Popular Aviation 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. 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''. Ziff, who had been an aviator in
World War I, created
Popular Aviation in August 1927. It 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. 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 Firecrown. 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. 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 did not 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. Upon Bill Ziff's death in 1953,
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.; Ziff Davis continued to use the Davis surname as Ziff-Davis. 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.
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).
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 1991, the company initiated ZiffNet, a subscription service that offered computing information to users of
CompuServe. This grew into the news website
ZDNet, launched in late 1994. 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!. On August 20, 1994, Ziff-Davis entered the television industry with the premiere of
The Personal Computing Show, a program that aired on Saturday mornings on
CNBC,
America's Talking and the Jones Computing Network.
The Personal Computing Show, co-hosted by
Jim Louderback and
Gina Smith, targeted a growing demographic of personal computer owners and demonstrated how to purchase, install, maintain and repair personal computers and peripheral devices such as
printers. Shortly after
The Personal Computing Show premiere, Ziff-Davis revealed plans to produce a second show in October 1994 named
PC Update, a half-hour Sunday morning news program hosted by
Leo Laporte and focusing on the computer industry. According to Ziff-Davis spokesman Gregory Jarboe,
The Personal Computing Show was unsuccessful due to its relegation to odd channels and timeslots. Owner
William Bernard Ziff Jr. had wanted to give the business to his sons—Daniel, Dirk and Robert—but they did not want the responsibility. In October 1994, he announced the sale of the publishing group to
Forstmann Little & Company for US$1.4 billion. A small
Foster City-based television operation named "ZD-TV" was listed as a company asset. Ziff-Davis was then sold to
SoftBank a year later. It was the third San Francisco-based television program specializing in technology after
CNET Central and
Cyberlife. According to Ziff-Davis chief executive Larry Wangberg, On May 6, 1997, Ziff-Davis announced its plan to launch ZDTV as a 24-hour interactive cable network specializing in computers and the internet. The publisher put $100 million (equivalent to $ million in ) behind the project and planned to debut the ZDTV channel in early 1998. Projected programming for the channel included talk shows on the impact of technology, business-oriented shows evaluating investments in high-tech stocks, and reviews of software and hardware. Children's programming was also planned for the weekends. The channel had 11 initial charter advertisers, including
IBM,
Gateway 2000,
Microsoft, and
Charles Schwab. the show was canceled in September 1997 as a result of the network's shift toward an all-news format. In December 1997, Ziff-Davis revealed at the Western Cable Trade Show in
Anaheim that it had secured agreements with four cable operators to carry the network: Prime Cable in Las Vegas, Harron Communications in Detroit, Televue in Georgia, and Prestige Cable in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. The network launched on May 11, 1998, on cable systems in Las Vegas, Detroit, parts of Georgia near Atlanta, and parts of
Maine. In November, Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen's holding company
Vulcan Ventures invested $54 million (equivalent to $ million in ) in ZDTV, granting it a 33-percent stake in the network. Although ZDTV was critically acclaimed, it struggled to gain a foothold on certain cable lineups, in part because Ziff-Davis eschewed the types of launch fees to cable operators—ranging from $100 to $150 million—that other new channels were providing. It strained to achieve carriage from
AT&T/
TCI cable lineups and was deemed unprofitable. In an effort to sell company assets to reduce debt and boost its share price, Ziff-Davis put ZDTV up for sale on July 16, 1999. In November 1999, Vulcan purchased the remaining two-thirds of ZDTV's shares in a transaction that was completed on January 21, 2000. The deal (which permitted the network to retain its name) was worth $204.8 million (equivalent to $ million in ). It also sold its magazine division to Willis Stein & Partners L.P. for $780 million. In July 2000, CNET Networks agreed to acquire Ziff-Davis Inc. for $1.6 billion in stock. The combined company was considered the eighth-largest internet company. 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. Since 2004, Ziff Davis has annually hosted a
trade show in New York City known as DigitalLife. 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, which had begun in 1997. They cited a lack of interest in the magazine (and its demo disk) due to digital distribution. In July 2007, Ziff Davis Media announced the sale of its enterprise (B2B or
business-to-business) division to
Insight Venture Partners. 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. and emerged, after a court supervised
corporate restructuring in July 2009. 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. On January 6, 2009, the company sold
1UP.com to
Hearst's
UGO Entertainment and announced the January 2009 issue of the long-running
Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine would be its last.
