ZD

As the Q2 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the digital media & content platforms industry, including Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) and its peers. AI-driven content creation, personalized media experiences, and digital advertising are evolving, which could benefit companies investing in these themes. For example, companies with a portfolio of licensed visual content or platforms facilitating direct monetization models could see increased demand for years. On the other hand, headwinds include growing regulatory scrutiny on AI-generated content, with many publishers balking at anything that gets no human oversight. Additional areas to navigate include the phasing out of third-party cookies, which could make traditional ways of tracking the online behavior of consumers (a secret sauce in digital marketing) much less effective. The 6 digital media & content platforms stocks we track reported a slower Q2. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 5% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 5.8% below. In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 4.2% on average since the latest earnings results. Originally a pioneering technology publisher founded in 1927 that became famous for PC Magazine, Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) operates a portfolio of digital media brands and subscription services across technology, shopping, gaming, healthcare, and cybersecurity markets. Ziff Davis reported revenues of $286.7 million, down 2.7% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, and overall, it was a very strong quarter for the company with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates. Interestingly, the stock is up 9.6% since reporting and currently trades at $55.84. Is now the time to buy Ziff Davis? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. Formerly known as K12, Stride (NYSE:LRN) is an education technology company providing education solutions through digital platforms. Stride reported revenues of $636.1 million, down 2.7% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 1.4%. The business had a very strong quarter with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 8.1% since reporting. It currently trades at $86.99. Is now the time to buy Stride? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. With a vast library of over 562 million visual assets documenting everything from breaking news to iconic historical moments, Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) is a global visual content marketplace that licenses photos, videos, illustrations, and music to businesses, media outlets, and creative professionals. Getty Images reported revenues of $229.1 million, down 2.5% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 2.5%. It was a disappointing quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts’ EPS estimates. Getty Images delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. As expected, the stock is down 41.7% since the results and currently trades at $0.26. Read our full analysis of Getty Images’s results here. Founded in 2013 as a champion for content creator rights and free expression, RUM Group (NASDAQ:RUM) is a video sharing platform that positions itself as a free speech alternative to mainstream platforms, offering creators more favorable revenue-sharing opportunities. RUM Group reported revenues of $40.37 million, up 60.9% year on year. This number beat analysts’ expectations by 31.7%. Taking a step back, it was a slower quarter as it produced a significant miss of analysts’ EPS estimates. RUM Group delivered the biggest analyst estimate beat and fastest revenue growth of the whole group. The stock is up 44.2% since reporting and currently trades at $8.96. Read our full, actionable report on RUM Group here, it’s free. Pioneering a vertical-scrolling format optimized for mobile devices, WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) operates a global platform where creators publish serialized web-comics and web-novels that users can read in bite-sized episodes. WEBTOON reported revenues of $338.5 million, down 2.8% year on year. This result came in 1.6% below analysts’ expectations. Overall, it was a slower quarter as it also produced revenue guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations significantly. The stock is up 11.7% since reporting and currently trades at $10.55. Read our full, actionable report on WEBTOON here, it’s free. Over the past year, investors have been forced to repeatedly answer the same question: what is the market’s biggest risk? The answer has changed several times, and each shift has reshaped market leadership. Late in 2025 and early 2026, artificial intelligence became the market’s primary uncertainty. Investors questioned whether AI would erode software pricing power and weaken competitive moats as AI made it easier to replicate once-differentiated products. By the spring, technology took a back seat to geopolitics. The U.S. conflict with Iran briefly became the market’s dominant narrative, raising concerns about oil prices, inflation, and global growth. But as energy markets remained orderly and fears of a prolonged supply disruption faded, investors quickly turned their focus back to fundamentals. