Ziff Davis (1UP/EGM/GFW) Files for Bankrupcy (operations to resume as normal)

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ZD runs 1up.com and publishes EGM/GFW/PC Mag

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17737

Officials from Ziff Davis Media, owner of consumer press outlets 1up.com and Electronic Gaming Monthly, have announced that the company is filing for a voluntary bankruptcy to implement its restructuring plans, hoping to emerge from the Chapter 11 by this summer.

The company says that an ad hoc group of shareholders have set aside $24.5 million to continue normal operations as it undergoes the Chapter 11 case, as well as for operations after it re-emerges.

It also notes that as part of the proceeding, Ziff Davis has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York "for permission to continue paying employee wages and salaries and to provide employee benefits without interruption."

The company first announced in August of 2007 that it was currently "exploring various options to restructure its debt,” after saying that while the company had sold its Ziff Davis Enterprise Group to Insight Venture Partners, it had no plans to court buyers for its game media group.

Said CEO Jason Young, “Operationally, we are making great progress,. As a result of our employees’ hard work, we ended 2007 on a strong note. We matched audience growth with impressive digital revenue expansion. And while the print market continued to be challenging, we continue to be print category leaders in the markets we serve.”
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[quote name='Bioshocked360']Probobly because nobody pays for EGM. There are so many ways to get it for free.[/quote]

Yea, I always wondered that... I don't think their advertisers are giving them THAT much money. And obviously its true.
 
I think they should be fine for the short while. They're already in the process of restructuring around if you've been listening to the podcasts. It'll be fine as long as they can don't fuck up again
 
Yeah this isn't danger zone time, it's "Oh fuck we're approaching danger zone time time to do something"

Still not good news, but not technically "Bankruptcy"

I would really miss getting their magazines though. Keep the podcasts going forever!
 
[quote name='Bioshocked360']Probobly because nobody pays for EGM. There are so many ways to get it for free.[/QUOTE]

Too true, I paid for about 1 year back in 2003, i've just been extending that year with free offers ever since. Currently at 2012
 
I kinda feel bad... I have been getting free toilet reading material for about two years now, and have enough to last me till about 2015 or so (of EMG and GFW) and I haven't paid a cent, minus the spam of course. Sadly, I have paid for NP just for the sake of keeping an ongoing subscription (since 1997). EGM and GFW are definitely better than NP.
 
Free subs are a standard practice in the magazine business. It's done to boost the total number of subscribers. Rates for advertisers are set according to subscription numbers, thus magazines give away limited numbers of free subs to increase their income. If they relied primarily on sub fees to be profitable, every one of them would be deep in the red.
 
I wonder what their overhead is like as compared to the smaller review sites/magazines.

Hopefully they can restructure without putting more holes in an already leaky ship. I really like how EGM has three reviewers play each of the major titles, it provides a perspective that you might not get from other places.
 
Haha, like everybody else my first thought was "yeah cuz nobody pays for EGM."

I'd kinda miss it if it was gone, but I hardly read the thing anyway, it's just something to look at while taking a shit.

I'm sure they'll be fine though, gaming is only getting more popular over time.
 
[quote name='coolsteel']Too true, I paid for about 1 year back in 2003, i've just been extending that year with free offers ever since. Currently at 2012[/QUOTE]

August 2014 here.
 
[quote name='neocisco']Free subs are a standard practice in the magazine business. It's done to boost the total number of subscribers. Rates for advertisers are set according to subscription numbers, thus magazines give away limited numbers of free subs to increase their income. If they relied primarily on sub fees to be profitable, every one of them would be deep in the red.[/QUOTE]

So true... thats why I dont feel guilty for getting my free subscriptions
 
I think the "free" magazines are paid for by advertisers/sponsors and stuff - kind of like the Gears first map pack that was free but the Discovery Channel or Doritos or someone actually paid for it.
 
From Simon Cox's editor blog on 1up:

Yesterday Ziff Davis Media, of which the 1UP Network is part, filed for Chapter 11 in New York. 'Bankruptcy' is a scary word, and not something we would enter into lightly, but I want you all to know that this is actually - bizarrely- a rather positive step for us, and here's why:

Ziff has been saddled with an enormous amount of debt for many years. An amount so large that even though we're a profitable company (and growing all the time), the repayments were killing us; servicing that debt meant that we had very little money to play with and to invest in all the great ideas we have every day for taking our mags and websites to the next level. So last year we brought the bondholders of that debt to the table and proposed that they turn that debt into equity in Ziff Davis.

They all said yes.

What they couldn't quite agree on was who got what percentage of the company, and so we have asked the court to decide that for them. And for us. The process will take about three to four months, and at the end of it we will effectively have new owners. In the meantime, our day-to-day operations are completely unaffected. In fact, the major bondholders have kicked in a bunch of cash to make, if anything, our day-to-day operations run smoother than they have in years.

The reason why this is going to be positive thing for us is that once we re-emerge from the other side of this, fully intact (as we assuredly will be), we will have reduced that debt significantly, and the payments that go with it. Our earnings will once again be our own, and we will have spare cash to invest in building bigger, better, faster, stronger and better-looking websites and magazines.

So even though that word is unpleasant, and a bit scary, you'll find few glum faces around the 1UP offices. Next year is the peak of the current console cycle, and we're going into it in a much better financial state than we have been in in a long time. And you're going to see some significant upgrades to the sites later this year that I know you're all going to love. In the meantime, this talented group is going to continue delivering the very best gaming content on the web and in print, right to your door and browser.
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I remember just a few years back, you'd get EGM in the mail and that magazine would be thick, couple hundred pages long at times... I couldnt believe the last issue I recieved was an actual EGM issue... I dont even think it reached 70 pages

If this would have happened to Gamepro's company I wouldnt mind...lol
 
After the courts figure out who is going to own how much those employees should probably get ready for some house cleaning.
 
[quote name='ryanbph']how could they get into that much debt to begin with...[/QUOTE]

errr..... Ziff Davis is a traditional print publisher. If you've been keeping up with any news in the past 10 years the decline of that industry has been pretty damn steady..........

Therefore it's no surprise that 1up.com is paying the bills.
 
I just received my latest issue of my free subscription to Games for Windows today. It looks like they have gone to only publishing it bi-monthly as it's dated for April/May. Maybe this is a cost cutting measure or perhaps it's the begining of the end for this publication? :whistle2:(
 
[quote name='eaglebeak']I just received my latest issue of my free subscription to Games for Windows today. It looks like they have gone to only publishing it bi-monthly as it's dated for April/May. Maybe this is a cost cutting measure or perhaps it's the beginning of the end for this publication? :whistle2:([/quote]

Nope, it's not the end of the magazine. If you read the bottom of the last page(Greenspeak editorial or whatever it's called), you'll notice that it mentions that April/May and July/August will be bi-monthly issues for those months. Which is right around the time that games in general hit a dry spell when it comes to releases.

It's just their way of making sure the issue is worth publishing.
 
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