Vulcan Ventures Buys Remaining Stake in ZDTV From ZD for $205 MM
By George Watson
TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com
Staff Reporter
11/19/99 11:42 AM ET
Ziff-Davis (ZD:NYSE) announced on Friday morning
that it is selling 64% of its stake in ZDTV, a 24-hour
cable TV channel that is integrated with the
Internet, to Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Ventures for
nearly $205 million.
The sale means Vulcan furthers its massive
expansion effort into cable TV as it now owns nearly
all of ZDTV -- Vulcan bought 33% of the company
nine months ago. Under the direction of Allen, the
billionaire co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq),
Vulcan has made its name acquiring a wide variety
of companies in multiple industries, but a strong
focus has been cable TV businesses like Charter
Communications (CHTR:Nasdaq), the fourth
largest in the nation.
Vulcan's new purchase is offered through 88 cable
operators and reaches more than 14 million U.S.
homes and should hit 16 million by the end of the
year. The cable TV channel and integrated Web site
is focused on computing, technology and the
Internet, encouraging interaction from viewers
through e-mail, live chats and video mail.
"ZDTV is a tremendous addition to Vulcan's portfolio
of companies," William Savoy, president of Vulcan,
said in a statement.
By selling its stake in ZDTV, Ziff-Davis continued
casting off businesses to try to boost its stock
price. Softbank, which owns Ziff-Davis, has said it
wants to concentrate on the Internet business and
has retained Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to look
into "strategic" options.
Recently, Ziff-Davis sold its education unit and
research division, bringing the total sales to nearly
$477 million. Still remaining for Ziff-Davis is its
computer magazine unit -- its largest business --
and a trade show division.
"They are probably selling those too," said Karl
Choi, an assistant vice president for Merrill Lynch
Global Securities. "They may be left with nothing
or with something. I don't think the company
knows.Choi rates Ziff-Davis intermediate-term
accumulate, long-term buy. His firm was a
co-leader in Ziff-Davis' initial public offering last year.
Shares for Ziff-Davis rose 3/8 to 17 1/8 in
late-morning trading. |