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 5 Quality Compounder Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Aug. 7, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET Chief Financial Officer - Bret Richter Chief Executive Officer - Vivek Shah Operator: Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Ziff Davis Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Tom, and I will be the operator assisting you today. [Operator Instructions] On this call will be Vivek Shah, CEO of Ziff Davis, and Bret Richter, Chief Financial Officer of Ziff Davis. I will now turn the call over to Bret Richter, Chief Financial Officer of Ziff Davis. Thank you. You may begin. Bret Richter: Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Ziff Davis Investor Conference Call for the Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026. As the operator mentioned, I am Bret Richter, Chief Financial Officer of Ziff Davis, and I am joined by our Chief Executive Officer, Vivek Shah. A presentation is available for today's call. The presentation and our earnings release are available on our website, www.ziffdavis.com. You can access the webcast from this site. When you launch the webcast, there is a button on the viewer on the right-hand side, which will allow you to expand the slides. After completing the presentation, we will be conducting a Q&A. The operator will provide instructions regarding the procedures for asking questions. In addition, you could e-mail questions to [email protected]. Before we begin our prepared remarks, allow me to read the safe harbor language. As you know, this call and the webcast will include forward-looking statements. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results. Some of those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk factors that we have disclosed in our SEC filings, including our 10-K filings, recent 10-Q filings, various proxy statements and 8-K filings as well as additional risks and uncertainties that we have included as part of the slide show for the webcast. We refer you to discussions in those documents regarding safe harbor language and forward-looking statements. In addition, following our business outlook slides are our supplemental materials, including reconciliation statements for non-GAAP measures to the nearest GAAP equivalent. Now let me turn the call over to Vivek for his remarks. Vivek Shah: Thank you, Bret, and good morning, everyone. During the second quarter, we completed the sale of our Connectivity business to Accenture for $1.2 billion. This is a transformative transaction and a concrete illustration of the quality of our underlying businesses. As a reminder, the acquisition price reflected a 14.5x multiple of the Connectivity businesses trailing 12 months of adjusted EBITDA less CapEx. This transaction also highlights our willingness to monetize assets as a key tool in addressing the gap we see between our share price and the value of the businesses in our portfolio. Since our last earnings call, we repurchased approximately 2.8 million shares under a 10b5-1 program. Thus far in 2026, we have deployed more than $200 million to buy back 4.5 million shares, reducing the number of shares outstanding by nearly 11% over the course of just 7 months. Going forward, a portion of our cash will be allocated to settling our tax obligations related to the transaction, with payments estimated to be approximately $200 million. We also plan to repay our $149 million of our convertible debt, which matures in the beginning of November of 2026. Even after those payments, we expect to be in a very strong cash position. We believe that making open market purchases enables us to return capital to shareholders in a methodical and cost-effective manner. This approach also reduces the risk of short-term price distortions, which can result from buybacks executed through a tender process. Overall, we are pleased with the market's response to our efforts to unlock additional value. Ziff Davis stock is up approximately 45% year-to-date and approximately 65% over the past year, but there is more work to do. So we will avail ourselves of all capital allocation choices, continue to explore monetization opportunities and remain a very disciplined buyer of attractively valued assets. We will remain deliberate, strategic and patient. Now I'd like to share some observations about our second quarter performance. With the sale of Connectivity we now have 4 reportable segments. Our second quarter consolidated revenue across those 4 segments declined 2.7% versus last year consistent with the expectations we set last quarter. We had modest growth in Gaming & Entertainment and Cybersecurity & Martech, offset by lower revenues in Tech & Shopping and in Health & Wellness. Adjusted EBITDA declined 3.7% year-over-year, while adjusted EPS grew 13% as we continue to reduce our share count. We had a strong cash generating quarter with approximately $54 million of free cash flow. Tech & Shopping's second quarter