Ziff Davis NASDAQ: ZD reported a modest decline in first-quarter 2026 revenue from continuing operations, while management emphasized a broader shift in capital allocation that includes stock repurchases, selective acquisitions and potential asset monetization.
Chief Executive Officer Vivek Shah said the company’s historical approach has centered on “identifying, acquiring, and improving businesses,” but added that management believes the public market is not giving Ziff Davis “reasonable credit” for the value of its portfolio. Shah said the company’s response is not to abandon acquisitions, but to broaden its strategy.
“In simple terms, we see this as a pivot from our buy and hold past to a future in which active monetization represents a key tool in our pursuit of shareholder value creation,” Shah said.
The company is excluding its connectivity segment from continuing operations following the announced sale of that business, which Shah said is expected to close “in the coming months.” Chief Financial Officer Bret Richter later noted that Ziff Davis expects to provide updated leverage information after the transaction is finalized and the company receives the sale proceeds.
Revenue slips as tech and shopping remains under pressure
For the first quarter, Ziff Davis reported revenue from continuing operations of $267.6 million, down 1.9% from $272.8 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted EBITDA was $63.4 million, compared with $71.4 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 23.7% from 26.2%, and adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.73, compared with $0.77 in the first quarter of 2025.
Richter said the results were “largely consistent” with the company’s prior expectations, which called for revenue to be flat to slightly down year over year and adjusted EBITDA margins to decline by about three percentage points. He said adjusted diluted EPS benefited from a lower share count due to the company’s buyback activity.
Advertising and performance marketing revenue declined 5.1% year over year, while subscription and licensing revenue increased 1.9%. Other revenue increased by approximately $1.8 million.
Shah said total company revenue declined nearly 2%, reflecting a roughly 13% drop in tech and shopping that was partly offset by nearly 3% growth across the rest of the business. The tech and shopping segment continued to face expected traffic pressure affecting affiliate commerce and programmatic display advertising. Those declines were partially offset by off-platform monetization, licensing and sponsored content.
Shah said social video views across the company’s shopping group rose more than 75% year over year across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. He added that the sequential revenue decline in tech and shopping improved and that the company expects each successive quarter in 2026 to compare better year over year than the prior quarter.
Gaming grows, health mixed and cybersecurity advances
Ziff Davis reported a stronger quarter in gaming and entertainment, with revenue up more than 7%. Shah attributed the increase to a record quarter at Humble Bundle and growth in subscription and performance marketing revenue. He also said Map Genie, IGN’s map tools destination for gamers, increased views by 24% in the quarter.
Health and wellness revenue was up only slightly year over year. Shah said consumer pharmaceutical advertising was strong, helped by GLP-1 advertising and positive reception for Halo, the company’s AI-powered data activation tool. Lose It!, the company’s AI-powered weight and nutrition management app, posted record first-quarter revenue, and PRIME, its continuing medical education business, also delivered record first-quarter revenue.
However, Shah said healthcare professional advertising on MedPage Today declined due to booking delays among certain key pharmaceutical clients. He said bookings for the balance of the year are improving. Pregnancy and parenting revenue also declined due to lower traffic-related programmatic and affiliate commerce revenue.
Cybersecurity and MarTech revenue grew nearly 4% year over year, driven by cybersecurity. Shah highlighted the launch of Threat Protection Pro for IPVanish and a product integration between VIPRE Security’s PhishProof and Docebo.
Management outlines active portfolio approach
Shah said Ziff Davis will continue to pursue transactions that can highlight the value of its businesses. He said the market appears to be assigning “a very low multiple” to the adjusted EBITDA of the company’s remaining portfolio after accounting for expected cash proceeds from the connectivity sale.
In response to an analyst question, Shah said asset monetization is now an “ongoing tool” for the company. He said Ziff Davis may hold assets longer if public market valuations recover, but described the portfolio as “dynamic and ultimately optimized for shareholder value.”
Richter said the company remains open to multiple types of transactions and structures, depending on where management sees a gap between public market value and private market value.
Ziff Davis also continues to repurchase stock. Richter said the company bought back approximately 1.2 million shares during the first quarter under a 10b5-1 plan and deployed $51.6 million related to share repurchases, including stock-based compensation net share settlements. Since April 1, the company has repurchased about 560,000 additional shares in the open market. Since the start of its current buyback program in mid-2020, Ziff Davis has repurchased more than 15 million shares.
Company adds media brands and expands use of AI
Shah said Ziff Davis recently acquired several brands, including Popular Science, Dwell, Domino and The Business of Home, at an adjusted EBITDA multiple that is accretive to Ziff Davis’s own. He said Popular Science will be incorporated into the company’s tech group and described the home and lifestyle brands as having strong social footprints.
“I’m a big believer in the value of brands,” Shah said, noting that it is difficult in the current market to build well-known media brands from scratch.
Management also highlighted the growing role of artificial intelligence across the company. Shah said AI is increasingly central to product and engineering work, helping draft requirements, propose architecture and generate code and tests. He said development cycles that previously took weeks are being compressed into days.
In response to analyst questions, Shah said AI is showing up in customer-facing products such as Lose It!, VIPRE, Halo, Clara and IMAGINE, as well as in faster product development. He said the company sees value either through cost savings or through accelerated product delivery, depending on the depth of the product pipeline in a given business.
Ziff Davis withholds annual guidance
Ziff Davis is not providing annual guidance for fiscal 2026, citing its ongoing exploration of value-creating opportunities. However, Richter said second-quarter results from continuing operations are expected to largely resemble first-quarter performance, with revenue down at a slightly higher year-over-year rate than in the first quarter and a similar year-over-year decline in adjusted EBITDA margins.
For the second half of 2026, Richter said the company’s goal is to return to year-over-year revenue growth from continuing operations, with the fourth quarter stronger than the third. He said that would require improvement in the rate of decline in tech and shopping, along with modest overall growth from gaming and entertainment, health and wellness, and cybersecurity and MarTech.
Richter said margins remain a focus, particularly because the connectivity business had the highest adjusted EBITDA margin percentage in the company’s portfolio. He said Ziff Davis will look for opportunities to improve post-transaction margins through new practices and the use of AI.
As of the end of the first quarter, Ziff Davis had $520 million in cash and cash equivalents and $100 million in long-term investments, excluding approximately $26 million of cash and cash equivalents associated with the connectivity business.
About Ziff Davis NASDAQ: ZD
Ziff Davis, Inc is a digital media and internet company that operates a diverse portfolio of online brands, subscription-based services and performance marketing platforms. The company specializes in technology publishing and digital marketing solutions, offering content, reviews and insights tailored to consumer and enterprise audiences. Ziff Davis's flagship media properties include PCMag, which provides expert reviews and comparisons of consumer electronics and software, as well as IGN, a leading destination for gaming news, reviews and entertainment coverage.
Founded in 1927 by William B.
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