Ziff Davis Buys theSkimm // From Newsletters to Health & Wellness Media
April 25, 2025 by Chris Erwin
RockWater Roundup
M&A analysis of the creator economy to make you a better operator and investor.
Today we discuss Ziff Davis’ acquisition of theSkimm, a first-mover in newsletter media ecosystems. We analyze the deal details, strategic rationale, and the company’s transition from newsletter to health & wellness media.
Let’s break it down…
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–TARGET: theSkimm–
Overview
- Digital media brand targeting millennial and gen Z women
- Founded 2012 by former NBC TV producers and co-CEOs Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin
- Helped create a new category by building one of the first, newsletter-first media brands
- Started “on the couch” of the NYC apartment cofounders shared
- Long-time audiences have stayed with the newsletter from inception
- 9 media properties across newsletters and podcasts
- 75 reported employees
- Headquartered in NYC
Company Highlights
- 16M+ audience
- 5M+ daily newsletter subscribers
- 1M+ engaged users regularly within theSkimm’s ecosystem
- Has Skimm’bassadors, a referral program to promote media ecosystem
Business Lines
- Newsletters: Daily Skimm, Daily Skimm: Weekend, Skimm Well, Skimm Money, Skimm Sports, and Skimm Shopping newsletters
- Podcasts: the “9 to 5ish” and “Well Played”, and Skimm+, a premium subscription offering
- Monetizes via ad sales, brand partnerships, and subscription offerings
Financials
- Founders state the company has a history of profitability
Capital Markets History
- Raised $28.4M to date across 4 rounds
- Oct’19 (Series C): $12M, from Fox, GV, Homebrew
- Sep’16 (Series B): $8.5M, from ACME, Greycroft, RRE
- Dec’14 (Series A): $6.3M, from Greycroft, Cross Culture
- Apr’14 (Seed): $1.6M, from Five Island, Homebrew, RRE
- Apr’19: Acquired Purple Politics, a text messaging platform for political news
–BUYER: Ziff Davis–
Overview
- Vertically focused digital media and internet company
- Portfolio incl brands in tech, shopping, gaming/entertainment, connectivity, health/wellness, cybersecurity, martech
- 100+ years old, started out as magazine publisher
- Headquartered in NYC with offices worldwide
- 6,400+ associated members on LinkedIn
Stock Price
(NASDAQ: ZD, via stockanalysis.com)
- $30.17 as of 4.21.25
- Down -28% MoM
- Down -42% YoY
- Down -45% YTD
Financials
(NASDAQ: ZD, via stockanalysis.com)
- FY 2024 Revenue: $1.4B
- FY 2024 Gross Profit: $1.2B
- FY 2024 EBITDA: $410M
- 3% YoY Gross Revenue Growth
- 2% YoY Net Revenue Growth
- 86% Gross Margin
- -4% YoY EBITDA Growth
- 29% EBITDA Margin
- 2025 Mgmt Guidance: 5% YoY base case revenue growth
Valuation
(NASDAQ: ZD, via stockanalysis.com)
- Mkt Cap: $1.31B
- C&CE: $505M
- Total Debt: $864M
- Enterprise Value: $1.67B
- 4.1x 2024 EBITDA Multiple
- 1.2x 2024 Revenue Multiple
Company Highlights
- 125 digital properties and partner sites
- 100M monthly average readers
- Everyday Health has an audience of 71M and over 890K U.S. practicing physicians and clinicians
Business Model by Business Segment
- Technology & Shopping
- Key Brands: CNET, PCMag, RetailMeNot, spiceworks
- $362M revenue, 26% of total
- Gaming & Entertainment
- Key Brands: IGN, Gamer Network, Humble Bundle
- $180M revenue, 13% of total
- Health & Wellness
- Key Brands: Everyday Health, babycenter, MedPage Today, Lose It!
