, operating by their own name and also the name Approved Comics. Eschewing superheroes, they published horror, crime, sports, romance, and Western comics, though most titles didn't last more than a few issues. Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel was the art director of the comics line; other notable creators who worked for Ziff-Davis Comics included John Buscema, Sid Greene, Bob Haney, Sam Kweskin, Rudy Lapick, Richard Lazarus, Mort Leav, Paul S. Newman, George Roussos, Mike Sekowsky, Ernie Schroeder, and Ogden Whitney. In 1953, the company mostly abandoned comics, selling its most popular titles—the romance comics Cinderella Love and Romantic Love, the Western Kid Cowboy, and the jungle adventure Wild Boy of the Congo—to St. John Publications. Ziff-Davis continued to publish one title, G.I. Joe, until 1957, a total of 51 issues.

From 1958, under the direction of sole owner Bill Ziff Jr., a polymath with a photographic memory, Ziff-Davis became a successful publisher of enthusiast magazines, purchasing titles like Car and Driver, and tailoring content for enthusiasts as well as purchasing agents ("brand specifiers"); the company was able to attract advertising money that other, general-interest publications were losing.[5]

In 1958, Ziff-Davis began publishing a magazine, HiFi and Music Review, for the growing hobby of high fidelity equipment. Ultimately, the magazine evolved into Stereo Review. ZD also became a prolific publisher of photography and boating magazines during this period, and such magazines as Modern Bride; after the sale of Fantastic and Amazing in 1965, their editor Cele Goldsmith Lalli began working on the bridal magazines, becoming a notable and influential editor in that field before retirement.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the company's success increased with this strategy, and a rapidly expanding interest in electronics and computing. With titles such as PC Magazine, Popular Electronics, and Computer Shopper, Ziff Davis became the leading technology magazine business.

Ziff Davis sold the majority of its consumer magazines to CBS and its trade magazines to News Corporation in 1984, keeping its computer magazines.[21][22]

Television stations

In 1979, Ziff Davis expanded into broadcasting, after an acquisition of television stations originally owned by greeting card company Rust Craft. Ziff Davis's stations included NBC affiliates WROC-TV in Rochester, New York and WRCB-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee, CBS affiliates WEYI-TV in Saginaw, Michigan, WRDW-TV in Augusta, Georgia and WSTV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio (which changed its name to WTOV-TV and its network affiliation to NBC after Ziff Davis assumed control of the station), and ABC affiliate WJKS-TV in Jacksonville, Florida (which would also switch to NBC soon after its acquisition was finalized). These stations would be sold to other owners by the mid-1980s—most of these would become owned by a new ownership group, "Television Station Partners", the exceptions being WRCB (which would be sold to Sarkes Tarzian) and WJKS (which was acquired by Media General).

Market Station Channel
TV (RF) 		Years owned Current ownership status
Jacksonville, Florida WJKS-TV 17 (34) 1979–82 The CW affiliate, WCWJ, owned by Graham Media Group
Augusta, Georgia WRDW-TV 12 (12) 1979–83 CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
Saginaw - Flint, Michigan WEYI-TV 25 (30) 1979–83 NBC affiliate owned by Howard Stirk Holdings
(Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group)
Rochester, New York WROC-TV 8 (45) 1979–83 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Steubenville, Ohio - Wheeling, West Virginia WSTV-TV/WTOV-TV 9 (9) 1979–83 NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group[23][24]
Chattanooga, Tennessee WRCB-TV 3 (13) 1979–82 NBC affiliate owned by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc.

Technology magazines and web properties

Ziff Davis first started technology-themed publications during 1954, with Popular Electronics and, more briefly, Electronics World. This resulted more or less directly in its interest in home-computer magazines. From that time, Ziff Davis became a major publisher of computer and Internet-related publishing. It acquired PC Magazine in 1982, and the trade journal MacWEEK in 1988. In 1989, the company initiated the ZDNet site. In 1991 ZDNet on CompuServe and on the early Internet were augmented by the purchase of Public Brand Software, the main shareware disk provider. In 1995 it initiated the magazine Yahoo! Internet Life, initially as ZD Internet Life. The magazine was meant to accompany and complement the site Yahoo!.

Owner William Bernard Ziff Jr. had wanted to give the business to his sons—Daniel, Dirk and Robert—but they didn't want the responsibility. In 1994, he announced the sale of the publishing group to Forstmann Little & Company for US$1.4 billion.[25] It was then sold to SoftBank a year later.[7]

In 1998, Ziff Davis started the ZDTV channel, a technology-themed television network.

From 1999 through 2000, as part of an effort to restructure Ziff-Davis Inc, SoftBank would sell ZDTV to Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. which would later be renamed to TechTV, and spin off ZD and ZDNet.[26]

Since 2004, Ziff Davis has annually hosted a trade show in New York City known as DigitalLife.[27] DigitalLife showcases the newest technology in consumer electronics, gaming and entertainment. Unlike E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) or the Worldwide Developers Conference, DigitalLife is open to the public.