revenues declined 5% year-over-year, a significant improvement from the 13% drop in the first quarter and the 18% drop in Q4, while adjusted EBITDA rose more than 8%. While headwinds persist in traditional search traffic, we continue to make progress in growing our Tech & Shopping audiences through off-platform channels such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube as well as CTV and events. We have also started to generate meaningful affiliate commissions earned directly through our social channels, and we see opportunities to grow this revenue stream in the coming quarters. In addition to our Internet properties, social channels and newsletters, our deep brand credibility is a valuable asset in the evolving AI content universe. Both CNET and PCMag were highlighted in the recent Semrush AI Visibility Index report as being among the most cited information sources across major LMs, which has marketers seeking to be attached to our trusted, high-quality and high authority editorial brands. Gaming & Entertainment revenues grew by almost 1%, compared with the second quarter of 2025, driven by another record quarter at Humble Bundle, offsetting ad revenue declines at IGN, which we believe is primarily attributable to the current state of the video game market and the current slate of titles rather than underlying traffic trends. Adjusted EBITDA fell slightly. IGN's Game health tools continue to grow in popularity with Map Genie traffic up 30% and IGN's destination for action RPG players, Max Roll, up 11% in traffic year-over-year. On the events front, IGN Live celebrated its third year with more than 10,000 attendees in Los Angeles, while the show's content reached an audience of almost $300 million across 35 platforms in over 100 countries. IGN's women in gaming platform focused on supporting female-led success in the games industry continue to expand, holding successful events in both the U.S. and the U.K. in the second quarter. Health and Wellness second quarter revenues were down nearly 5% and adjusted EBITDA was down nearly 10% year-over-year due primarily to lower HCP advertising revenue at MedPage today offset in part by strength in consumer DTC advertising revenues. HCP advertising revenue at MedPage today was down year-over-year as some large pharma clients have reduced their spend levels and have shifted spending to lower-cost platforms. However, we grew sequentially over Q1 and expect sequential growth to continue through the balance of 2026. MedPage is actively expanding its distribution including a newsletter product integrated within electronic health record systems at the point of care. We also strengthened our association partnership at Health eCareers, our leading health care platform with the addition of the American Thoracic Society and the American Academy of Family Physicians to our exclusive association job board partnerships. Our consumer DTC advertising and subscription businesses continue to benefit from the rapid growth in GLP-1 prescriptions and related promotional spend. In addition, GLP-1 support was introduced on both iOS and Android versions of our Lose It! weight loss and nutrition app to help GLP-1 users maintain a healthy diet as their food intake volume declines. We have seen continued momentum in our hospital media network, where we serve as the exclusive digital advertising partner for highly trusted medical institutions. We recently expanded the network with the addition of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a world-renowned health care provider. In Cybersecurity & Martech, second quarter revenues and adjusted EBITDA both grew nearly 1% year-over-year, led by strong performance in our consumer cybersecurity business. IPVanish, our flagship consumer security offering, grew year-over-year for the fifth straight quarter, driven by continued growth in our white label partnerships as well as strong growth in Q2 customer additions. In Martech, smtp.com, our API-based e-mail delivery solution has consistently delivered double-digit growth by providing exceptional inbox delivery for high-volume senders across a variety of use cases and applications. In addition, we're very pleased with the first year performance of Semantic Labs, our performance-based customer acquisition business, which has grown steadily since we purchased the business in Q3 of 2025. Turning to developments in our firm-wide AI initiatives. Last quarter, I described how AI has moved to the center of our product development process and how we've begun deploying that approach across key engineering teams. I want to update you on progress. In a single quarter, the share of the code we released that is AI authored has roughly doubled and the majority of new or updated code we released is now written by AI. This shift has taken hold broadly across our teams. We're currently on track to have nearly all of our code authored by AI before the end of 2026, with our product workforce increasingly focused on architecture and innovation rather than writing code line-by-line. We are already seeing the results. We shipped 24% more code in the second quarter than we did in