About Ziff Davis

Ziff Davis, Inc. and its subsidiaries (Ziff Davis) operate as a vertically focused digital media and internet company whose portfolio includes leading brands in technology, shopping, gaming and entertainment, connectivity, health, cybersecurity, and martech. Segments The company operates through two reportable segments: Digital Media; and Cybersecurity and Martech. The company’s Digital Media business specializes in the technology, shopping, gaming and entertainment, connectivity, and healthcare markets, offering content, tools, and services to consumers and businesses. The company’s Cybersecurity and Martech business provides cloud-based subscription services to consumers and businesses, including cybersecurity, privacy, and marketing technology. The company’s Digital Media business generates revenues from advertising and sponsorships, subscriptions, performance marketing, and licensing fees. This business also generates revenues from the sale of display and video advertising; customer clicks to online merchants, and commissions on sales attributed to clicks to online merchants; the sale of content, including advertising, data, and lead generation information to clients; and the sale of subscription services to consumers and businesses. The company’s Cybersecurity and Martech business generates revenues primarily from customer subscription and usage fees. The company’s consolidated revenues are generated primarily from two basic business models, each with a different financial profile and variability. The company’s Digital Media business is driven primarily by advertising revenues, has relatively higher sales and marketing expenses, and has seasonal strength in the fourth quarter. The company’s Cybersecurity and Martech business is driven by subscription revenues (including usage fees), with relatively stable and predictable margins from quarter to quarter. Mergers and Acquisitions In addition to growing the company’s business organically, the company regularly acquires businesses to grow its customer bases, expand and diversify the company’s service offerings, enhance the company’s technologies, acquire skilled personnel, and enter into new markets. Digital Media The company’s Digital Media business operates a portfolio of web properties and apps, which includes IGN, RetailMeNot, Mashable, PCMag, Humble Bundle, Speedtest, Offers.com, Black Friday, Medpage Today, Everyday Health, BabyCenter, and What to Expect, among others. The company’s properties provide trusted reviews of technology, shopping, gaming, and entertainment products and services; news and commentary related to their vertical markets; professional networking tools, targeted emails, and white papers for IT professionals; speed testing and the related data for internet and mobile network connections; online deals and discounts for consumers; news, interactive tools, and mobile applications that enable consumers to manage a broad array of health and wellness needs on a daily basis, including medical conditions, pregnancy, diet, and fitness; and news, tools, and information for healthcare professionals to stay abreast of industry, legislative, regulatory, and continuing education developments across major medical specialties. The company’s Digital Media business generates revenues from advertising, subscription and licensing, and other sources, as described below. Advertising - The company sells online display and video advertising on the company’s owned-and-operated web properties and on third-party sites, as well as email marketing for the products of advertisers. The company has contractual arrangements with advertisers either directly or through agencies. The terms of these contracts specify the price of the advertising to be sold and the volume of advertisements that will be served over the course of a campaign. Additionally, the company has contractual arrangements with certain third-party websites not owned by the company, and third-party advertising networks to deliver online display and video advertising to their websites or to third-party sites. The company generates leads for vendors of consumer health and wellness products and consumer packaged goods through online user registration. The company also generates business-to-business leads for IT vendors through the marketing of content, including white papers and webinars, and offer additional lead qualification and nurturing services. On the consumer side, the company generates clicks to online merchants by promoting deals and discounts on the company’s web properties. Subscription and Licensing - The company primarily offers subscription and licensing services to businesses for Speedtest Intelligence, which offers up-to-date insights into global fixed broadband and mobile performance data, as well as monthly subscription packages to consumers through the Lose It! weight loss app and through Humble Bundle. The company generates revenue from the sale of perpetual software licenses, related software support, and maintenance used in conjunction with the software and other related services. The company licenses its proprietary technology, data, and intellectual property to third parties for various purposes. For instance, the company licenses the right to use PCMag’s ‘Editors’ Choice’ logo and other copyrighted editorial content to businesses whose products have earned