11/17 09:32 Ziff-Davis Announces $172 Million Sale of ZD Education to <ZD.N>
ZDZ.N><HHS.N>
Ziff-Davis Announces $172 Million Sale of ZD Education to Affiliate
of U.S. Equity Partners, LP
NEW YORK, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Ziff-Davis Inc. (NYSE: ZD and ZDZ) announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its business-to-business IT learning organization, ZD Education, for $172 million cash to a company formed by U.S. Equity Partners, LP. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2000. U.S. Equity Partners is a private equity fund managed by Wasserstein Perella Group, Inc.
"ZD Education provides an excellent platform for growth in the technology learning marketplace, and Wasserstein Perella has a proven track record in building businesses," said Eric Hippeau, chairman and CEO of Ziff-Davis Inc. "This announcement further highlights the intrinsic value of another of ZD's assets. We are very pleased with how our strategic process is proceeding and we are confident that our continuing objective of maximizing value for our shareholders will be realized."
"U.S. Equity Partners' acquisition of ZD Education represents a significant step in our continuing strategy to invest in companies that are positioned to be long-term leaders in online business-to-business services," said Bruce Wasserstein, Chairman and CEO of Wasserstein Perella.
SmartPlanet.com, a web-based personal learning community launched recently by Ziff-Davis, is not included in the transaction. Ziff-Davis announced in July that it had retained Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to explore strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. ZD's former Market Intelligence business unit was sold to Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE: HHS) on October 4, 1999 for $106 million as part of this process.
About ZD Education
As a leading provider of integrated IT learning solutions to enhance business productivity, ZD Education offers over 8,000 corporate and government customers access to more than 500 course titles for desktop applications, networking, application development, client-server technologies, and Internet technologies. ZD Education provides both online and instructor-led programs focused on Internet and computer training and support that are used to train over two million people each year. ZD Education's first mover advantage in the exploding online IT training business has enabled the company to gain market leadership with over 140,000 current paid subscribers, up from 80,000 at the end of 1998.
About Ziff-Davis Inc.
Ziff-Davis Inc. is a leading media and marketing company focused on computing and Internet-related technologies, with principal platforms in print publishing, trade shows and conferences, online content, television and education. Ziff-Davis provides global technology companies with marketing strategies for reaching key decision-makers. Ziff-Davis has two series of common stock, one which is intended to track the performance of its Internet business ZDNet (NYSE: ZDZ), and one which is intended to track the performance of the ZD Group (NYSE: ZD), which includes print publishing, trade shows and conferences, education, online learning and television businesses, and a retained interest in ZDNet.
About U.S. Equities Partners, LP
U.S. Equity Partners, L.P. is a private equity investment fund, managed by Wasserstein Perella Group, Inc. Wasserstein Perella is a leading international investment bank that provides its clients with advisory services, equity and debt underwriting, merchant banking and other asset management services world-wide. In 1997, U.S. Equity Partners acquired the legal publishing division of American Lawyer Media, L.P. (ALM) and the National Law Publishing Company, creating the nation's largest legal journalism organization. In 1999, U.S. Equity Partners formed law.com, the leading Internet service for the legal community.
This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Although Ziff-Davis Inc. believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those expectations. Important cautionary statements and risk factors that would affect actual results are discussed in materials filed by Ziff-Davis Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Registration Statement on Form S-1, which became effective March 30, 1999, and the Form S-3, which became effective October 29, 1999. Holders of ZD Group Stock and ZDNet Stock are common stockholders of Ziff-Davis Inc. and are subject to the risks associated with an investment in Ziff-Davis Inc. and all of its businesses, assets and liabilities. Although Ziff-Davis Inc. has hired Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to explore strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, there can be no assurance that additional transactions will result from that exploration process. SOURCE Ziff-Davis Inc.
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/CONTACT: Investors: Robert Borchert, Director - IR of Ziff-Davis, 212- 503-3505, robertborchert@zd.com; Media: Evan Goetz of Morgen-Walke Associates, 212-850-5639, or evan@morgenwalke.com, for Ziff-Davis/
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/Web site: www.zdnet.com/ -- NYW039 -- 7207 11/17/1999 09:12 EST prnewswire.com Copyright PR Newswire 1998. All rights reserved.
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