Ziff Davis Inc (ZD)
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Ziff Davis owns CNET, PCMag, Mashable, IGN, Humble Bundle, BabyCenter and RetailMeNot — assembled through nearly 100 acquisitions since 2012. For 2025 the company reported revenue of $1,451.3 million and net income of $47.4 million. On June 17, 2026 it sold its smallest division to Accenture for $1.2 billion in cash. The pro forma statements it had to file with the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC, four days later show in black and white what remains without that division: a loss of $9.8 million. We read the 2025 annual report, the quarterly report for the period ended March 31, 2026 and the current reports covering the sale. There is no recommendation at the end, only a receipt you have to read yourself.
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Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
ThreatenedZiff Davis nennt generative KI im Geschäftsbericht 2025 ausdrücklich als Risiko für Reichweite und Erlöse seiner Digital-Media-Marken und klagt seit dem 24. April 2025 gegen OpenAI sowie seit dem 6. Februar 2026 gegen Google und Alphabet.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Developments in the use of generative AI and related technologies make it easier to access, duplicate, and distribute our content, or otherwise generate output based on our content, without authorization, fair compensation, or proper attribution. These technologies may reduce our online traffic and audience sizes, infringe our intellectual property rights, and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations."
Die Entwicklungen beim Einsatz generativer KI und verwandter Techniken machen es leichter, auf unsere Inhalte zuzugreifen, sie zu vervielfältigen und zu verbreiten oder auf ihrer Grundlage Ergebnisse zu erzeugen — ohne Erlaubnis, ohne angemessene Vergütung und ohne ordentliche Quellenangabe. Diese Techniken können unseren Online-Verkehr und unsere Reichweite verringern, unsere Schutzrechte verletzen und unser Geschäft, unsere Finanzlage und unsere Ergebnisse beeinträchtigen.
„On April 24, 2025, the Company and certain of its subsidiaries filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, Inc. in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging copyright infringement, violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, unjust enrichment and trademark dilution as a result of OpenAI’s unlawful and unauthorized copying and use of the Company’s content."
Am 24. April 2025 reichten das Unternehmen und einige seiner Tochtergesellschaften beim US-Bundesbezirksgericht für den Bezirk Delaware Klage gegen OpenAI, Inc. ein — wegen Urheberrechtsverletzung, Verstößen gegen den Digital Millennium Copyright Act, ungerechtfertigter Bereicherung und Verwässerung der Marke infolge des rechtswidrigen und unerlaubten Kopierens und Nutzens unserer Inhalte durch OpenAI.
„We face risks associated with the unauthorized use of our content and the infringement of our intellectual property rights by developers and users of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”)."
Wir tragen Risiken aus der unerlaubten Nutzung unserer Inhalte und der Verletzung unserer Schutzrechte durch Entwickler und Nutzer generativer künstlicher Intelligenz („KI“).
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-02-24 · 10-Q 2026-05-08 · 8-K 2026-03-04 · 8-K 2026-05-08 · 8-K 2026-06-17 · 8-K/A 2026-06-22
Rated on July 27, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 1.37 | 10.30 | 413 | 5.90 | 15.50 | 158 | 131 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.55 | 137.30 | 329 | 4.50 | 7.40 | 21 | -5 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.60 | -17.20 | 352 | 9.80 | 7.50 | 57 | 27 |
| 2025: Q3 | -0.09 | – | 364 | 2.90 | -1.00 | 138 | 108 |
| 2025: Q4 | 0.01 | -99.30 | 407 | -1.50 | 0.10 | 191 | 158 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.59 | 7.90 | 268 | -18.60 | 8.30 | 30 | -3 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
The pro forma statements filed June 22, 2026 show a loss of $9.8 million for 2025 without the divested division, $1.8 million for 2024 and $14.0 million for 2023. In the first quarter of 2026 continuing operations posted a loss of $0.8 million on operating income of just $2.9 million, down from $14.5 million a year earlier.