In November 2006, Ziff Davis announced the cancellation of Official PlayStation Magazine. They cited a lack of interest in the magazine (and its demo disk) due to digital distribution. OPM had begun in 1997.

Ziff Davis Media Inc.

In 2001, the new company Ziff Davis Media Inc., a partnership of Willis Stein & Partners and James Dunning (former Ziff Davis CEO, chairman, and president), made an agreement with CNET Networks Inc. and ZDNet to acquire the URLs of Ziff Davis. Ziff Davis Media Inc. gained thereby the online content licensing rights to 11 publications, including PC Magazine, CIO Insight, and eWEEK, webpage of industry insider Spencer Katt.

In July 2007, Ziff Davis Media announced the sale of its enterprise (B2B or business-to-business) division to Insight Venture Partners.[28] The sale included all B2B publications, which include eWeek, Baseline, and CIOinsight, and all related online properties. The enterprise division is now an independent company named Ziff Davis Enterprise Group (ZDE).

On March 5, 2008, Ziff Davis Media Inc. announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to restructure its debt and operations.[29][30] and emerged, after a court supervised corporate restructuring in July 2009.[31] In conjunction with this announcement they also stated that they are discontinuing their print copy of PC Magazine. According to BtoBonline, Ziff Davis Media made an agreement with an ad hoc group of noteholders, who will provide $24.5 million to fund the company's operations and help plan the restructuring.[32]

Acquisition

In June 2010, Boston private equity firm, Great Hill Partners, purchased Ziff Davis, with online media executive Vivek Shah. At the time, Ziff Davis properties consisted of PCMag.com, ExtremeTech, GearLog, GoodCleanTech, DLtv, AppScout, CrankyGeeks, Smart Device Central and TechSaver.com, and reached over 7 million users a month.[33] Shah, with intentions of revitalizing the business, serial purchased logicbuy.com, geek.com, computershopper.com, toolbox.com, and Focus Research. Focus Research was a major provider of online research to enterprise buyers and high-quality leads to IT vendors. It was later renamed to "Ziff Davis B2B Focus" and operated as a stand-alone unit within Ziff Davis. Niche sites of the Ziff Davis B2B Focus network include ITManagement.com, ITSecurity.com, VOIP-News.com and InsideCRM.com.[34]

On November 16, 2012 Great Hill sold the company to j2Global, a provider of cloud services. The purchase price was $175 million, approximately 2.9 times the estimated 2013 revenue.[35] j2 Global actually paid $167 million in an all-cash deal.[36]

Digital media growth

On February 4, 2013, Ziff Davis acquired IGN Entertainment from News Corporation.[37] Soon afterward, Ziff Davis announced the discontinuation of the 1UP.com, UGO.com, and GameSpy.com sites in order to "[focus] on our two flagship brands, IGN and AskMen".[38]

In May 2013, Ziff Davis acquired NetShelter, a display advertising network oriented towards consumer electronics and technology publishers, from ImPowered.[39]

In November 2013, Ziff Davis acquired TechBargains.com, a deal aggregation site for consumer electronics.[40]

In June 2014, Ziff Davis acquired eMedia Communications from Reed Business Information.[41] In December 2014, Ziff Davis acquired Ookla, owner of Speedtest.net.[42]

In December 2015, Ziff Davis acquired Offers.com[43] an online source of offers, deals, coupons, coupon codes, promos, free trials, and more.

In December 2017, Ziff Davis acquired Mashable, an American entertainment, culture, tech, science and social good digital media platform, for $50 million.[44] Following its acquisition of Mashable, Ziff Davis announced that it would implement longer, more in-depth content to boost the site's search traffic and restructure the platform to reduce costs.[45]

In 2018, Ziff Davis had 117 million readers, reaching 115 countries with 60 international editions.[46] Most of Ziff Davis' international editions are partnerships with local publishers, all of whom use a domestic content management system. The common CMS lets oversea editions get content from Ziff Davis' owned-and-operated markets and re-purpose it for their own editions. To establish itself in foreign markets, Ziff Davis asks its local partner to hold events. Popular past events include IGN Convention Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar.[47]

In September 2019, Ziff Davis acquired Spiceworks, a professional network for the information technology industry.[48]

In November 2020, Ziff Davis acquired RetailMeNot for $420 million, an aggregator of coupon offers across multiple website properties.[49]