Acquisition by Great Hill Partners 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." 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. 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, operating ITManagement.com, ITSecurity.com, VOIP-News.com and InsideCRM.com. It was later renamed to Ziff Davis B2B Focus and operated as a stand-alone unit within Ziff Davis.
Sale to J2 Global On November 16, 2012, Great Hill sold the company to J2 Global, a provider of cloud services. The purchase price was $175 million, approximately 2.9 times the estimated 2013 revenue. J2 Global actually paid $167 million in an all-cash deal. On February 4, 2013, Ziff Davis acquired
IGN Entertainment from
News Corporation. 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". In 2013, Ziff Davis acquired NetShelter, a display advertising network oriented towards consumer electronics and technology publishers, from ImPowered. Also in 2013, Ziff Davis acquired TechBargains.com, a deal aggregation site for consumer electronics. In 2014, Ziff Davis acquired eMedia Communications from
Reed Business Information. In December 2014, Ziff Davis acquired Ookla, owner of
Speedtest.net. In 2015, Ziff Davis acquired
Offers.com an online source of offers, deals, coupons, coupon codes, promos, free trials, and more. In October 2016, Ziff Davis entered into an agreement to acquire
Everyday Health. The deal was completed in December of that year. In 2017, Ziff Davis acquired
Mashable, an American entertainment, culture, tech, science and social good digital media platform, for $50 million. 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. In 2018, Ziff Davis had 117 million readers, reaching 115 countries with 60 international editions. 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. In November 2018, employees from Mashable, PCMag, AskMen, and Geek.com formed a union with the NewsGuild of New York. The Ziff Davis Creators Guild finalized its first contract in June 2021. In 2019, Ziff Davis acquired
Spiceworks, a professional network for the information technology industry. In 2020, Ziff Davis acquired
RetailMeNot for $420 million, an aggregator of coupon offers across multiple website properties.
Split from J2 Global, revival of Ziff Davis branding In April 2021, J2 Global announced plans to split into two separate publicly traded companies, with its cloud fax business being spun off as Consensus, and J2 retaining its media properties. The split was completed in September 2021; in August 2021, it was announced that J2 Global would rebrand as Ziff Davis, Inc. following the completion of the split, with CEO Vivek Shah citing the brand's "long and distinguished history, including a remarkable digital transformation over the past decade". In 2023, Ziff Davis acquired
Lifehacker for an undisclosed sum from
G/O Media. On February 6, 2024, employees at
IGN publicly announced their intention to unionize as the IGN Creators Guild with
NewsGuild-CWA. Ziff Davis voluntarily recognized the union later that month. On May 21, 2024, it was reported that
IGN Entertainment had acquired
Gamer Network from
ReedPop, including GamesIndustry.biz,
Eurogamer,
Rock Paper Shotgun,
VG247, and Dicebreaker. It also gained shares in
OutsideXbox, Digital Foundry, and Hookshot (owners of
Nintendo Life, PushSquare, PureXbox, and Time Extension). In August 2024, Ziff Davis acquired
CNET from
Red Ventures for $100 million; it also regained ownership of
ZDNet for the first time since its acquisition by
CNET Networks in 2000. On February 20, 2025,
404 Media reported that Ziff Davis had quietly removed
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) language and information from its website over several weeks, in capitulation to the
objection to DEI policies by the second Donald Trump administration. In March 2025, Ziff Davis acquired
The Skimm. In July 2025, the company announced it had acquired Well+Good and Livestrong from
Graham Holdings. On April 24, 2025, Ziff Davis sued
OpenAI, an
artificial intelligence research organisation, for
copyright infringement. OpenAI have allegedly misused news articles for
AI training. On March 3 2026, it was announced that the company had sold Ookla to
Accenture for $1.2 billion. The business unit includes
Speedtest.net, Ekahau,
Downdetector, and
RootMetrics. On the following day, Ziff Davis sold its back catalog of over 60 titles published under the
Humble Bundle name to Good Games Group. Games involved in the sale included
Slay the Spire,
A Hat in Time,
SIGNALIS, Forager, Coral Island, Monaco, and
Wizard of Legend. ==Properties==