PC Magazine publisher files Chapter 11

Ziff Davis Media Inc., the publisher of PC Magazine, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court reorganization, according to an Associated Press story.

The AP story stated, “The company reaches 26 million consumers through 16 Web sites, three magazines and direct marketing. It is a remnant of a publishing empire established in the 1920s by William B. Ziff Sr. and Bernard G. Davis, who introduced such titles as Popular Aviation and Popular Electronics. In 1994, the Ziff family sold a 95 percent stake to private equity firm Forstmann Little & Co. for $1.4 billion. The following year, Softbank Corp. bought 70 percent of the company from Forstmann for $2.1 billion. Softbank in turn sold the company to another private equity firm, Willis Stein & Partners, in 2000.

“The bursting of the Internet bubble hurt publishers like Ziff Davis, which said its print advertising revenue dropped to $40 million last year from $215 million in 2001. Its total revenue fell to $76 million last year from about $300 million in 2001.

“Young said the company was focused on growing the online side of its business and that it has made progress over the past seven years to generate a growing share of its revenue from digital businesses over traditional print publications.”

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