Willis Stein & Partners to Acquire Ziff-Davis Publishing for $780 Million

Posted on December 6, 1999

Willis Stein & Partners has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ziff-Davis Publishing from Ziff Davis, Inc. for $780 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2000.

Willis Stein has again teamed with James D. Dunning, Jr. who will serve as Chairman and CEO of the new Ziff-Davis Holdings LLC and Chairman of Ziff Davis Publishing. Mike Perlis will continue as President and CEO of Ziff-Davis Publishing. Ziff-Davis Publishing's offices will remain at its current location in New York.

Ziff-Davis Publishing publishes more than 80 worldwide publications which cover everything from the Internet economy to family computing and gaming. Ziff-Davis's major publications include PC Magazine, PC Week, PC Computing, Inter@ctive Week, and Yahoo! Internet Life. Willis Stein & Partners will use Ziff-Davis Publishing as a platform to launch new special interest magazines, acquire additional magazines and create ancillary businesses.

Avy Stein, Managing Partner of Willis Stein & Partners said, "Ziff-Davis is an extremely high quality publishing platform covering an important and rapidly growing sector of the economy. We are excited to be part of building upon its already excellent tradition. We are thrilled to be partnering again with Jim Dunning and building upon the success we achieved at Petersen Publishing. We look forward to working with the talented Ziff Davis Publishing management team and partnering with ZDNet and Ziff-Davis's other business ventures."