Ziff Davis Inc
🔔 Watch stock
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
Why this colour
The traffic light judges the company, not the share price. There is no documented substance problem: equity stood at $1,721.5 million on March 31, 2026 and rises to $2,404.3 million in the pro forma balance sheet after the sale, the equity ratio is 50.7 percent, cash exceeds debt by roughly $809.6 million, there is no indication of a going-concern issue, no listing risk, and KPMG issued an unqualified opinion on February 24, 2026. What is open is the core operating question: the company's own pro forma statements of June 22, 2026 show a loss in continuing operations in all three years from 2023 to 2025 (minus 14.0, minus 1.8 and minus 9.8 million), growth came from acquisitions according to the annual report ($83.2 million of incremental revenue in 2024 against $37.7 million of total growth), and $540.0 million of goodwill sits in a segment whose operating income halved to $28.6 million in 2025. On top of that comes the structural risk from generative AI named in the company's own risk report. Hence yellow: plenty of substance, unproven earnings power.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
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.
Earnings power of continuing operations
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.
Growth without acquisitions
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.
Cash generation and gross margin
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.
Balance sheet after the sale
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.
Goodwill and impairment risk
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.
Structural market risk from AI
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.
Worth Noting
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.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at ZD since then.
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Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 26.50 $ to 59.20 $ · Last price: 59.10 $ (As of: September 17, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 09/18/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
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.
Comparison
Industry comparison
The stock alongside the largest companies in the same group. The median row is the middle value of the companies shown above — not of the whole industry.
Industry: Advertising Agencies
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ziff Davis Inc ZD | 2.1 | – | 5.0 | 85.0 | 1.1 | 3.5 | 54.1 |
| Applovin Corp APP | 108.6 | 28.8 | 19.6 | 88.5 | 78.1 | 70.0 | -47.0 |
| Omnicom Group Inc OMC | 22.3 | – | 17.5 | 19.0 | 11.9 | 10.1 | 5.8 |
| QMMM Holdings Limited QMMM | 6.8 | – | 0.0 | 0.8 | -114.9 | -3.9 | 2,245.8 |
| Trade Desk Inc TTD | 6.6 | 15.8 | 8.4 | 76.9 | 9.7 | 18.5 | -68.6 |
| Magnite Inc MGNI | 3.6 | 26.4 | 20.5 | 64.8 | 4.7 | 6.9 | 7.5 |
| Liftoff Mobile, Inc. LFTO | 2.9 | 133.6 | 14.2 | 86.2 | 41.8 | 32.1 | – |
| DoubleVerify Holdings Inc DV | 2.1 | 42.4 | 12.7 | 82.4 | 8.6 | 13.9 | 3.9 |
| Stagwell Inc STGW | 2.0 | – | 9.7 | 35.8 | – | 2.4 | 59.5 |
| Median of companies shown | 3.6 | 28.8 | 12.7 | 76.9 | 9.2 | 10.1 | 6.6 |
Based on the most recently reported figures. Only stocks from the same trading venue are lined up, so the market caps are counted in one currency. Compare in a chart →
Fiscal years
Annual Figures
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Revenue, operating income and net income per fiscal year $M
Revenue Operating income Net income
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 874 | 243 | 152 | 3.18 | 282 | 915 | 2,062 |
| 2017 | 1,118 | 246 | 139 | 2.86 | 264 | 1,020 | 2,453 |
| 2018 | 1,207 | 244 | 129 | 2.63 | 401 | 1,036 | 2,561 |
| 2019 | 1,372 | 277 | 219 | 4.46 | 413 | 1,311 | 3,506 |
| 2020 | 1,159 | 138 | 151 | 3.20 | 480 | 1,211 | 3,665 |
| 2021 | 1,417 | 167 | 497 | 10.38 | 516 | 1,968 | 3,770 |
| 2022 | 1,391 | 199 | 64 | 1.36 | 336 | 1,893 | 3,533 |
| 2023 | 1,364 | 133 | 42 | 0.89 | 320 | 1,893 | 3,471 |
| 2024 | 1,402 | 114 | 63 | 1.42 | 390 | 1,811 | 3,704 |
| 2025 | 1,451 | 204 | 47 | 1.15 | 407 | 1,754 | 3,663 |
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| 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 | 0.63 | -18.20 | 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 |
| 2026: Q2 | 17.16 | 2,623.80 | 287 | -18.60 | 217.80 | 89 | 54 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- 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.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 12 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Growth
Quality & Balance Sheet
Breakout & Setup
Momentum & Trend
- 21-EMA Trend
- Above the 50- & 200-SMA
- Oliver Kell: Strength on Down Day
- Power Trend
- Stan Weinstein: Stage 2
Research
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Outlook
Analysts & Price Target
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Distribution of Recommendations
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 5.15 | 4.85 – 5.34 | 1,190 | -22.4% | 6 |
| 12/31/2027 | 5.98 | 5.00 – 6.96 | 1,207 | 16.3% | 6 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Valuation
What is priced in?
