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,[16] 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!.[17]
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.[18] According to Ziff-Davis spokesman Gregory Jarboe, The Personal Computing Show was unsuccessful due to its relegation to odd channels and timeslots.[19]
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.[20] A small Foster City-based television operation named "ZD-TV" was listed as a company asset.[21] Ziff-Davis was then sold to SoftBank a year later.[13]
In April 1996, Ziff-Davis announced the establishment of ZDTV as a San Francisco-based unit specializing in the production of television and internet broadcasts, which would allow the publisher to showcase its products. Its first project was to develop The Site, a daily hour-long prime time news show co-hosted by Soledad O'Brien about the increasing social and economic effects of technology. The program aired on the cable news network MSNBC, which launched on July 15, 1996.[22][23] It was the third San Francisco-based television program specializing in technology after CNET Central and Cyberlife.[24] According to Ziff-Davis chief executive Larry Wangberg,[19] San Francisco was chosen as ZDTV's headquarters for its proximity to Silicon Valley and easy access to Multimedia Gulch-based talent.[25]
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.[26] Children's programming was also planned for the weekends.[27] The channel had 11 initial charter advertisers, including IBM, Gateway 2000, Microsoft, and Charles Schwab.[26] Ziff-Davis chairman and CEO Eric Hippeau cited the increasing presence of computers in cable television homes and workspaces as motivation for filling the niche of programming about computers, saying "This is a huge audience and it will only get bigger".[27] Wangberg, who would be made the network's CEO, proclaimed Ziff-Davis's ambition of ZDTV becoming "to computing what CNN
Ziff-Davis's initial public offering was announced on February 18, 1998, delaying the launch of ZDTV.[25] The network was separated from Ziff-Davis's publishing operations so as to prevent the former's start-up losses from impacting the latter's balance sheet.[30] The network launched on May 11, 1998, on cable systems in Las Vegas, Detroit, parts of Georgia near Atlanta, and parts of Maine.[31][32] 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.[33]
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.[34] It strained to achieve carriage from AT&T/TCI cable lineups and was deemed unprofitable.[34][35] 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.[34][35] On July 21, 1999, the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker "ZDZ".[36] 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 ).
On January 28, 2000, Ziff-Davis announced that it would sell its tradeshow unit, ZD Events, and eliminate its two tracking stocks as part of an effort to restructure the company.[37] It also sold its magazine division to Willis Stein & Partners L.P. for $780 million.[38] In July 2000, CNET Networks agreed to acquire Ziff-Davis Inc. for $1.6 billion in stock.[39] The combined company was considered the eighth-largest internet company.[38]