such distinction. Other - Other revenues primarily include those from the sale of hardware used in conjunction with software, online course revenue, and game publishing revenue. The company’s Digital Media properties and services include the following five primary platforms: (1) technology, (2) shopping, (3) gaming and entertainment, (4) connectivity, and (5) health and wellness. The company continues to seek opportunities to acquire additional web properties, both within and outside of these platforms, with the intention of monetizing their audiences and content through application of the company’s proprietary technologies and insight. Technology The company’s technology platform includes online publishers, as well as tools and services tailored to consumers, professionals, and organizations looking for technological expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. The company expects its brands to deliver deeply researched, current, and authentic content, data, and services related to technology, culture, and the internet. The company’s technology brands include PCMag (which celebrated its 41st anniversary in 2023), Mashable, and Spiceworks Ziff Davis. The company’s publishing brands (including PCMag) are an online resource for laboratory-based product reviews, technology news, buying guides, and research papers. The company also operates one of the longest-running independent testing facilities for consumer technology products. Founded in 1984, the company’s lab produces unbiased technology product and service reviews, and PCMag’s ‘Editor’s Choice’ award is recognized globally as a trusted mark for buyers and sellers of technology products and services. The company’s publishing sites are also recognized as trusted global sources of stories for more than a dozen platforms, including Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Facebook. The company also provides digital content for buyers of IT products and services, allowing IT vendors to identify, reach, and influence corporate IT decision makers who are actively researching specific IT purchases. Mashable is a trusted global media brand publishing premium content for individuals interested in technology and culture. Mashable produces stories for more than a dozen platforms, including Snapchat, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Facebook. Spiceworks Ziff Davis provides digital content for buyers of IT products and services, allowing IT vendors to identify, reach, and influence corporate IT decision makers who are actively researching specific IT purchases. Shopping The company’s shopping properties include RetailMeNot, Offers.com, and a collection of event-based commerce sites that seek to influence online purchasing decisions across an array of categories. The company’s flagship savings destination, RetailMeNot, seeks to influence consumer purchase decisions through savings and discount opportunities by connecting retail partners with national and international brands with consumer shopping audiences. RetailMeNot’s promotional media solutions include mobile coupons and codes, and cash back offers across web, app, and browser extensions. Offers.com is a coupons and deals website featuring offers from more than 25,000 of the internet’s more popular stores and brands. Offers.com’s objective is to help consumers find the best deals on the web. Additionally, Offers.com employs a process to verify that its coupon codes work, saving consumers time and money. The company’s event-based properties, BlackFriday.com, TheBlackFriday.com, BestBlackFriday.com, and DealsofAmerica.com are resources for shoppers to find the best deals and offers from retailers during the height of the holiday shopping season. Gaming and Entertainment The company’s gaming properties include IGN Entertainment and Humble Bundle. IGN Entertainment is an internet media brand focused on the video game and entertainment enthusiast markets. IGN reaches more than 325 million monthly users across 35 platforms and is followed by more than 50 million social and YouTube followers. The company’s Humble Bundle business is a digital subscription and storefront for video games, ebooks, and software. Customers purchase monthly subscriptions, product bundles, and individual products through the company’s website. Revenue is also generated from the direct sale and distribution of video games in which Humble Bundle is the publisher. In addition, raising money for charity is a core mission for Humble Bundle. Each product sale transaction at Humble Bundle results in a charitable contribution. Connectivity Several of the company’s data and services businesses sit at the center of the broadband economy and are some of the most popular sources of information on internet connectivity. Ookla provides customers with fixed broadband, mobile network, and Wi-Fi testing applications, analysis, and insights. Over eleven million tests are actively initiated by users each day across all of Ookla’s platforms using Speedtest, with more than 50 billion tests completed to date. As a result of this capability and other solutions used to collect quality-of-experience data, Ookla provides comprehensive insights into worldwide internet performance and accessibility, through broadband, mobile, and Wi-Fi networks. Ookla solutions have been adopted by a significant number of internet service