The 2025 annual report puts incremental revenue from the businesses acquired in 2024 at $83.2 million against total growth of $37.7 million. The comparative table in Note 4 shows 2024 revenue of $1,470.2 million against $1,521.1 million in 2023 — down 3.3 percent on a like-for-like basis.
Operating cash flow rose for the third consecutive year to $407.1 million in 2025; after $119.2 million of capital expenditure, $287.9 million of free cash flow remained. Gross profit was $1,244.7 million on revenue of $1,451.3 million, close to 86 percent.
The pro forma balance sheet as of March 31, 2026 shows $1,676.7 million of cash against $867.1 million of debt and equity of $2,404.3 million. Tangible book value swings from minus $198.1 million on December 31, 2025 to plus $746.4 million. The $149.1 million convertible note maturing November 1, 2026 is comfortably covered.
Of $1,607.5 million of goodwill as of December 31, 2025, $540.0 million sits in Cybersecurity & Martech, where operating income fell from $55.0 million to $28.6 million and $17.6 million was already written off in 2025. Accumulated impairment losses across the group total $187.1 million. Auditor KPMG lists the valuation as a critical audit matter.
The company's own risk report in the 2025 Form 10-K explicitly names falling online traffic and shrinking audiences caused by generative AI. Ziff Davis has been suing OpenAI since April 24, 2025 and Google and Alphabet since February 6, 2026; both cases were open as of May 8, 2026 and no amount is quantified anywhere.
After selling its Connectivity division for $1.2 billion, Ziff Davis is financially as solid as it has been in years: $1,676.7 million of cash against $867.1 million of debt, book equity above the market value, and $287.9 million of free cash flow in 2025. At the same time its own pro forma statements have revealed that the rest of the group earned nothing at the bottom line from 2023 through 2025 and shrank without acquisitions. Substance is plentiful; proof of earnings power is still missing. Not investment advice.
- Hook: in-house stock scanner "Turnaround candidates" (U.S. selection), measured July 27, 2026 on both brands — 60 hits, turnaround check 6 out of 8. 44 of the 60 names share that value and occupy places 17 through 60; the order inside that group is a pure database sort with no secondary criterion. Only the 25 strongest hits are listed, and Ziff Davis sits below that line. All lists are recomputed daily.
- Data as of: price, valuation and ratio data from July 24, 2026; balance sheet and income figures from the Form 10-K for 2025 (February 24, 2026), the Form 10-Q for March 31, 2026 (May 8, 2026) and the pro forma statements in the Form 8-K/A (June 22, 2026).
- The Altman-Z value of 6.89 stored in our data set could not be reproduced from the audited annual report. Own calculation: 1.78 on the original formula, 3.02 on the Z double-prime variant for non-manufacturers. Both clear the scanner threshold of 1.1.
- Risk of confusion: Ziff Davis was named J2 Global until October 2021, and price and earnings series before 2021 run under that name. The cloud fax business spun off in 2021 trades separately as Consensus; Ziff Davis has held no Consensus shares since 2024.
- Mandatory check as of July 27, 2026: no Form 25, no Form 15, no SC 14D9, no SC 13E3 and no DEFM14A in the SEC filing list. Ziff Davis is the seller of a division, not a takeover target.
About the Company
Ziff Davis, Inc. ist gemeinsam mit ihren Tochtergesellschaften als Digitalmedien- und Internetunternehmen in den USA und international tätig.
| Employees | 3,900 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
| Website | ziffdavis.com |
| IPO Date | 21. Jul 1999 |
| Next Earnings | 5. Aug 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Vivek R. Shah | CEO, President & Director | 1974 |
| Bret Richter | Chief Financial Officer | 1970 |
| Lori A. Tansley | Chief Accounting Officer | 1971 |
| Jeremy D. Rossen J.D. | Executive VP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | 1970 |
| John Ingram | Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance & Development | – |
| Joey Fortuna | Chief Technology Officer | – |
| James T. Farley | Director of Investor Relations | – |
| Michelle Dvorkin | Chief Human Resources Officer | – |
| Steven L. Horowitz | President of Technology & Shopping | 1972 |
| Nathaniel Simmons | President of Cybersecurity & Martech | 1977 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 24, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.