the first quarter on lower engineering headcount with initial metrics suggesting delivery quality is holding steady. That is operating leverage in the form we described in the last earnings call; lower cost per feature delivered and the capacity to support a broader road map without proportionately scaling our resourcing, We expect this approach to improve our operational efficiency in the coming quarters. Looking ahead, Ziff Davis is in an extremely strong financial position with a substantial net cash balance, strong free cash flow generation and 4 profitable business segments with numerous trusted category-leading brands. With the connectivity sale and the stepped-up capital returns this year, we believe we have delivered on our promise to unlock additional shareholder value and believe we can continue to deliver even more value in the years ahead. With that, let me hand the call back to Bret. Bret Richter: Thank you, Vivek. Let's discuss our financial results. Our earnings release reflects both our GAAP and adjusted financial results for Q2 2026. My commentary will primarily relate to our Q2 2026 adjusted financial results for continuing operations and their comparisons to the relevant prior period. Our results from continuing operations exclude the partial quarter results of the Connectivity division, which are reflected in our results from discontinued operations. . Please see Slide 4 for the summary of our Q2 2026 financial results. Q2 2026 revenues were $286.7 million. This reflects a decline of 2.7% as compared with revenues of $294.8 million for Q2 2025. The Q2 2026 adjusted EBITDA was $76.8 million as compared with $79.8 million for the prior year period. Our adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 26.8%, down less than half a percentage point as compared with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 27.1% in Q2 2025. These results, particularly the adjusted EBITDA margins are an improvement from the Q2 2026 expectations we provided last quarter. Q2 2026 adjusted diluted EPS was $1.03, an increase of 13.2% as compared with $0.91 in the prior year period due primarily to the significant share count reduction from our stock buyback activity during the past year. Slide 5 reflects performance summaries for our 2 primary sources of revenue, advertising and performance marketing and subscription and licensing. Q2 2026 Advertising and Performance Marketing revenues declined 6% and as compared with the prior year period, while Subscription and Licensing revenues were essentially flat. Other revenues more than doubled, increasing by approximately $3.7 million year-over-year in Q2 2026 due in large part to the contribution of Semantic Labs in our Martech Group. Slide 6 through 9 reflect the Q2 financial results of each of our 4 reportable segments. Tech & Shopping adjusted EBITDA margins improved despite a modest drop in revenues, reflecting lower expenses due in part to the impact of cost savings measures implemented in the second half of 2025. We Gaming & Entertainment adjusted EBITDA margins were lower year-over-year despite a 1% increase in revenues due in part to higher aggregate marketing and content costs associated with the record quarter at Humble Bundle. Health & Wellness adjusted EBITDA margins were lower, primarily reflecting the flow-through impact of the year-over-year decline in revenues. And in our Cybersecurity & Martech segment, adjusted EBITDA margins were up slightly from the prior year period. Please refer to Slide 10 as we review our balance sheet. As of the end of Q2 2026, we had $1.6 billion of cash and cash equivalents and $100 million of long-term investments. As of June 30, 2026, gross leverage was 2.4x trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA, and our cash and cash equivalents exceeded our outstanding debt balances by $734 million. As Vivek noted earlier, we expect to pay approximately $200 million to satisfy our domestic and international tax obligations related to the activity transaction. We have taken certain steps to execute the transaction tax efficiently, and we continue to explore ways to positively impact our aggregate cash tax obligations, including through the potential use of investment tax credits. We currently expect to satisfy the vast majority of our cash tax payments by the end of the first quarter of 2027. In addition, $149 million of our convertible debt comes due on November 1, 2026, We plan to satisfy this maturity with cash. Our next significant outstanding debt maturity is in 2028, and we have no plans to redeem any of our debt prior to its maturity at this time. Slide 11 shows the historical change in our share count since the end of 2022 through earlier this week. Our dedication of investable capital to our stock repurchase program has been significant and we thought a graphic description of this activity during the last few years might be helpful to our stakeholders. During the second quarter of 2026, we ramped up activity in our stock buyback program, buying back 2.6 million shares under a 10b5-1 plan. We deployed $121.5 million related to share repurchases in the quarter. Since July 1, 