providers, mobile service providers, enterprise Wi-Fi systems integrators, and regulatory bodies worldwide. In addition to Speedtest, Ookla offers its customers actionable insights, solutions, and services under the Ekahau, Downdetector, and RootMetrics brands. The company’s Ekahau products and services provide business solutions to design, optimize, and manage Wi-Fi, Private 4G, and Private 5G networks using specially developed technology and software to meet the performance objectives of these networks. Downdetector offers real-time status information and tracks outages for services and digital products that consumers and businesses use every day. Downdetector aims to track any service that its users consider vital to their everyday lives, including (but not limited to) internet providers, applications, mobile service providers, airlines, banks, public transport systems, and other online services. RootMetrics is an industry leader in the provision of drive testing solutions and performance benchmarking of mobile service providers in the United States and the United Kingdom, providing actionable insights on the quality, reliability, and performance of voice, messaging, and data services. Health and Wellness Everyday Health Group (‘EHG’) operates a portfolio of properties focused on driving better clinical and health outcomes through decision-making informed by highly relevant information, data, and analytics. The EHG portfolio includes a collection of interactive tools and mobile applications that are designed to enable consumers to manage a broad array of health and wellness needs on a daily basis, including medical conditions, pregnancy, diet, and fitness. The EHG portfolio also includes educational and professional development services, news, and information for healthcare professionals to stay abreast of industry, legislative, regulatory, and continuing education developments across major medical specialties. EHG is organized around three audiences: (1) Health and Wellness Consumers, (2) Pregnancy & Parenting, and (3) Healthcare Professionals. Health and Wellness Consumers Consumer-focused properties include digital content and information services ranging from interactive guides, resource centers, special reports, community health tip sharing, newsletters, self-assessment tools, healthcare finders, e-courses, and lifestyle programs. Everyday Health, the company’s flagship brand, features medically reviewed, award-winning editorial content designed to inspire and enable the active management of health and wellness daily. In addition to Everyday Health and other EHG-owned and operated consumer websites and applications, including DailyOM, Lose It!, Diabetes Daily, and Migraine Again, EHG provides advertisers access to the Everyday Health Trusted Care Access Portfolio (‘TCAP’) of digital health properties. TCAP features digital properties of two of the most world-renowned medical centers, to which Everyday Health holds exclusive advertising representation rights. Castle Connolly, a premier brand in healthcare provided research and rankings, publishes the renowned peer-reviewed Castle Connolly Top Doctors series. Pregnancy & Parenting EHG’s pregnancy and parenting properties support millions of families across 31 global websites and mobile apps in seven different languages. The company’s BabyCenter brand is a leading global digital pregnancy and parenting resource delivered via websites, mobile apps, and online communities. The company’s Emma’s Diary brand provides pregnant women and new parents with information and support in the United Kingdom. The company also operates the digital properties for the What to Expect brand, a leading pregnancy and parenting media resource, based on the best-selling pregnancy book What to Expect When You’re Expecting by author Heidi Murkoff. Healthcare Professionals For healthcare professionals, the company provides digital content that is designed to enable healthcare professionals to stay abreast of clinical, industry, legislative, and regulatory developments across most major medical specialties. The company’s flagship professional property, Medpage Today, delivers daily breaking medical news across major medical specialties and major public policy developments from Washington D.C. Medpage Today coordinates with leading researchers, clinicians, and academic medical centers to aid in gathering in-depth information for its coverage. Medpage Today has been recognized with awards from prestigious healthcare organizations, including the American Society of Healthcare Business Editors, the National Institute for Healthcare Management, and eHealthcare. EHG offers accredited continuing medical education (‘CME’) and continuing education (‘CE’) programs to healthcare professionals through the company’s PRIME Education business. PRIME is nationally recognized for its research-informed approach to CME and CE programs across a wide range of therapeutic areas. In numerous peer-reviewed publications, PRIME has demonstrated the impact of its work through measurably improving health care outcomes. In 2023, PRIME received the prestigious Outstanding Educational Collaboration award from the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions. The company’s Health eCareers business provides a digital portal to connect physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified