Ziff-Davis Inc has continued the sell-off of its assets, announcing Monday that it has agreed to hand over its Ziff-Davis Publishing unit to private investment firm Willis Stein & Partners for $780m in cash. The move comes as part of a push by parent Softbank Corp to shed the loss making Ziff-Davis as the Japanese company focuses exclusively on its internet holdings. The publishing group includes PC Magazine and PC Week, among other titles.
The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2000, doesn’t include the ZDNet online unit, which will retain the rights to use content from the divested businesses for five years in exchange for royalty payments. Ziff has also retained its interest in Red Herring and its trade show business.
In July, Ziff said it had hired investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to explore its strategic options. Since then, the company has divested its market research unit for $106m and sold its education unit for $172m. Last month, it struck a deal to sell its 64% stake in ZDTV to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures for $205m.
