Monday, July 31, 2006
Ziff Davis For Sale
BREAKING NEWS: Ziff Davis Owner Officially Seeks Sale
Folio: reports that Ziff Davis owner Willis Stein & Partners will sell the tech publisher "if it gets the price it wants." The B2B M&A space is now officially overcrowded with sellers, and is starting to look a bit like the residential home market. Can anyone say "M&A Bubble?"
According to my quick guesstimates, Ziff Davis will certainly be looking for an EBITDA multiple based on future results, since a generous 12x multiple of potential 2006 EBITDA wouldn't value the company at much more than $240 million, almost $130 million less than its debt load. (Six month EBITDA in 2006 is $8.4 million, and I could be highly underestimating EBITDA performance over the next six months, but then again, I might not be).
UPDATE: Rafat's take, here: "The play I have heard for a while is that the three main divisions within the firm might be broken up: the games books, which have seen a brutal decline on the print side are the most troubled (the online side with 1Up.com is doing well); then the enterprise division, and the consumer/small business group."
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Folio: reports that Ziff Davis owner Willis Stein & Partners will sell the tech publisher "if it gets the price it wants." The B2B M&A space is now officially overcrowded with sellers, and is starting to look a bit like the residential home market. Can anyone say "M&A Bubble?"
According to my quick guesstimates, Ziff Davis will certainly be looking for an EBITDA multiple based on future results, since a generous 12x multiple of potential 2006 EBITDA wouldn't value the company at much more than $240 million, almost $130 million less than its debt load. (Six month EBITDA in 2006 is $8.4 million, and I could be highly underestimating EBITDA performance over the next six months, but then again, I might not be).
UPDATE: Rafat's take, here: "The play I have heard for a while is that the three main divisions within the firm might be broken up: the games books, which have seen a brutal decline on the print side are the most troubled (the online side with 1Up.com is doing well); then the enterprise division, and the consumer/small business group."
