Communications company Ziff Davis has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its entire connectivity division, including nearly half a dozen international fixed broadband, mobile and Wi-Fi network and incident detection brands, to Accenture in a cash deal for $1.2 billion, the company reported on Tuesday.
Disclosure:Â Ziff Davis is the parent company of CNET.
Included in the deal are the DownDetector, Ookla, Speedtest, Ekahau and RootMetrics organizations and all of their assets. Ziff Davis reports that these brands generated $231 million in revenue in 2025, which accounted for 16% of the company's total cash intake.
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Ziff Davis has owned connectivity brands since its initial purchase of Ookla in 2014. Other brands, including DownDetector, Ekahau and RootMetrics, were acquired over the years.
During an earnings call on Tuesday, Ziff Davis CEO Vivek Shah acknowledged that asset sales "have historically not been common" at the company, but touted the connectivity division as a success that has delivered strong returns on investment.
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Shah also indicated that Ziff Davis sees opportunities in its core business of digital media markets.
"We believe that the fear in digital media markets presents us with a number of opportunities," Shah said. "Just as we were the company that successfully navigated the shift from analog to digital, we believe we have the people, platforms and experience to navigate the AI shift."
While Ziff Davis and Accenture have finalized their deal, the transaction will take several months to close. In the interim, Ziff Davis will continue to operate the connectivity businesses as usual.
Once the deal is finalized, Ziff Davis reports that it will use the money from the sale for "general corporate purposes" and to "fund robust capital allocation activities" in accordance with outstanding debts.