CNET to Be Acquired by Ziff Davis for $100 Million
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ziff Davis inked a deal to acquire CNET for about $100 million, marking the third corporate parent for the pioneering tech news and reviews site in four years.
In 2008, CBS had acquired CNET Networks for $1.8 billion. In 2020, as Paramount Global (then known as ViacomCBS) was seeking to offload non-core assets, the media conglomerate sold CNET to digital-marketing company Red Ventures for $500 million.
CNET is the latest roll-up acquisition for Ziff Davis, whose digital media portfolio includes PC Mag, Mashable, IGN and Lifehacker (which it bought from G/O Media last year).
It’s a turnabout of sorts: In 2002, CNET Networks Inc., then a publicly traded company, closed a $1.6 billion deal to acquire Ziff-Davis Inc. (a separate entity from the current Ziff Davis) and online news network ZDNet.
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