Ziff Davis Media Inc.

Jason Young is the CEO of Ziff Davis Media Inc..

Ziff Davis Media is a privately owned digital media company serving the technology market with online services and information -- primarily the PC Mag Digital Network.

The history of Ziff Davis is messy, to put it mildly, and in recent years checkered with failed business decisions. The original company, Ziff Davis Inc., was founded in 1927 in Chicago by William B. Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis. The company published hobbyist magazines about cars, electronics (including Popular Electroncis) and other subjects.

In the late 1970's, the company bought a number of television stations, which were sold off within six or seven years.

The 1980's saw Ziff Davis become a force in technology publishing. The company acquired PC Magazine in 1982, and the trade magazine MacWeek in 1988. In 1995 Ziff Davis launched the magazine Yahoo! Internet Life (first called ZD Internet Life), as a companion to the web site Yahoo!.

Ziff Davis launched ZDTV in 1998, a television network focused on technology. ZDTV was sold to Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. in 2000, and was renamed TechTV.

Ziff Davis Media was formed in 2000 with the purchase of the Ziff-Davis company's magazine division by Willis Stein & Partners, and James Dunning.

The company started running a trade show called DigitalLife in 2004, featuring the latest in consumer electronics, gaming and technology.

Starting in November 2006 with the cancellation of Official Playstation Magazine, Ziff Davis Media has either closed down or sold off all of its non-digital assets. This process was completed at the beginning of 2009, when the company sold 1up.com, a video game information business, to the Hearst Corporation. The company also ceased publication of Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine.

In July 2007, Ziff Davis Media sold its enterprise division to Insight Venture Partners. The sale included all company trade publications, which include eWeek, Baseline and CIOinsight and related online properties. The enterprise division became a separate company called Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc..

In March 2008 Ziff Davis Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to restructure its debt and operations. At that time the company also discontinued print publication of PC Magazine.

Contact Information

Web Site:	www.ziffdavis.com
Telephone:	212.503.3500
Fax:	212.503.5696
Address:	28 East 28th Street New York NY 10016 USA

National Media Properties

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Computer Gaming World Magazine

Family PC Magazine

GameNow Magazine

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

PC Magazine

PC Magazine Middle & Near East Magazine

PC Magazine UK Magazine

Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine

Comments about Ziff Davis Media Inc.

Comments to date: 1. The most recent comments are below.


Eric Kallgren Boulder, Colorado USA	Posted at 4:04pm on Thursday, January 8th, 2009
On January 6, 2009, Ziff Davis Media CEO Jason Young announced that the company is shutting down Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine and selling the 1UP Digital Network business to Hearst Corporation: We are announcing today the sale of our 1UP digital business to UGO Entertainment, a dvision of Hearst Corporation. Over the course of the last 4 years we have built the 1UP sites into a top tier gaming digital destination. While our growth has been sharp, it has become apparent that more scale is necessary to effectively compete in this market segment. We made the decision that the best path to putting our award winning 1UP brand and content in a more competitive position was to combine it with the operations of another publisher. We received much interest from other parties. After a comprehensive process, this morning we completed a deal with Hearst Interactive, the owner and operator of UGO Entertainment. 1UP.com, MyCheats.com, Gamevideos.com, and Gametab.com will now all be part of the UGO Entertainment business. Many of our employees will travel with this business and become part of the UGO team. With this transaction happening, we have also made the decision to discontinue publication of EGM. The January 2009 issue will be the final issue of the publication. With demand for print continuing to decline amongst both advertisers and readers and the content being produced by 1UP no longer available for use in the publication, it simply did not make sense for us to move forward with this business any longer.

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