Communications company Ziff Davis has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its entire communications business, including nearly half a dozen international fixed broadband, mobile and Wi-Fi brands and incident detection networks, to Accenture for $1.2 billion, the company said Tuesday.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis is the parent company of CNET.
Included in the deal is DownDetector, OklaSpeedtest, Ekahau and RootMetrics and all their assets. Ziff Davis reports that these brands generated $231 million in revenue in 2025, representing 16% of the company’s total cash flow.
Ziff Davis has owned the communications brands since the original purchase of Ookla in 2014. Other brands, including DownDetector, Ekahau and RootMetrics, have been acquired over the years.
On Tuesday’s earnings call, Ziff Davis CEO Vivek Shah acknowledged that asset sales “have not historically been common” at the company, but touted the communications unit as a success that provides a strong return on investment.
Shah also noted that Ziff Davis sees opportunity in its core business in digital media markets.
“We believe that fear in digital media markets presents us with a number of opportunities,” Shah said. “Because we were a company that successfully made the transition from analog to digital, we believe we have the people, platforms and experience to make the transition from artificial intelligence.”
Although Ziff Davis and Accenture have completed the deal, it will take several months to close. In the meantime, Ziff Davis will continue to operate the communications business as usual.
Once the deal is completed, Ziff Davis said it will use the proceeds of the sale for “general corporate purposes” and to “fund active capital distribution activities” consistent with outstanding debt.
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