Current properties

Sold properties

Discontinued properties

References

  1. ^ "Ziff-Davis-10-K-Report-2021" (PDF). March 15, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  2. ^ Mullin, Benjamin (August 17, 2021). "Ziff Davis Is Returning to Public Markets With a Mandate to Make Deals". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  3. ^ Schultz, Ray (September 20, 2022). "Reveling In M&A: How Ziff Davis Chooses Companies To Buy". MediaPost. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  4. ^ Alleven, Monia (January 10, 2023). "Dish's Stephen Bye leaves for connectivity post at Ziff Davis". Fierce Wireless. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  5. ^ a b de la Merced, Michael J. (September 12, 2006). "William B. Ziff Jr., 76, Builder of Magazine Empire Dies". New York Times. William B. Ziff Jr., a publishing executive who made publications like Car and Driver and PC Magazine must reading among hobbyists and computer enthusiasts, died Saturday at his home in Pawling, N.Y. He was 76.
  6. ^ "Bernard G. Davis, Publisher, Dead. Head of Magazine Concern ... Over Wide Field". The New York Times. August 29, 1972.
  7. ^ a b Holley, David; Harmon, Amy (November 10, 1995). "Softbank to Acquire Ziff-Davis Publishing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  8. ^ . January 6, 2009. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
  9. ^ . June 4, 2010. Archived from the original on August 8, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
  10. ^ . November 12, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
  11. ^ "How Ziff Davis survived the death of print". Fortune. October 29, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  12. ^ Tomaschek, Attila. "3 companies control many big-name VPNs: What you need to know". CNET. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
  13. ^ "J2 Global board approves spin-off, announces record date (NASDAQ:ZD) | Seeking Alpha". seekingalpha.com. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  14. ^ Sumagaysay, Levi. "J2 Global to split into two publicly traded companies". MarketWatch. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  15. ^ "William B. Ziff, 55, Publisher, Is Dead". New York Times. December 21, 1953. p. 31.
  16. ^ "William Bernard Ziff.", Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 5: 1951–1955. American Council of Learned Societies, 1977. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
  17. ^ "Bernard G. Davis, Publisher, Dead". New York Times. August 29, 1972. p. 37.
  18. ^ a b "Bernard George Davis." Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 9: 1971–1975. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
  19. ^ . Time Magazine. Time. June 10, 1929. Archived from the original on May 21, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2007. "Monthly magazine until this month called Popular Aviation and Aeronautics. With 100,000 circulation it is largest-selling of U. S. air publications." "Editor of Aeronautics is equally airwise Harley W. Mitchell, no relative of General Mitchell."
  20. ^ "Advertising News and Notes". New York Times. January 18, 1938. p. 28. Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, has purchased Radio News Magazine and Amazing Stories.
  21. ^ Kleinfield, N. R. (November 21, 1984). "CBS To Buy 12 Of Ziff's Magazines". New York Times.
  22. ^ Wayne, Leslie (November 22, 1984). "Murdoch Buys 12 Ziff Publication". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  23. ^ Sinclair Broadcast Group
  24. ^ . NextTV. Archived from the original on March 1, 2013.
  25. ^ New York Times: "Forstmann To Acquire Ziff-Davis" September 25, 2018, at the Wayback Machine October 28, 1994
  26. ^ "Ziff Davis to sell unit". CNN. January 28, 2000. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  27. ^ . Digital Life. Archived from the original on October 15, 2009. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  28. ^ . insightpartners.com. Archived from the original on January 9, 1998. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  29. ^ Dring, Christopher (March 6, 2008). "Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy protection | Games industry news | MCV". Mcvuk.com. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  30. ^ . March 5, 2008. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  31. ^ Ziff Davis makes a silent exit. The Deal, July 9, 2008 November 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy protection November 13, 2022, at the Wayback Machine - MCV: 06/03/2008
  33. ^ . June 4, 2010. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  34. ^ "Ziff Davis Acquires Focus Research, Inc". August 23, 2011. Retrieved August 23, 2011.[dead link]
  35. ^ "Great Hill Partners Announces the Sale of Ziff Davis, Inc". November 16, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
  36. ^ . November 12, 2012. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
  37. ^ "IGN Entertainment sold by News Corp to publisher Ziff Davis". Digital Spy. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  38. ^ Sliwinski, Alexander. . Joystiq. Archived from the original on March 26, 2014.
  39. ^ "Ziff Davis Is Buying NetShelter/InPowered's Display Ad Business". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  40. ^ "Ziff Davis Buys TechBargains.com". November 20, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  41. ^ "Ziff Davis Acquires emedia Communications". Folio. June 5, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  42. ^ "Ziff Davis buys Speedtest owner Ookla". www.telecompaper.com. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  43. ^ . mystatesman.com. January 14, 2016. Archived from the original on February 23, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  44. ^ Kafka, Peter (December 5, 2017). "Ziff Davis has bought Mashable at a fire sale price and plans to lay off 50 people". Recode.
  45. ^ Cook, James (December 19, 2017). "10 things in tech you need to know today". Business Insider.
  46. ^ "ziffdavis.com".
  47. ^ "How Ziff Davis is expanding globally". October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  48. ^ "Ziff Davis B2B Completes Acquisition of Spiceworks" (Press release). San Francisco. Business Wire. September 19, 2019.
  49. ^ Garcia, Jeannette E. (November 4, 2020). "SA cyber training company acquired by LA-based tech company". Biz Journals.
  50. ^ emedia.com
  51. ^ "Speedtest.net by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test". Speedtest.net. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  52. ^ "Map Genie | Awesome Interactive Game Maps". mapgenie.io.
  53. ^ "Ziff Davis Tech". Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  54. ^ "About Us". Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  55. ^ "eseminarslive.com". eseminarslive.com. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  56. ^ Barnholt, Ray. . 1Up.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  57. ^ . Archived from the original on August 22, 2006.
  58. ^ "Microsoft Watch - Just another Linux Devices Sites site". Microsoft Watch. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  59. ^ "- PDFzone". wayback.vefsafn.is. Archived from the original on November 15, 2008.
  60. ^ "publish.com". publish.com. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  61. ^ Stapleton, Dan. . Gamespy. Archived from the original on December 9, 2013.

