ZD Media reportedly planning bankruptcy

[Anonymous]

Ziff Davis Media reportedly is telling advertisers that it will file for bankruptcy this week.

Links are at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/29/business/media/29ZIFF.html

http://www.linuxandmain.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=156

Ziff's properties include the magazines Computer Gaming World, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Official U.S. Playstation Magazine, Xbox Nation and GameNow.

Peter

[DennyA]

Interesting...


One large advertiser, however, said that he would continue to advertise in the company's computer-game magazines "because they deliver the audience that I need."

Why WOULDN'T you continue to advertise if a magazine company was going bankrupt? I'm not sure I understand the logic. As long as they're maintaining their newsstand distribution and subscriptions, they're no less valuable as advertising venues.

If you were depending on ZD to pay you, I could understand caution. But an advertiser is a debtor to ZD, not a creditor, so if ZD went under completely the worst thing that could happen would be that there was nobody around to collect on their advertising bills.

Hope they pull through, obviously. (Anyone know where freelancers fall on the list of creditors after a Ch. 11 bankruptcy? :shock: )

Seems to me that even if ZD didn't emerge from bankruptcy as itself, the properties such as CGW, PC Mag, EGM, etc. are all such valuable names that someone else would be likely to pick up the trademarks and magazine staffs. But I doubt it would come to that.

[DavidCPA]

I wouldn't be surprised to see two of the big three (PCG, CGW and CGM) be combined by some publishing outfit looking to get both subscriber lists and cut the staff in half. From what I understand, it wouldn't take much to buy any of the mags from Imagine, ZD or theglobe as all the parents are in financial straits. Worst case scenario is some outfit picking up all tree for a song, combining all three subscriber lists and we are left with only one major PC gaming mag. That would be bad IMHO :(

-DavidCPA

[DennyA]

CGM's on the block right now, if you have an extra song in your wallet.

I can't see ZD selling CGW as long as ZD is still a viable entity. Now that they've combined the ad staffs of CGW and the vid game mags, CGW is a very cost-effective mag, I'd think. The ad guys can sell it on the same sales calls where they're pushing the vid game magazines, keeping costs low. Getting rid of CGW wouldn't save much, unless you sold all the game mags, and that's one of ZD's best profit centers right now from the press coverage I've seen.

As for cutting staffs in half, heh. How big do you think the staffs are nowadays? What do you do, keep Jeff Green and Steve Bauman, and then splice Jason Cross and Scooter Nguyen together in a Frankensteinish combination?

[Mark Asher]

As I understand it, the game mags for Imagine and ZD are profitable; it's the other high tech mags that have dragged down the publishers. I don't think ZD or Imagine will get rid of CGW or Gamer.

[DavidCPA]

As for cutting staffs in half, heh. How big do you think the staffs are nowadays? What do you do, keep Jeff Green and Steve Bauman, and then splice Jason Cross and Scooter Nguyen together in a Frankensteinish combination?

I was thinking of the bigger picture. I know the editorial staffs aren't large. Assuming a CGM/CGW merger, at least four duplicate editorial staff would go (EIC, managing editor, hardware, another editor) plus any incremental supporting staff or contractors (freelancers, ad production, sales, etc). My point was that a gaming mag could be integrated into one of the other mags with little to no cost. From a financial standpoint, it looks like a no brainer.

-DavidCPA

[DennyA]

I've never seen a publishing company integrate staffs, though, when they combine products.

What they do is keep most of one staff, then lay off the other. They might bring in one person from the other mag's staff to have a rep for that mag's physical locale, if it's distant from the remaining magazine.

At any rate, I don't think that applies here. ZD wouldn't sell off CGW, and there's too much duplication between CGW and CGM's readership and ad clients for it to make sense to buy both.

[Mark Asher]

"Assuming a CGM/CGW merger,"

Something like that would never happen. It's possible that ZD might purchase CGM and shut it down and switch the subscribers to CGW, but they wouldn't merge staffs or magazines.

It's also unlikely that ZD will buy CGM given ZD's current financial problems and the problems with the ad market. There's no guarantee a boost in circulation will translate into increased advertising revenue.

I think CNET should buy CGM and rebrand it as Gamespot Magazine, but CNET's hurting lately too. Their stock is trading at $1.23 a share now. They ain't doing so well.

[Anonymous]

Anyone just pick up the September issue of CGW? (The Unreal Tournament 2003 cover).

The Nvidia's Next-Gen Graphics Look (a "first look" hyped as the second big item on the cover) uses two screenshots, both of GeForce4 Ti demos.

The Top 10 Shooters of All Time (hyped in a bubble on the cover) is only 3/4 of a page, most of which is taken up by a bare bones Top 10 list (just the game names, no explanations for why this and that game is ranked where it is) and some screenshots. There are four small paragraphs worth of text.

And will someone please tell me why the Tips section has been printed on such crappy paper for a while now? Does it save that much money to not use the regular paper the rest of the magazine is printed on?

It's just sad. So, so sad.