Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) has reached an agreement to sell its Connectivity business to Accenture in a cash transaction valued at $1.2 billion, marking another step in the company’s multi-year portfolio reshaping strategy.
The divested unit includes well-known assets such as Ookla’s Speedtest platform and outage-monitoring service Downdetector, along with Ekahau and RootMetrics. Following the sale, Ziff Davis plans to concentrate more heavily on its core digital media and services brands, including IGN, Mashable, Everyday Health and iBuyNewCar.
Ziff Davis shares surged more than 60% in early trading after the announcement, while Accenture shares were little changed.
The transaction continues a streamlining effort led by CEO Vivek Shah since 2017, which has included the spin-off of Consensus Cloud in 2021 and the sale of insurance marketplace Policygenius in 2022.
Ziff Davis said proceeds from the sale will be used for general corporate purposes and capital allocation initiatives, subject to the company’s debt covenants.
The Connectivity segment was built through a series of acquisitions, including the $15 million purchase of Ookla in 2014 and the addition of RootMetrics in 2016. The business benefited from the global rollout of 5G networks and heightened demand for bandwidth during the pandemic, generating $231 million in revenue last year—approximately 16% of Ziff Davis’ total revenue.
“With the Ookla portfolio, we will offer end-to-end network intelligence services essential for AI-based transformation,” said Manish Sharma, chief strategy and services officer at Accenture.
The companies expect the deal to close in the coming months. Until completion, Ziff Davis will continue to operate the Connectivity division.
Evercore and Citi served as financial advisers to Ziff Davis, while Kirkland & Ellis provided legal counsel.