2026, we have repurchased 700,000 additional shares in the open market. Cumulatively, since the beginning of 2024, we have repurchased almost 13 million shares. The total amount currently available for repurchase under our Board's current buyback authorization is approximately 7 million shares. We completed 2 small acquisitions during Q2 2026, and year-to-date, we have deployed a total of $9.2 million to support our M&A activities. As Vivek noted, we plan to be a disciplined acquirer going forward as opportunities arise to add businesses at attractive prices which offer the potential for strong cash on cash returns. Looking ahead to the rest of 2026, our primary financial objectives remain unchanged: driving profitable growth, generating robust free cash flow and highlighting the intrinsic value of our businesses to our shareholders. We plan to continue our disciplined capital allocation program, taking advantage of the strength of our balance sheet, and continuing to repurchase our stock at attractive levels while pursuing M&A opportunities that offer a risk-weighted opportunity to generate shareholder value. Now I'd like to offer some insight related to our current financial performance expectations for the second half of 2026. We expect our Q3 2026 results from continuing operations to broadly reflect our performance in Q2 2026. Revenues in Q3 are expected to increase sequentially but decline low to mid-single digits year-over-year, while our adjusted EBITDA margin percentage is expected to show modest improvement as compared with this quarter's margin. Q4 2026 is expected to show improvement as compared with Q3 with a lower rate of revenue decline and adjusted EBITDA margin slightly down year-over-year. We expect adjusted diluted EPS to continue to reflect the benefit of the year-over-year reduction in shares outstanding due to our active buyback program. Going forward, excluding the tax payments related to the Connectivity sale, we expect our non-GAAP tax rate to remain in the 24% to 25% range on an annual basis. Turning now to our supplemental information. Slide 14 provides a summary of our adjusted results from continuing operations for each quarter of 2025 as well as the first 2 quarters of 2026. The Slides 15 through 18 show reconciliation statements for the various non-GAAP measures to the nearest GAAP equivalents. Slide 19 includes a reconciliation of free cash flow from continuing and discontinued operations. Free cash flow in the second quarter of 2026 was $54 million, up 100% from Q2 2025. Please note that in the second half of 2026, we expect our conversion rate of adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow to be negatively impacted by certain professional fees and taxes associated with the sale of the Connectivity business. However, excluding these and similar discrete items, going forward, we expect continued strong free cash flow conversion of our continuing operations adjusted EBITDA. Overall, we are very pleased with what we were able to accomplish in the first half of 2026. As we move forward, we remain focused on executing our plans to continue to deliver shareholder value in the coming quarters. And with that, I will now ask the operator to rejoin us to instruct you on how to queue for questions. Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question this morning is coming from Robert Coolbrith from Evercore. Robert Coolbrith: I just wanted to ask a little bit more on HCP. If you could talk about the demand environment that you're seeing for HCP advertising and then I think you had said that the bookings actually firmed up a little bit ex in Q1, but I wanted to ask about that. And then maybe you could talk a little bit about any efforts underway or opportunities to maybe leverage AI to broaden your surface area with providers. And then secondly, on gaming and entertainment, I understand what you're saying about the slate right now, but it seems as though there maybe could be some at least small catalysts in the back half around the slate. Just wanted to ask if you maybe talk a little bit about your expectations there or maybe historical experience with respect to blockbuster launches like we can expect in the back half? Vivek Shah: Yes. No. Thanks Robert and all good questions. Let me start with your first, which was HCP advertising, which mainly shows up within our MedPage business. So look, the good news is that MedPage grew sequentially over the first quarter. And as I said, we expect that sequential improvement to continue through the balance of 2026. The structural challenge is also real, right? We have some large pharma clients who have reduced their overall spend levels with us. and have shifted towards some lower cost platforms. Many of those are actually AI-based platforms. And so as we have more entrants in the marketplace, adding inventory to what has historically been a fairly tight HCP ad market, that's put pressure on us. And so what we're doing is looking to expand our distribution. We mentioned the EHR opportunity. And so that's probably where we're mostly focused. I think in the end we produce content that is valuable and