| CREATORS | TITLES | IMAGES | IMPRINTS | CHARACTERS |
| File:ZiffDavisLogo.png | |
| Type | subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Magazine publishing/Internet information provider |
| Founded | 1927 |
| Founder(s) |
William B. Ziff, Sr. Bernard G. Davis |
| Headquarters | New York City, USA |
| Key people | Vivek Shah (CEO), Steve Horowitz (COO) |
| Products | Magazines, websites, podcasts, video podcasts |
| Revenue |
 $128.5 million (2013) |
| Employees | ~500 |
| Parent | j2 Global |
| Website | www.ziffdavis.com |
Ziff Davis LLC. (ZD) is an American publisher and Internet company. It was founded in 1927 in Chicago, USA, by William B. Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis.
History[]
Throughout most of Ziff Davis' 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[1] and emerged, following a court supervised corporate restructuring in July 2009.[2]
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.[3]
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."[4]
On November 12, 2012, Ziff Davis Inc., was acquired by cloud computing services company j2 Global of Hollywood, Calif. for $167 million in cash.[5]
Popular Aviation[]
An early issue of Popular Aviation; the first magazine published by Ziff Davis. The covers were paintings for the first decade.
The William B. Ziff Company, founded in 1920, was a successful Chicago advertising agency that secured advertising from national firms 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.[6][7]
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. In 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.[8][9]
Ziff, who had been an aviator in World War I, created a new magazine, 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.[10] 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 80th anniversary in 2007.
The company histories normally give the founding date as 1927. This is when B.G. Davis joined and Popular Aviation magazine started. 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 position 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.[9]
Fiction and hobbyist magazines[]
In early 1938, Ziff-Davis acquired Radio News and Amazing Stories magazines.[11] These were founded by Hugo Gernsback but sold in 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 and in 1955 spun off Popular Electronics which was 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 folded by merger into the newer Fantastic, founded in 1952 to great initial success. ZD published a number of other pulp magazines and, later, digest-sized fiction magazines in the 1940s and 1950s, and continued to publish Amazing and Fantastic until 1965.
Ziff-Davis published comic books in the early 1950s, operating under their own name and also the imprint 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, Sam Kweskin, Rudy Lapick, Richard Lazarus, Mort Leav, Paul S. Newman, Mike Sekowsky, Ernie Schroeder, and Ogden Whitney. In 1953, the company mostly gave up on comics, selling its most popular titles — the romance comics Cinderella Love and Romantic Love, the Western title Kid Cowboy, and the jungle adventure title 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.
William B. Ziff, Sr., died in 1953 and son William B. Ziff, Jr. returned from Germany to assume his role in the company. In 1958 Bernard G. Davis sold his share of Ziff Davis to found Davis Publications. Under the younger Ziff's direction, ZD soon became a successful publisher of enthusiast magazines. Ziff Davis purchased titles like Car and Driver and by gearing content towards enthusiasts and readers who made purchasing decisions for their companies ("brand specifiers"), the company was able to attract advertising money that other, general-interest publications were losing.
In 1958, Ziff-Davis began publishing a magazine, HiFi and Music Review, for those who were interested in the growing hobby of high fidelity equipment. Ultimately, the magazine evolved into Stereo Review.
Ziff Davis sold the majority of its magazines to CBS in 1984, keeping its tech magazines.
In the 1970s and 1980s the company's success grew with this approach, and a rapidly expanding interest in electronics and computing. With titles such as PC Magazine, Popular Electronics, and Computer Shopper, Ziff Davis rose to the top of the technology magazine business.
Technology magazines and web properties[]
| For the complete article see Wikipedia. The original article was at Ziff-Davis. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Hey Kids Comics Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
Bankruptcy protection[]
In March 2008, Ziff Davis Media Inc. announced[12] it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to restructure its debt and operations. This was after selling their B2B (business-to-business) division, Ziff Davis Enterprise to Insight Partners.[13] In conjunction with this announcement they also stated that they are discontinuing their print copy of PC Magazine.
According to BtoBonline, Ziff Davis Media has reached an agreement with an ad hoc group of noteholders, who will provide $24.5 million to fund the firm’s operations and help plan the restructure.[14]
Acquisition[]
In February 2012, the media assets of Ziff Davis "Enterprise" were acquired by QuinStreet.[15]
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.[16]
On February 4, 2013, Ziff Davis acquired IGN Entertainment, which includes the IGN.com, 1UP.com, GameSpy.com, AskMen.com, and UGO.com brands. This acquisition immediately doubled the size of the digital media business for Ziff Davis' parent company, j2 Global Inc.[17]
On February 21, 2013, Ziff Davis announced layoffs at IGN, as well as the complete closure of the 1UP.com, UGO.com, and GameSpy.com sites in order to "[focus] on our two flagship brands, IGN and AskMen".[18]
On June 4, 2014, Ziff Davis acquired emedia, a provider of opt-in newsletters.[19]
Current properties[]
| For the complete article see Wikipedia. The original article was at Ziff-Davis. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Hey Kids Comics Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
Sold properties[]
| For the complete article see Wikipedia. The original article was at Ziff-Davis. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Hey Kids Comics Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
Discontinued magazines and websites[]
| For the complete article see Wikipedia. The original article was at Ziff-Davis. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Hey Kids Comics Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
Notes[]
- ↑ "Ziff Davis Media Reaches Agreement to Restructure Senior Secured Debt". March 5, 2008. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110722100624/http://www.ziffdavis.com/press/releases/080305.0.html. 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 Media Reaches Agreement to Sell 1UP.com to UGO". January 6, 2009. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172156. 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. http://web.archive.org/web/20110808103840/http://www.ziffdavis.com/press/releases/100604.0.html. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
- ↑ "j@ Global Acquires Ziff Davis, Inc.". November 12, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. http://web.archive.org/web/20140209104137/http://www.ziffdavis.com/news/j2-global-acquires-ziff-davis-inc/. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
- ↑ "William B. Ziff, 55, Publisher, Is Dead.". New York Times: p. 31. December 21, 1953.
- ↑ "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: p. 37. August 29, 1972.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "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. http://web.archive.org/web/20130521074523/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751920-2,00.html. 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: p. 28. January 18, 1938. Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, has purchased Radio News Magazine and Amazing Stories.
- ↑ Dring, Christopher (March 6, 2008). Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy protection | Games industry news | MCV. Mcvuk.com. Retrieved on December 5, 2013.
- ↑ insightpartners.com. insightpartners.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved on December 5, 2013.
- ↑ Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy protection - MCV: 06/03/2008
- ↑ QuinStreet Acquires Ziff Davis Enterprise Media Assets. QuinStreet (February 6, 2012). Archived from the original on November 5, 2013.
- ↑ "Ziff Davis Trades Hands Again". November 12, 2012. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. http://web.archive.org/web/20140102123212/http://allthingsd.com/20121112/ziff-davis-trades-hands-again/. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
- ↑ j2 Global More than Doubles Size of its Digital Media B... (NASDAQ:JCOM) Archived January 3, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Sliwinksi, Alexander. IGN hit with layoffs; 1UP, Gamespy and UGO shutting down. Joystiq. Archived from the original on March 26, 2014.
- ↑ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ziff-davis-acquires-emedia-2014-06-04?reflink=MW_news_stmp
References[]
- Ziff-Davis Publishing Company at the Grand Comics Database
- Ziff-Davis Publishing at the Comic Book DB
Further reading[]
- Thorsen, 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.