Our Take
While competitors retreat from digital media, Ziff Davis deploys its $1.2B Accenture windfall to buy discounted assets from portfolios in forced liquidation.
Why it matters
The deal signals consolidation opportunities as private equity-backed media companies shed non-core assets. Digital media M&A remains active for buyers with cash despite broader market retreat.
Do this week
Media operators: audit your portfolio for non-core assets before distressed sales force fire-sale pricing by year-end.
Ziff Davis picks up four brands for estimated $20M
Ziff Davis acquired Dwell, Domino, Business of Home, and PopSci from Recurrent Ventures, with one M&A executive familiar with the sector estimating the price at under $20 million. The three home brands will form a new lifestyle group led by Business of Home founder Julia Noran Johnston, while PopSci joins the technology division alongside CNET and Mashable.
All staff at the four titles will be retained. The deal extends Ziff Davis's acquisition spree: Lifehacker from G/O Media in 2023, CNET from Red Ventures for over $100 million in 2024, and theSkimm in March 2025. The company has acquisition capital after selling its Connectivity division to Accenture for $1.2 billion in March.
For Recurrent Ventures, the sale continues a years-long contraction. The company raised $300 million from Blackstone in May 2022 for acquisitions, but the financing became restrictive as ad markets deteriorated and the private equity firm gained veto power over deals. Since then, Recurrent has shed Mel Magazine, Saveur, and Field & Stream while cycling through multiple CEOs and conducting layoffs.
Cash buyers exploit portfolio liquidations
The acquisition demonstrates how well-capitalized media companies can expand at discount prices while competitors retreat. Ziff Davis historically targeted male audiences in technology and gaming; the lifestyle group represents entry into food, decor, fitness, fashion, and beauty categories where the company previously had no presence.
The company's thesis centers on brand value as AI-generated content proliferates online. Dwell, Domino, and Business of Home have loyal design and architecture followings, while PopSci, founded in 1872, claims status as one of America's oldest continuously running editorial outlets.
Recurrent's retained portfolio now focuses on military brands (Task & Purpose, We Are the Mighty, The War Zone) and auto titles (Donut, Real Mechanic, The Drive), plus Outdoor Life and Futurism. CEO Andrew Perlman framed the divestiture as strategic narrowing rather than distressed selling, citing demographic and advertiser misalignment.
Scale depends on continued acquisitions
Johnston has been given a mandate to keep buying for the lifestyle group, according to a person familiar with the strategy. Whether Ziff Davis can build meaningful scale around three home brands depends on execution of additional acquisitions in an environment where strategic buyers have largely exited.
The deal structure reflects broader digital media dynamics: private equity-backed portfolios shedding non-core assets while strategic acquirers with cash capitalize on forced sales. Most strategic buyers have retreated from digital media M&A, creating opportunities for the few remaining active purchasers.