When Vivek Shah took over at the helm of PCMag.com publisher Ziff Davis, the company was still recovering after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, continuing to sell off properties. If he says so himself, Ziff Davis under Shah may has turned a corner.
“Ziff is probably one of the more remarkable turnaround stories in media today,” he tells Beet.TV in this video interview. “Five years ago, the company was in bad shape. It fell in to bankruptcy – it was the whole shift from analog to digital – Ziff fell victim to that.
“$160m in revenue over the last 12 months, $41 dollars earnings … the renaissance, rejuvenation of the brand had to to with shifting from print to digital, having an editorial focus across everything we do – helping users discovery, choose, buy and use products and services.”
Shah credits being early to data-driven advertising, an acquisitive mindset and a clear focus with the turnaround, which The Wall Street Journal also reported on in May and which Digiday also covered this week.