registered nurse anesthetists with jobs in every medical specialty. Health eCareers contracts with thousands of healthcare employers across the United States and an exclusive network of healthcare associations and community partners seeking connections to qualified healthcare professionals to fill open positions. Competition The company’s digital media business competes with (i) diversified internet and digital media companies like IAC, Future PLC, Red Ventures, Penske Media, Integrated Media, and Internet Brands; (ii) vertical-specific digital media companies like RVO Health, TechTarget, Vox Media, Centerfield, Doximity, and Fandom; and (iii) other large sellers of advertising including Alphabet, Meta, Snap, Twitch, and others. Cybersecurity and Martech segment The company’s Cybersecurity and Martech business provides subscription based, software-as-a-service (‘SaaS’) solutions, with relatively stable and predictable revenue and margins from quarter to quarter. The company generates substantially all of its Cybersecurity and Martech revenues from ‘fixed’ subscription revenues for customer subscriptions and, to a lesser extent, ‘variable’ usage revenues generated from actual usage by the company’s subscribers. Consumers and businesses of all sizes are increasingly subscribing to cloud-based services to meet their communication, messaging, security, privacy, customer marketing, and other needs. The company’s Cybersecurity and Martech services represent a model for delivering and consuming real time business technology services, resources and solutions over the internet. Their goal is to reduce or eliminate costs, increase sales and enhance productivity, mobility, business continuity, and security. The company markets its Cybersecurity and Martech offerings to a broad spectrum of prospective business customers, including sole proprietors and small to medium-sized businesses and enterprises. The company also markets its Cybersecurity and Martech offerings to consumers. The company’s marketing efforts include enhancing brand awareness; utilizing online advertising, search engines, and affiliate programs; selling through both a telesales and direct sales force; and working with resellers and other channel partners. The company continuously seeks to extend the number of distribution channels through which the company acquires paying customers and improve the cost and volume of customers obtained through the company’s channels. The company’s Cybersecurity and Martech business operates as the VIPRE Security Group and the MOZ Group, respectively. VIPRE Security Group The VIPRE Security Group’s offerings include endpoint and email security, security awareness training, secure backup and file sharing, and virtual private network solutions. The company offers these services to consumers who are worried about their digital safety and security of personal information online, and to small businesses and mid-sized enterprises who want advanced cyber threat protection. The VIPRE Security Group offers its services under the following brands. IPVanish offers one of the fastest virtual private network services in the industry. Virtual private network services encrypt user’s data and activity on the internet, enabling users to browse the internet more securely and anonymously, and without restriction. VIPRE software solutions are designed to protect people and businesses from costly and malicious cyber threats. VIPRE offerings include comprehensive endpoint and email security, along with threat intelligence for real-time malware analysis. Livedrive provides online backup and synchronized storage features for professionals and individuals and is designed to allow customers with an internet connection to access their files from virtually anywhere at any time. Inspired eLearning’s SaaS platform for cybersecurity awareness and compliance training helps enterprises protect their organizations by reducing human-related cybersecurity and workplace incidents. SugarSync provides online file backup, synchronization and sharing of a customer’s documents, photos, music, and movies across a customer’s desktops, laptops, mobile, and other devices. MOZ Group The MOZ Group’s offerings include email marketing and delivery solutions, search engine optimization tools, and voice and text communication services. The company offers these services to sole proprietors, small businesses, and mid-sized enterprises, enabling them to connect directly with their customers and grow the revenue of their businesses. These services represent more efficient and less expensive solutions than many existing alternatives, and provide increased security, privacy, flexibility, and mobility. The MOZ Group offers its services under the following brands. Campaigner, iContact, SMTP, and Kickbox provide email marketing solutions to help small, medium, and large businesses strengthen customer relationships and drive sales through professional email campaign creation, advanced list management, segmentation tools, verification tools, marketing automation, attribution reports, campaign tracking, and targeted email auto responders and workflows. MOZ Pro, MOZ Local, and Stat Analytics offer search engine optimization services that are used to help understand and improve traffic, rankings, and visibility in search results. eVoice is a virtual phone system that provides small and