Further reading

  • Thorsen, Tor, "". GameSpot, CNET Networks, November 20, 2006.
  • , Ziff Davis Reports Fourth Quarter 2005 Results. Ziff Davis Publishing Inc., October 8, 2006.
  • January 6, 2009.

External links

  • Official website
  • Ziff Davis at comics.org
  • Ziff Davis at comicbookdb.com

March 07, 2023
ziff, davis, american, digital, media, internet, company, first, founded, 1927, william, bernard, ziff, bernard, george, davis, company, primarily, owns, technology, health, oriented, media, websites, online, shopping, related, services, internet, connectivity. Ziff Davis Inc is an American digital media and internet company First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr and Bernard George Davis the company primarily owns technology and health oriented media websites online shopping related services internet connectivity services gaming and entertainment brands and cybersecurity and martech tools 2 3 4 Ziff Davis Inc TypePublic companyTraded asNasdaq ZDS amp P 400 componentIndustryDigital media and internetPredecessorJ2 Global Inc FoundedAugust 1927 95 years ago 1927 08 Chicago Illinois U S FounderBill Ziff Sr Bernard DavisHeadquartersNew York City New York U S Key peopleVivek Shah CEO Bret Richter CFO ProductsMultimedia software video games data licensingRevenueUS 1 38 billion 2021 Number of employees4 900 1 Websiteziffdavis wbr com Contents 1 History 1 1 Popular Aviation 1 2 Fiction hobbyist and bridal magazines 1 3 Television stations 1 4 Technology magazines and web properties 1 5 Ziff Davis Media Inc 1 6 Acquisition 1 7 Digital media growth 2 Current properties 3 Sold properties 4 Discontinued properties 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory EditThe company was founded by William B Ziff Company publisher Bill Ziff Sr with Bernard Davis Upon Bill Ziff s death in 1953 5 William B Ziff Jr his son returned from Germany to lead the company In 1958 Bernard Davis sold Ziff Jr his share of Ziff Davis to found Davis Publications Inc 6 Ziff Davis continued to use the Davis surname as Ziff Davis 7 Throughout most of Ziff Davis history it was a publisher of hobbyist magazines often ones devoted to expensive advertiser rich technical hobbies such as cars photography and electronics Since 1980 Ziff Davis has primarily published computer related magazines and related websites establishing Ziff Davis as an Internet information company Ziff Davis had several broadcasting properties first during the mid 1970s and later with its own technology network ZDTV later renamed to TechTV that was sold to Vulcan Ventures in 2001 Ziff Davis magazine publishing and Internet operations offices are based in New York City Massachusetts and San Francisco On January 6 2009 the company sold 1UP com to Hearst s UGO Entertainment a division of and announced the January 2009 issue of the long running Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine would be its last 8 Former Time Inc executive Vivek R Shah with financial backing from Boston private equity company Great Hill Partners announced on June 4 2010 the acquisition of Ziff Davis Inc as the first step in building a new digital media company that specializes in producing and distributing content for consumers making important buying decisions 9 On November 12 2012 Ziff Davis Inc was acquired by cloud computing services company J2 Global for 167 million cash 10 According to an October 2015 Fortune article Ziff Davis comprises 30 of parent company J2 Global s 600 million annual revenue 2014 and is increasing 15 to 20 each year Analyst Gregory Burns of Sidoti amp Company calculates that Ziff Davis is worth 1 9 billion 11 In April 2021 J2 Global announced that it would spin off its cloud services business as Consensus the transaction was approved by its shareholders in September 2021 with J2 Global consisting primarily of its media business and VPN services 12 and subsequently taking on the Ziff Davis Inc name and ZD ticker symbol 13 14 Digital media company Popular Aviation Edit An early June 1928 issue of Popular Aviation the first magazine published by Ziff Davis Artwork by Stewart Rouse Ziff Davis titles featured painted covers throughout the following decade The William B Ziff Company founded in 1920 was a successful Chicago advertising agency that secured advertising from national companies such as Procter amp Gamble for virtually all African American weekly newspapers In 1923 Ziff acquired E C Auld Company a Chicago publishing house Ziff s first venture in magazine publishing was Ziff s Magazine which featured short stories one act plays humorous verse and jokes The title was changed to America s Humor in April 1926 15 16 Bernard George Davis was the student editor of the University of Pittsburgh s humor magazine the Pitt Panther and was active in the Association of College Comics of the East During his senior year he attended the association s convention and met William B Ziff When Davis graduated in 1927 he joined Ziff as the editor of America s Humor 17 18 Ziff who had been an aviator in World War I created Popular Aviation in August 1927 that was published