History of the press
For the first several decades of its history, Ziff-Davis, founded in 1927 by William Ziff, Sr. and Bernard Davis, remained a general interest magazine publisher. But after Ziff died in 1956, it expanded its reach. William Ziff, Jr. achieved remarkable success creating special interest magazines. In 1994 he sold off Ziff-Davis Publishing to Forstmann Little & Co. A year later, the Japanese conglomerate Softbank purchased 70 percent of Ziff-Davis for $2.1 billion and changed the company name back to Ziff-Davis Inc. But Softbank, battered by the Asian financial crisis, watched in despair as Ziff-Davis failed to turn a profit quarter after quarter.
Everything must go!
Plagued by high debt levels and poor performance ever since it went public in 1995, the Ziff-Davis publishing empire was dismantled, with only a related Internet network called ZDNet left behind. In November 1999, Ziff-Davis sold its publishing division and 80-plus titles to Chicago-based investment firm Willis Stein & Partners for $780 million. The deal included the transfer of industry publications such as PC Magazine, PC Week, and Yahoo! Internet Life. After the acquisition, the publishing division became known as Ziff Davis Media Inc.
Sell off
The sale of Ziff-Davis' publishing arm followed previous decisions to strip off and sell divisions of the company. The company's Market Intelligence business unit was sold to Harte-Hanks Inc., a direct marketing company, in August 1999. ZD Education, Ziff-Davis' business-to-business IT learning division, was acquired by a Wasserstein Perella equity fund in February 2000. Renamed Element K, the company filed for an IPO three months later.
In January 2000, Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures acquired Ziff Davis' digital cable company, ZDTV, for over $320 million. The channel reaches over 12 million homes. The spinoff of ZD Events, the producer of the famed Comdex electronics trade show, completed the dismantling of Ziff-Davis. Key3Media Group Inc., formerly controlled by Ziff-Davis, now operates ZD Events independently.
All over the world
Adding global reach across 25 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America to the technology information company, CNET acquired chief rival Ziff-Davis in July 2000. For $1.6 billion in stock, CNET bought Ziff-Davis's Computer Shopper, a technology publication and Web site, Smart Planet, an online educational service focused on the technology industry, and online property ZDNet. Ziff-Davis CEO Dan Rosensweig became president, while CNET President Rich Marino became chief operating officer; CNET chief exec Shelby Bonnie remained CEO of the combined entity. The new company is projected to have 1,600 employees and more than $500 million in revenue in 2001.
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