Instead of guessing what the stock is worth, we turn the question around: what free cash flow growth has to happen for today’s market value to add up? The assumptions behind it can be moved.
Today’s market value implies roughly -7.6% growth in free cash flow per year over ten years (assumptions: discount rate 10.0%, terminal growth 2.5%).
| Free cash flow (last twelve months) | $316.7M |
|---|---|
| Market cap | $2.12B |
| Free cash flow in year ten | $143.1M |
| Terminal value as a share of market value | 35.5% |
For comparison: over the past five years free cash flow shrank by 5.6% per year.
It shows which assumption is built into today’s price, not whether that assumption will hold. Every assumption can be changed with the sliders; the figures move with them.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
Ziff 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.
10-K · 2026-02-24 · View SEC filing
„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.
10-Q · 2026-05-08 · View SEC filing
„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“).
10-K · 2026-02-24 · View SEC filing
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
Growth
Growth Score
Ten checks against the annual reports — each one passed counts a point.
- Revenue grows by more than 15% a year over three years 1.4%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year 1.7%
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year -4.4%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") 23.4%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 70.0%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 43.9%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA 0.9 x EBITDA
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 965 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago 7.9%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 3.5%
A criterion without figures counts neither as passed nor as failed; a score is only produced from 7 judgeable criteria upwards. Source: fundamental data. All ten criteria in detail
Quality check
AAQS
5/10The AAQS (AlleAktien Quality Score) checks 10 quality criteria on growth, profitability, and balance-sheet strength — per the methodology developed and published by AlleAktien, calculated by us from our own fundamental data. A stock counts as a quality stock from 9 out of 10 points. Where a company has a shorter listing history, we calculate over the fiscal years available (at least five).
- Sales growth 10Y > 5% 5.8%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% -8.8%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% -1.9%
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 127.9%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT 1.4x
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 10
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% 59.0%
- Return on equity > 15% –
- ROCE > 15% 7.9%
- Expected return > 10% 158.8%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
Insiders
Insider Transactions
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 18, 2026 | Kretzmer W Brian | Director | Sell | 2,513 | 55.31 | 138,994 |
| Aug 12, 2026 | Tansley Lori A. | Chief Accounting Officer | Sell | 1,400 | 54.76 | 76,664 |
| Aug 10, 2026 | Rossen Jeremy | EVP/General Counsel | Sell | 3,819 | 54.93 | 209,778 |
The company
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
- Address
- 360 Park Avenue South, 10010 New York, United States
- Phone
- 212 503 3500
- Website
- ziffdavis.com
- IPO Date
- 07/21/1999
- ISIN
- US48123V1026
- Stock Split
- 115:100 on 10/08/2021
- Stock Split
- 2:1 on 05/25/2006
- Stock Split
- 2:1 on 09/02/2003
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.
Filings
Company Filings (8-K)
An 8-K is the filing a US company must use to disclose material events immediately — takeovers, changes at the top, major contracts or payment troubles, for instance. The links open the original document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- 08/06/2026 ZIFF DAVIS, INC. (ZD): Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Regulation FD Disclosure; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
Data as of: September 17, 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.