by Popular Aviation Publishing Company of Chicago Illinois Under editor Harley W Mitchell it became the largest aviation magazine with a circulation of 100 000 in 1929 19 The magazine s title became Aeronautics in June 1929 and the publishing company s name became Aeronautical Publications Inc The title was changed back to Popular Aviation in July 1930 The magazine became Flying in 1942 and is still published today by the Bonnier Corporation The magazine celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2017 The company histories normally give the founding date as 1927 This is when B G Davis joined and Popular Aviation magazine started However it was not until 1936 that the company became the Ziff Davis Publishing Company Popular Aviation April 1936 was the first issue by Ziff Davis Publishing Davis was given a substantial minority equity interest in the company and was appointed a vice president and director He was later named president in 1946 Davis was a photography enthusiast and the editor of the Popular Photography magazine started in May 1937 18 Fiction hobbyist and bridal magazines Edit In early 1938 Ziff Davis acquired the magazines Radio News and Amazing Stories 20 These were started by Hugo Gernsback but sold as a result of the Experimenter Publishing bankruptcy in 1929 Both magazines had declined since the bankruptcy but the resources of Ziff Davis rejuvenated them starting with the April 1938 issues Radio News was published until 1972 The magazine Popular Electronics derived from Radio News was begun in 1955 and published until 1985 Amazing Stories was a leading science fiction magazine and Ziff Davis soon added a new companion Fantastic Adventures FA In 1954 FA was merged into the newer magazine Fantastic founded in 1952 to great initial success ZD published a number of other pulp magazines and later digest sized fiction magazines during the 1940s and 1950s and continued to publish Amazing and Fantastic until 1965 Ziff Davis published comic books during the early 1950s operating by their own name and also the name Approved Comics Eschewing superheroes they published horror crime sports romance and Western comics though most titles didn t last more than a few issues Superman co creator Jerry Siegel was the art director of the comics line other notable creators who worked for Ziff Davis Comics included John Buscema Sid Greene Bob Haney Sam Kweskin Rudy Lapick Richard Lazarus Mort Leav Paul S Newman George Roussos Mike Sekowsky Ernie Schroeder and Ogden Whitney In 1953 the company mostly abandoned comics selling its most popular titles the romance comics Cinderella Love and Romantic Love the Western Kid Cowboy and the jungle adventure Wild Boy of the Congo to St John Publications Ziff Davis continued to publish one title G I Joe until 1957 a total of 51 issues From 1958 under the direction of sole owner Bill Ziff Jr a polymath with a photographic memory Ziff Davis became a successful publisher of enthusiast magazines purchasing titles like Car and Driver and tailoring content for enthusiasts as well as purchasing agents brand specifiers the company was able to attract advertising money that other general interest publications were losing 5 In 1958 Ziff Davis began publishing a magazine HiFi and Music Review for the growing hobby of high fidelity equipment Ultimately the magazine evolved into Stereo Review ZD also became a prolific publisher of photography and boating magazines during this period and such magazines as Modern Bride after the sale of Fantastic and Amazing in 1965 their editor Cele Goldsmith Lalli began working on the bridal magazines becoming a notable and influential editor in that field before retirement During the 1970s and 1980s the company s success increased with this strategy and a rapidly expanding interest in electronics and computing With titles such as PC Magazine Popular Electronics and Computer Shopper Ziff Davis became the leading technology magazine business Ziff Davis sold the majority of its consumer magazines to CBS and its trade magazines to News Corporation in 1984 keeping its computer magazines 21 22 Television stations Edit In 1979 Ziff Davis expanded into broadcasting after an acquisition of television stations originally owned by greeting card company Rust Craft Ziff Davis s stations included NBC affiliates WROC TV in Rochester New York and WRCB TV in Chattanooga Tennessee CBS affiliates WEYI TV in Saginaw Michigan WRDW TV in Augusta Georgia and WSTV TV in Steubenville Ohio which changed its name to WTOV TV and its network affiliation to NBC after Ziff Davis assumed control of the station and ABC affiliate WJKS TV in Jacksonville Florida which would also switch to NBC soon after its acquisition was finalized These stations would be sold to other owners by the mid 1980s most of these would become owned by a new ownership group Television Station Partners the exceptions being WRCB which would be sold to Sarkes Tarzian and WJKS which was acquired by Media General Market Station ChannelTV RF Years owned Current ownership statusJacksonville Florida WJKS TV 17 34 1979 82 The CW