can feed a lot of these engines, but I don't think we have the ambition necessarily to be an AI medical chat bot. The other thing I'll just say is, you know, one of the advantages I think we have within our health business is that we're both on the HCP side as well as on the consumer side, the patient side. And the consumer side, the DTC advertising is performing quite well. We're seeing it both in the advertising business as well as the subscription business, which is Lose It! where the rapid growth of GLP-1s is only helping those businesses. I also mentioned on this call, and I think calls in the past, just about the hospital media network that we have assembled. We continue to expand that. We think that is a strategic asset. I think with respect to your second question, around the game environment and the slate. Yes, my own experience is that, you know, gaming is very much a hits-driven business. A lot of the gaming slate gets anchored around major releases. GTA 6 has been delayed a few times. It is slated to launch in November of this year. We think that unlocks a fair amount of activity. We're excited for it. So blockbuster games like that, major AAA franchises can be helpful. So we do think that will help get us some recovery on the IGN side. As you know, in the gaming business, we also have our Humble business, Humble Bundle business, and that's done very, very well. And so there, we have some new leadership. They've done a great job in enhancing the content that we package and sell through bundles and through our subscription product called Choice. and it's there frankly where they were really the first of our businesses where we took fully an agentic coding approach to essentially a platform redevelopment process that as it reaches its conclusion shortly puts us in a position of just rolling out features at a much faster pace and so we're excited about the revenue potential that comes out of unlocking much faster feature rollout on a platform like Humble and then across the rest of the company. Rob, did I answer all of your questions or did I miss one? Robert Coolbrith: No, you got everything. Operator: Your next question is coming from Rishi Jaluria from RBC. Rishi Jaluria: Great to see the Connectivity divestment online and now some greater optionality. Maybe two questions from me. First, I wanted to, you know, with Vivek, I recognize capital options are still very much everything is on the table. I maybe want to understand, you know, what -- number one, what is the kind of potential pipeline out there? Look, and maybe more broadly speaking, strategically, should we be thinking about, you know, additional acquisitions? Again, assuming it's going to come at a reasonable price and you're going to be disciplined on valuation. it should be assumed that you know or think of this as more of a try to diversify a way or diversify the set so it's less susceptible to a lot of those kind of traffic driven bear cases that we unfortunately consistently hear. Or is there an opportunity to maybe lean even further into it because all those cases are creating probably some major dislocations in assets that maybe were not attractive a year ago and maybe are starting to look a little bit more attractive now. And then just turning to the cybersecurity and Martech business, it seems like there's starting to be some green shoots there. Wanted to understand within Martech, do you see kind of a longer term data opportunity? I'm obviously trying to draw some other parallels with Ookla and the value of data in that asset. And I'm not talking about selling the Martech business, but at least in terms of finding new ways of monetizing the data asset that you have within the Martech group. I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of the above. Thanks so much. Vivek Shah: Thank you, Rishi. Great questions. And let me just start I think on your question around sort of our thinking around acquisitions and just M&A dynamics. And you're right, we have a lot of cash on the balance sheet, $1.7 billion, strong cash flow generation from the portfolio of assets we continue to own. And so -- and you know the history of the company, we were built through acquisitions. We were a serial and programmatic acquirer, and that is our DNA, and that is very much part of our business model. So we're going to continue to look for attractive opportunities in the small to mid-market, which is where we generally fit, I think business is between $5 million and $50 million of EBITDA. We look for great brands. We think brands matter, particularly in an AI era and trusted brands in particular. And where we see an opportunity to create value. And we do believe that the market fear in digital businesses broadly, it's gone beyond even what you would think of as media or advertising-based businesses presents us a unique opportunity to be an active buyer as long as the valuations are compelling. But at the same time, I think we recognize that all these acquisitions have to compete with our own stock. And we've obviously tilted our buying towards our stock over a number of quarters now. So look, I think it's all on the