- $362M revenue, 26% of total
- Connectivity
- Key Brands: Ookla, Downdetector, RootMetrics, Ekahau
- $214M revenue, 15% of total
- Cybersecurity & MarTech Services
- Key Brands: Vipre Security, MOZ, IPVANISH
- $284M revenue, 20% of total
Capital Markets History
- 9 acquisitions since 2020
- Acquisition History (via Pitchbook):
| Company Name | Deal Date | Deal Type | Deal Size | Description |
| CNET Media | Sep-24 | M&A | $154M | Tech Publisher |
| TDS Gift Cards | Feb-24 | M&A | $187M | Gift Card Services |
| OpenEvidence | Jul-23 | Series B | $25M | Research Aggregator |
| Map Genie | Mar-23 | M&A | N/A | Interactive Video Game Maps |
| Lifehacker | Mar-23 | M&A | N/A | Tech Publisher |
| HowLongtoBeat | Apr-21 | M&A | N/A | Video Game Data Collector |
| Logiva | Dec-20 | M&A | N/A | IT Security Solutions |
| RetailMeNot | Oct-20 | M&A | $414M | Coupon Aggregator |
| Kickbox | Jul-20 | M&A | N/A | Email Verification |
–DEAL DETAILS–
Overview
- Announced 3.19.25
- No financial details disclosed
Post-Deal Operations
- theSkimm will sit under Every Health Group’s consumer portfolio
- Co-CEOs Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin will continue to lead
- No plans to reduce staff
Strategic Rationale
- Opportunity to increase health and wellness editorial under new owners and the Everyday Health media brand
- Everyday Health offers theSkimm audiences more comprehensive and in-depth health and wellness info
- Everyday Health and theSkimm have built credible relationships with audiences, ability to cross promote audiences across both media portfolios
–WHAT ELSE I FIND INTERESTING–
- theSkimm’s growth has stalled. theSkimm previously reported 7M subscribers, which has dropped to 5M across six newsletters. In addition, the company had been seeking a sale for years. The declining subscriber base likely was a key point in deal negotiations and how Ziff Davis valued the company, especially if the valuation approach included a Value / Users methodology. While we don’t have specifics, Ziff Davis has a history of acquiring legacy or distressed publishing assets and finding synergies across audience cross promotion, ad sales opportunities, and subscription offerings within its broader media portfolio.
- Within the growing competition of newsletter-powered media brands, Everyday Health is a good home for theSkimm’s next stage. theSkimm was an early innovator in the newsletter space and built a loyal following of millennial women. But the newsletter landscape has since become saturated with the launch of new email tools like Substack and Beehiiv, and platforms like LinkedIn and Meta pushing newsletter products. Gen Z audiences are shifting attention to social video, where theSkimm has struggled to break through. As their original audience enters new life stages, there’s a strong opportunity to evolve the brand into a trusted utility for health, wellness, and life management, making Everyday Health a natural next home.
- Health and wellness is the biggest revenue segment for Ziff Davis. This acquisition will drive further growth of Ziff Davis’ largest vertical. Ziff Davis stated that theSkimm’s credibility and strong relationships with their audience was key to the deal. Nan Forte, Everyday Health VP and GM states that acquisition is in a fast-growing intersection of women’s wellness content, community, and commerce, potentially signaling more M&A to come to help grow this business segment within Ziff Davis.
- Newsletter acquisitions are a cost-effective user acquisition channel. theSkimm has been exploring a possible sale for years, but more recently pushed to find a non-media buyer that could take advantage of its highly-engaged audience of young women newsletter readers. The thesis is that non-media buyers can use targeted newsletters to drive product and service awareness, introduce readers to their ecosystems, and build credibility with them in a highly targeted approach. Case in point, we’ve seen newsletters and digital publishers selling to non-media buyers, such as OnTheSnow and Skiinfo being acquired by Vail Resorts, and Snacks and Chartr being acquired by fintech platform Robinhood.
I’m the founder of RockWater Industries. We do M&A and strategy advisory for creator economy and digital agencies. From buy / sell-side M&A and fundraising, to consumer research and go-to-market planning.
DM me on LinkedIn or email me chris @ wearerockwater dot com