medium-sized businesses with on-demand voice communications services. Customers can assign departmental and individual extensions that can connect to multiple numbers, including landline and mobile phones and IP networks, and can enhance reachability through ‘find me/follow me’ capabilities. These services also include advanced integrated voicemail for each extension. Line2 is a cloud phone service, which allows users to add a second line to a mobile device. Line2 enables users to separate work and personal calls on a single device and includes standard business phone service features such as SMS, MMS, auto attendant, call routing, call forwarding, voicemail, call queue, and toll-free and vanity numbers. Competition The company’s online cybersecurity solutions compete against publicly-traded and privately-held providers of cybersecurity solutions and related software, such as Palo Alto Networks, Crowdstrike, Proofpoint, Gen Digital Inc., Kape Technologies, KnowBe4, and Malwarebytes. The company’s marketing technology solutions compete directly with various providers of search engine optimization technology and communication platforms that provide email and voice-related services to small- and medium-sized businesses, including companies like SEMRush, MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, and Dialpad. The company’s Cybersecurity and Martech business also competes against diversified and acquisitive vertical market software providers like Constellation Software and Tyler Technologies. Seasonality Revenues associated with the company’s Digital Media business are subject to seasonal fluctuations, becoming most active during the fourth quarter (year ended December 2023) holiday period due to increased retail activity. The company’s Cybersecurity and Martech revenues are impacted by the number of effective business days in a given period. The company traditionally experiences lower than average Cybersecurity and Martech usage and customer sign-ups in the fourth quarter. Patents and Proprietary Rights The company owns and uses a number of trademarks in connection with the company’s services, including word and/or logo trademarks for IGN, Everyday Health, BabyCenter, Humble Bundle, PCMag, Mashable, Ookla, Speedtest, and RetailMeNot, among others. Many of these trademarks are registered worldwide, and numerous trademark applications are pending around the world. The company holds numerous internet domain names, including ‘everydayhealth.com’, ‘retailmenot.com’, ‘pcmag.com’, ‘ign.com’, ‘speedtest.net’, ‘offers.com’, ‘humblebundle.com’, ‘mashable.com’, and ‘babycenter.com’, among others. The company has filed to protect its rights to the company’s brands in certain alternative top-level domains, such as ‘.org’, ‘.net’, ‘.biz’, ‘.info’, and ‘.us’, among others. Government Regulation The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘DMCA’) and portions of the Communications Decency Act (‘CDA’) limit the liability of eligible online service providers for listing or linking to third-party websites that include materials that infringe copyrights or other rights of others, or hosting third-party content, and the company relies on these protections in conducting the company’s business. The company is also subject to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (‘COPPA’), which imposes restrictions on the ability of online services to collect certain types of information from children under the age of 13. In addition, the Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology to Eradicate Cyber Threats to Our Children Act of 2008 (‘PROTECT Act’) requires the company to report evidence of violations of federal child pornography laws under certain circumstances, and there are state and international laws that impose similar requirements on the company. The company’s use of email, SMS or phone calls as a significant means of communicating is subject to numerous laws and regulations worldwide, such as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (the ‘CAN-SPAM Act’); the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (‘TCPA’); and their state and international equivalents. The company’s healthcare-related offerings mean that the company is in some cases subject to a variety of healthcare privacy laws and regulations at the federal, state, and international levels. For example, the Privacy Standards and Security Standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (‘HIPAA’) establish a set of basic national privacy and security standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information that the company must adhere to. In connection with the company’s Cybersecurity and Martech business, the company utilizes data transmissions over public telephone lines and other facilities provided by third-party carriers. These transmissions are subject to foreign and domestic laws, regulations, and requirements by the Federal Communications Commission, state public utility commissions, foreign governmental authorities, and industry trade associations, such as the CTIA. Research and Development The company’s research, development, and engineering expenditures were $68.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. History The company was incorporated in 2014 as a Delaware corporation. It was formerly known as j2 Global, Inc. and changed its name to Ziff Davis, Inc. in 2021.