affiliate WCWJ owned by Graham Media GroupAugusta Georgia WRDW TV 12 12 1979 83 CBS affiliate owned by Gray TelevisionSaginaw Flint Michigan WEYI TV 25 30 1979 83 NBC affiliate owned by Howard Stirk Holdings Operated through a LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group Rochester New York WROC TV 8 45 1979 83 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media GroupSteubenville Ohio Wheeling West Virginia WSTV TV WTOV TV 9 9 1979 83 NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group 23 24 Chattanooga Tennessee WRCB TV 3 13 1979 82 NBC affiliate owned by Sarkes Tarzian Inc Technology magazines and web properties Edit Ziff Davis first started technology themed publications during 1954 with Popular Electronics and more briefly Electronics World This resulted more or less directly in its interest in home computer magazines From that time Ziff Davis became a major publisher of computer and Internet related publishing It acquired PC Magazine in 1982 and the trade journal MacWEEK in 1988 In 1989 the company initiated the ZDNet site In 1991 ZDNet on CompuServe and on the early Internet were augmented by the purchase of Public Brand Software the main shareware disk provider In 1995 it initiated the magazine Yahoo Internet Life initially as ZD Internet Life The magazine was meant to accompany and complement the site Yahoo Owner William Bernard Ziff Jr had wanted to give the business to his sons Daniel Dirk and Robert but they didn t want the responsibility In 1994 he announced the sale of the publishing group to Forstmann Little amp Company for US 1 4 billion 25 It was then sold to SoftBank a year later 7 In 1998 Ziff Davis started the ZDTV channel a technology themed television network From 1999 through 2000 as part of an effort to restructure Ziff Davis Inc SoftBank would sell ZDTV to Paul Allen s Vulcan Inc which would later be renamed to TechTV and spin off ZD and ZDNet 26 Since 2004 Ziff Davis has annually hosted a trade show in New York City known as DigitalLife 27 DigitalLife showcases the newest technology in consumer electronics gaming and entertainment Unlike E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo or the Worldwide Developers Conference DigitalLife is open to the public In November 2006 Ziff Davis announced the cancellation of Official PlayStation Magazine They cited a lack of interest in the magazine and its demo disk due to digital distribution OPM had begun in 1997 Ziff Davis Media Inc Edit In 2001 the new company Ziff Davis Media Inc a partnership of Willis Stein amp Partners and James Dunning former Ziff Davis CEO chairman and president made an agreement with CNET Networks Inc and ZDNet to acquire the URLs of Ziff Davis Ziff Davis Media Inc gained thereby the online content licensing rights to 11 publications including PC Magazine CIO Insight and eWEEK webpage of industry insider Spencer Katt In July 2007 Ziff Davis Media announced the sale of its enterprise B2B or business to business division to Insight Venture Partners 28 The sale included all B2B publications which include eWeek Baseline and CIOinsight and all related online properties The enterprise division is now an independent company named Ziff Davis Enterprise Group ZDE On March 5 2008 Ziff Davis Media Inc announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to restructure its debt and operations 29 30 and emerged after a court supervised corporate restructuring in July 2009 31 In conjunction with this announcement they also stated that they are discontinuing their print copy of PC Magazine According to BtoBonline Ziff Davis Media made an agreement with an ad hoc group of noteholders who will provide 24 5 million to fund the company s operations and help plan the restructuring 32 Acquisition Edit In June 2010 Boston private equity firm Great Hill Partners purchased Ziff Davis with online media executive Vivek Shah At the time Ziff Davis properties consisted of PCMag com ExtremeTech GearLog GoodCleanTech DLtv AppScout CrankyGeeks Smart Device Central and TechSaver com and reached over 7 million users a month 33 Shah with intentions of revitalizing the business serial purchased logicbuy com geek com computershopper com toolbox com and Focus Research Focus Research was a major provider of online research to enterprise buyers and high quality leads to IT vendors It was later renamed to Ziff Davis B2B Focus and operated as a stand alone unit within Ziff Davis Niche sites of the Ziff Davis B2B Focus network include ITManagement com ITSecurity com VOIP News com and InsideCRM com 34 On November 16 2012 Great Hill sold the company to j2Global a provider of cloud services The purchase price was 175 million approximately 2 9 times the estimated 2013 revenue 35 j2 Global actually paid 167 million in an all cash deal 36 Digital media growth Edit On February 4 2013 Ziff Davis acquired IGN Entertainment from News Corporation 37 Soon afterward Ziff Davis announced the discontinuation of the 1UP com UGO com and GameSpy com sites in order to focus on our two flagship brands IGN and AskMen 38 In May 2013 Ziff Davis acquired NetShelter a