|
|
This
note considers US magazine publisher William B Ziff Jr
and the succession of publishing groups identified as
Ziff Davis.
It covers -
introduction
The history of Ziff Davis is unusually complex, featuring
major asset sales in 1985 and breakups in 1994 and 2000.
Ziff Davis Media, the current incarnation, traces its
origins to 1927. The group began as a publisher of specialty
consumer magazines before expanding into business niche
publications. After major divestments in 1985 it centred
on personal computer magazine publishing, before expanding
into trade shows, exhibitions and electronic publishing.
After 1994 it initially focused on technology publications
and the ZDNet site, before rebuilding a presence in the
trade shows and launching a cable television channel (ZDTV,
later TechTV).
In 2000 the technology publications were collected in
Ziff Davis Media Inc. (an arm of Ziff Davis Holdings Inc.),
claimed to be one of the largest publishers of US technology
and videogame magazines, with imprints that include PC
Magazine, CIO Insight and Electronic
Gaming Monthly. As of 2004 its titles reportedly
accounted for an aggregate 20% of advertising pages in
the sectors and 2.5 million paid circulation. The company
licenses content and brands to some 40 non-US markets.
Other revenue sources including mailing list 'rentals',
events and newsletters.
Ziff Davis Media Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection
in March 2008, claiming a total debt of US$500 million
to US$1 billion and total assets of US$100 million to
US$500 million. The publisher blamed a decrease in revenue
from print advertising and subscriptions; print ad revenue
dropped from US$215 million in 2001 to US$40 million in
2007. An agreement with senior creditors, owed US$225
million, would see them gain 88.8% of Ziff Davis Media
common stock and some US$57 million debt.
Ziff
William B Ziff Sr (d1953) and Bernard Davis co-founded
Ziff-Davis as the Popular Aviation Company in 1927, initially
as publisher of Popular Aviation and Radio
News.
Like competitor MacFadden
demand for pulps and hobbyist magazines saw the company
grew at an impressive rate. Imprints included Amazing
Stories, Air Adventures, Mammoth Detective
and specialty consumer magazines such as Modern Bride
and Popular Electronics.
Son William B Ziff Jr (1930-2002) acquired Davis' interests
in 1958 and expanded aggressively into hobbyist publications
such as Car and Driver and Popular Photography.
That provided the revenue for acquisition of titles such
as PC Magazine and trade publications such as
World Aviation Directory.
In 1978 Ziff was told he had only a few years to live
after discovery of prostate cancer. During 1984 he sold
the group's business and consumer magazines for US$712
million, retaining a handful of computer titles such as
PC Magazine (acquired in 1982 from Dennis).
CBS acquired the consumer magazines (such as Popular
Photography and Stereo Review), later sold
to Hachette.
News Corporation acquired the business titles: Travel
Weekly, Aerospace Daily, Aviation Daily, The Weekly of
Business Aviation, A/C Flyer, Business and Commercial
Aviation, Hotel & Travel Index, Meetings & Conventions,
Official Hotel & Resort Guide, Official Meeting Facilities
Guide, World Aviation Directory and World Travel
Directory.
In 1994 its magazine publishing operations - major competitors
for IDG's publications - were sold
to junk bond promoter Forstmann Little for US$1.4 billion.
Forstmann in turn sold those interests to Softbank,
which subsequently spun them off to junk bond promoter
Willis Stein & Partners for US$780 million.
In 1994 Ziff-Davis also sold its electronic publishing
unit and its exhibitions and conferences division.
Willis Stein's 1999 acquisition encompassed some 80 titles,
including PC Magazine, PC Week and Yahoo!
Internet Life. The publishing division was rebadged
as Ziff Davis Media Inc.
Ziff-Davis' Market Intelligence business unit was sold
to Harte-Hanks Inc., the newspaper
publisher turned direct marketer, in August 1999. During
the following year ZD Education, the Ziff-Davis "business-to-business
IT learning division", was acquired by a Wasserstein
Perella equity fund and renamed Element K. During the
same year Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures acquired Ziff Davis'
digital cable television unit (ZDTV) for US$320 million.
ZD Events, producer of the Comdex electronics trade shows,
was spun off as Key3Media Group Inc.
Rust Craft and Berkman
In
1979 Ziff Davis paid US$89 million for Rust Craft Greeting
Cards Inc and its subsidiary Rust Craft Broadcasting (six
television stations, including WROC Rochester, WEYI Saginaw,
WSTV Steubenville, WRCB Chattanooga and WJKS Jacksonville).
The group traced its origins to the greeting card business
launched by Fred Winslow Rust in Kansas City in 1906.
That card company, second largest in the US in the early
1950s, was subsequently acquired by the Berkman family's
United Printers & Publishers. United adopted the Rust
Craft name in 1962.
Ziff's interest was apparently in the stations, unloaded
for a considerable profit in 1983, and the printing operation.
American Greetings purchased the rights to Rust Craft
Cards and its international card subsidiaries in 1980.
The Berkmans established Associated Communications Corporation
in 1979, building holdings in television and radio stations
and in mobile telephone systems. That group was rebadged
as Associated Group, Inc. in 1994.
In 2000 Associated was acquired by Liberty
Media for US$3 billion in AT&T stock. The deal
included 40% of Teligent. The family is perhaps best known
for endowment of the Berkman cyberlaw centre at Harvard
Law School.
studies
There have been no major studies of William Ziff or Ziff-Davis.
landmarks
1927 Ziff Davis founded
1938 acquires Amazing Stories
1954 launch of Popular Electronics
1979 pays US$89m for Rust Craft Greeting Cards Inc
1981 launches Computer Gaming World
1982 acquires PC Magazine
1983 sells Rust Craft's six television stations (inc WROC
Rochester, WEYI Saginaw, WSTV Steubenville, WRCB Chattanooga
and WJKS- Jacksonville) for US$100m
1984 CBS buys Ziff-Davis Publishing
Company's Popular Photography, Stereo Review
and other consumer magazines for US$362m
1984 Murdoch buys Ziff-Davis
business magazines for US$350m
1988 Ziff Davis acquires 50% of MacWEEK
1992 launches Corporate Computing
1993 closes Corporate Computing
1994 Ziff family sells 95% of Ziff-Davis Publishing to
Forstmann
Little for US$1.4bn
1994 Ziff-Davis launches ZDNet, Interactive Week
and Family PC
1995 Softbank buys 70% of Ziff-Davis,
Inc. (publishing arm of Ziff-Davis Communications) from
Forstmann Little for US$2.1bn, changes name to Ziff-Davis,
Inc. and buys COMDEX for US$800m
1995 buys Ziff-Davis Publishing for US$2.1bn
1998 Softbank floats 26% of Ziff-Davis Inc.
1999 Harte-Hanks buys Ziff-Davis
Market Intelligence for US$106m
2000 ZDTV (later renamed TechTV) sold to Vulcan Ventures,
Inc for US$320m
2000 Ziff-Davis Inc magazine unit sold to Willis Stein
& Partners for US$780m
2000 Ziff-Davis acquired by CNET
Networks Inc. for US$1.6bn
2002 magazine unit restructured after dot-com crash
2008 Ziff-Davis Media gains bankruptcy protection
::
|
|
