Ziff Davis

Ziff Davis

Ziff Davis Inc. (ZD) is an American publisher and Internet company. It was founded in 1927 in Chicago by William B. Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis. Throughout most of its history, it was a publisher of hobbyist magazines, often ones devoted to expensive, advertiser-rich hobbies such as cars, photography, and electronics. However, since 1980, Ziff Davis has primarily published computer and technology related magazines, and its growing number of websites, spun off from its magazines, have established Ziff Davis as an Internet Information company.

Ziff Davis had several broadcasting properties, first in 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, San Francisco and Woburn (Massachusetts).

The company (Ziff Davis Media) announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 5, 2008 and emerged, following a court supervised corporate restructuring in July 2009.

On January 6, 2009, the company sold 1up.com to UGO Entertainment, a division of Hearst Corporation and announced the January 2009 issue of the long-running Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine as the final one.

Former Time Inc. executive Vivek Shah, with financial backing from Boston private equity firm 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."

On November 12, 2012, Ziff Davis Inc., was acquired by cloud computing services company j2 Global Inc. of Hollywood, Calif. for $167 million in cash.