display advertising network oriented towards consumer electronics and technology publishers from ImPowered 39 In November 2013 Ziff Davis acquired TechBargains com a deal aggregation site for consumer electronics 40 In June 2014 Ziff Davis acquired eMedia Communications from Reed Business Information 41 In December 2014 Ziff Davis acquired Ookla owner of Speedtest net 42 In December 2015 Ziff Davis acquired Offers com 43 an online source of offers deals coupons coupon codes promos free trials and more In December 2017 Ziff Davis acquired Mashable an American entertainment culture tech science and social good digital media platform for 50 million 44 Following its acquisition of Mashable Ziff Davis announced that it would implement longer more in depth content to boost the site s search traffic and restructure the platform to reduce costs 45 In 2018 Ziff Davis had 117 million readers reaching 115 countries with 60 international editions 46 Most of Ziff Davis international editions are partnerships with local publishers all of whom use a domestic content management system The common CMS lets oversea editions get content from Ziff Davis owned and operated markets and re purpose it for their own editions To establish itself in foreign markets Ziff Davis asks its local partner to hold events Popular past events include IGN Convention Bahrain Abu Dhabi and Qatar 47 In September 2019 Ziff Davis acquired Spiceworks a professional network for the information technology industry 48 In November 2020 Ziff Davis acquired RetailMeNot for 420 million an aggregator of coupon offers across multiple website properties 49 Current properties EditAskMen BlackFriday com BestBlackFriday com Downdetector Ekahau emedia 50 eVoice ExtremeTech Everyday Health Geek com HowLongToBeat com HR Technologist Humble Bundle IGN IPVanish Line2 Livedrive Loseit com Mashable MarTech Advisor Moz com Offers com PCMag RetailMeNot Salesify SMTP Speedtest net by Ookla 51 MapGenie 52 Spiceworks StrongVPN SugarSync Techbargains com Toolbox com VIPRE Ziff Davis Tech 53 Ziff Davis B2B 54 Sold properties EditDeveloperShed com eSeminars 55 sold to QuinStreet Electronic Gaming Monthly sold back to magazine founder Steve Harris 56 FileFront GameTab com GameVideos com Linux Watch sold to QuinStreet Linuxdevices com 57 sold to QuinStreet Microsoft Watch 58 sold to QuinStreet MyCheats com PDF Zone 59 sold to QuinStreet Publish 60 sold to QuinStreet ZDNet sold to CNET their biggest rival Discontinued properties Edit1Up com A Magazine Computer Gaming World Creative Computing GameNOW Games for Windows The Official Magazine GameSpy formerly part of IGN Network 61 GameTrailers GMR MacUser US Edition 1985 1997 Microsystems Official U S PlayStation Magazine Patch Management PCMag continues online PC Computing formerly Ziff Davis Smart Business Small Business Center Sm rt Partner UGO Networks Vault Network Windows Sources Xbox Nation Yahoo Internet LifeReferences Edit Ziff Davis 10 K Report 2021 PDF March 15 2022 Retrieved April 28 2022 Mullin Benjamin August 17 2021 Ziff Davis Is Returning to Public Markets With a Mandate to Make Deals Wall Street Journal Retrieved January 27 2023 Schultz Ray September 20 2022 Reveling In M amp A How Ziff Davis Chooses Companies To Buy MediaPost Retrieved January 27 2023 Alleven Monia January 10 2023 Dish s Stephen Bye leaves for connectivity post at Ziff Davis Fierce Wireless Retrieved January 27 2023 a b de la Merced Michael J September 12 2006 William B Ziff Jr 76 Builder of Magazine Empire Dies New York Times William B Ziff Jr a publishing executive who made publications like Car and Driver and PC Magazine must reading among hobbyists and computer enthusiasts died Saturday at his home in Pawling N Y He was 76 Bernard G Davis Publisher Dead Head of Magazine Concern Over Wide Field The New York Times August 29 1972 a b Holley David Harmon Amy November 10 1995 Softbank to Acquire Ziff Davis Publishing Los Angeles Times Retrieved July 27 2019 Ziff Davis Media Reaches Agreement to Sell 1UP com to UGO January 6 2009 Archived from the original on February 25 2009 Retrieved January 7 2009 Ziff Davis Acquired by Digital Media Executive Vivek Shah and Great Hill Partners June 4 2010 Archived from the original on August 8 2011 Retrieved July 28 2010 j Global Acquires Ziff Davis Inc November 12 2012 Archived from the original on February 9 2014 Retrieved November 12 2012 How Ziff Davis survived the death of print Fortune October 29 2015 Retrieved October 29 2015 Tomaschek Attila 3 companies control many big name VPNs What you need to know CNET Retrieved February 25 2022 J2 Global board approves spin off announces record date NASDAQ ZD Seeking Alpha seekingalpha com Retrieved February 24 2022 Sumagaysay Levi J2 Global to split into two publicly traded companies MarketWatch Retrieved February 24 2022 William B Ziff 55 Publisher Is Dead New York Times December 21 1953 p 31 William Bernard Ziff Dictionary of American Biography Supplement 5 1951 1955 American Council of Learned Societies 1977 Reproduced in Biography Resource Center Farmington Hills Mich Thomson Gale 2007 Bernard G Davis Publisher Dead New York Times August 29 1972 p 37 a b Bernard George Davis Dictionary of American Biography Supplement 9 1971 1975 Charles Scribner s Sons 1994 Reproduced in Biography Resource Center Farmington Hills Mich Thomson Gale 2007 Again Mitchell Time Magazine Time June 10 1929 Archived from the original on May 21 2013 Retrieved August 26 2007 Monthly magazine until this month called Popular Aviation and Aeronautics With 100 000 circulation it is largest selling of U S air publications Editor of Aeronautics is equally airwise Harley W Mitchell no relative of General Mitchell Advertising News and Notes New York Times January 18 1938 p 28 Ziff Davis Publishing Company New York and Chicago has purchased Radio News Magazine and Amazing Stories Kleinfield N R November 21 1984 CBS To Buy 12 Of Ziff s Magazines New York Times Wayne Leslie November 22 1984 Murdoch Buys 12 Ziff Publication The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved July 21 2018 Sinclair Broadcast Group Nexttv Programming Busines Multichannel Broadcasting Cable www nexttv com NextTV Archived from the original on March 1 2013 New York Times Forstmann To Acquire Ziff Davis Archived September 25 2018 at the Wayback Machine October 28 1994 Ziff Davis to sell unit CNN January 28 2000 Retrieved July 27 2019 PCMag com Digital Life Archived from the original on October 15 2009 Retrieved December 5 2013 insightpartners com insightpartners com Archived from the original on January 9 1998 Retrieved December 5 2013 Dring Christopher March 6 2008 Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy protection Games industry news MCV Mcvuk com Retrieved December 5 2013 Ziff Davis Media Reaches Agreement to Restructure Senior Secured Debt March 5 2008 Archived from the original on July 22 2011 Retrieved March 5 2008 Ziff Davis makes a silent exit The Deal July 9 2008 Archived November 7 2009 at the Wayback Machine Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy protection Archived November 13 2022 at the Wayback Machine MCV 06 03 2008 Ziff Davis Acquired by Digital Media Executive Vivek Shah and Great Hill Partners June 4 2010 Archived from the original on October 21 2013 Retrieved June 4 2010 Ziff Davis Acquires Focus Research Inc August 23 2011 Retrieved August 23 2011 dead link Great Hill Partners Announces the Sale of Ziff Davis Inc November 16 2012 Retrieved November 16 2012 Ziff Davis Trades Hands Again November 12 2012 Archived from the original on January 2 2014 Retrieved November 12 2012 IGN Entertainment sold by News Corp to publisher Ziff Davis Digital Spy Retrieved February 4 2013 Sliwinski Alexander IGN hit with layoffs 1UP Gamespy and UGO shutting down Joystiq Archived from the original on March 26 2014 Ziff Davis Is Buying NetShelter InPowered s Display Ad Business TechCrunch Retrieved November 14 2018 Ziff Davis Buys TechBargains com November 20 2013 Retrieved November 20 2013 Ziff Davis Acquires emedia Communications Folio June 5 2014 Retrieved November 14 2018 Ziff Davis buys Speedtest owner Ookla www telecompaper com Retrieved November 14 2018 California company acquires 2 Austin tech firms mystatesman com January 14 2016 Archived from the original on February 23 2016 Retrieved February 15 2016 Kafka Peter December 5 2017 Ziff Davis has bought Mashable at a fire sale price and plans to lay off 50 people Recode Cook James December 19 2017 10 things in tech you need to know today Business Insider ziffdavis com How Ziff Davis is expanding globally October 22 2014 Retrieved October 22 2014 Ziff Davis B2B Completes Acquisition of Spiceworks Press release San Francisco Business Wire September 19 2019 Garcia Jeannette E November 4 2020 SA cyber training company acquired by LA based tech company Biz Journals emedia com Speedtest net by Ookla The Global Broadband Speed Test Speedtest net Retrieved September 8 2017 Map Genie Awesome Interactive Game Maps mapgenie io Ziff Davis Tech Retrieved February 2 2016 About Us Retrieved February 2 2016 eseminarslive com eseminarslive com Retrieved December 5 2013 Barnholt Ray Electronic Gaming Monthly Coming Back News from 1UP com 1Up com Archived from the original on August 16 2016 Retrieved July 4 2016 LinuxDevices com Archived from the original on August 22 2006 Microsoft Watch Just another Linux Devices Sites site Microsoft Watch Retrieved February 2 2016 PDFzone wayback vefsafn is Archived from the original on November 15 2008 publish com publish com Retrieved December 5 2013 Stapleton Dan Goodbye And Thank You From The GameSpy Team Gamespy Archived from the original on December 9 2013 Further reading EditThorsen Tor RIP OPM GameSpot CNET Networks November 20 2006 Ziff Davis File Press Release Ziff Davis Reports Fourth Quarter 2005 Results Ziff Davis Publishing Inc October 8 2006 Ziff Davis Corporate Timeline January 6 2009 External links EditOfficial website Ziff Davis at comics org Ziff Davis at comicbookdb com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ziff Davis amp oldid 1141370210, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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