table. We're not dogmatic. I think we're practical. We are pragmatic. We look at this really on a case-by-case basis, and we're going to continue to do that. The thing that I would just counsel is patience. I think we have to be really thoughtful about this, and I think we're showing ourselves to be. The company has always been about patience and discipline, and I don't see why we would abandon that mindset at this point. On your question -- but Bret, maybe anything you want to add before I go on to the Cyber & Martech. Bret Richter: Yes. Not so much as add as maybe emphasize that the focus is on shareholder value creation per share price. The decisions we make will be driven by facts and circumstances. You can look at our business back five plus years and see a long part of your question was about diversifying our revenue, diversifying deeply into subscription licensing revenue to the point where it was almost 50 percent of our total revenue. But then presented with the opportunity to monetize connectivity, which was purely a subscription and licensing business at the value that we were able to monetize it and capture what we believe to be the gap between the trading price and the implied value of all our assets, but see through to connectivity versus the value we were able to capture on a cash basis through that transaction overcame sort of that strategy, if you will, of diversifying more into subscription and licensing revenue. So I think emphasizing everything Vivek said but noting that the numbers, the perception of risk-weighted returns, and the facts and circumstances as they develop will influence our decision making. Vivek Shah: Yes. I think on Cyber & Martech, I will highlight because there are a lot of branded businesses in there. I'll highlight IPVanish as being a business that, you know, a few years ago was the business that we talked about seeing potential for growth on better customer acquisition, better retention, and in a B2B2C platform where we provide white label solutions for other companies looking to provide VPN services. And we've done those three things and the business is pointed and returned to growth and is now one of our better businesses. And so I think that, you know, there's an example of something where we were able to find this asset and get it to a good growth position. I think also I'd highlight SMTP. I mentioned it in the prepared remarks. It's a really good infrastructural play within the email ecosystem that is really growing nicely, and we see some nice potential. On the data question, I'll be careful. I certainly don't see it necessarily on the cybersecurity side, obviously. as a VPN provider, there is no data collection and there is no log. And so that's important to us. I think on the Martech side, yeah, I think we've got some interesting data assets in the email space, in the SEO space. And so looking for ways to unlock that. I also believe, by the way, we have interesting data within our media businesses as well. And so look, that's very much part of the -- we talk about multiple rent extraction out of our assets. That's certainly a rent, which is, you know, leveraging data, data for licensing, data to improve product, et cetera. Operator: Your next question is coming from Ron Josey from Citi. Ronald Josey: Vivek, I wanted to ask a little bit more about your comments as related to Tech & Shopping regarding headwinds and traditional search traffic and just seeing if there as alternatives sort of become more clear as you look at lower as the industry sort of understands what's going on from a traffic perspective, to talk to us about the plans overall as we look to continue to shore up or grow Tech & Shopping. And then, you know, I also wanted to hear a little bit more just about the progress you're making in growing off platform channels. We talked about alternatives, social as an example to manage perhaps the offset in search, but any insights there would be very helpful. Thank you. Vivek Shah: Yeah, no, thanks, Ron. Great question. So, look, we continue to see declines in search referral traffic. We're certainly not alone. I think this is an industry-wide experience. We're seeing an increase in the rate of AIOs within the Google search experience on the queries that are relevant to our properties. I think the last time I provided a statistic. I think it was around 36% of our queries presented AIOs. That's at 50%. And that's kind of in line with, I think, overall prevalence of AIOs within search. So this is clearly going in that direction. But as you point out, we continue to make progress in other sources of traffic and engagement, social platforms, so the usual suspects within our native apps with an email. We are quite good as an email publisher getting into the inbox. When we acquired the SCIM, for instance, it was very much recognizing that inbox placement and having permission to be an inbox. Maybe one of the last places where you really can't get disintermediated, video, both on domain, distributed, OTT, YouTube. So all of those are growing and why the ad revenue decline is not equal to the web traffic decline. It is those offsets. I'll also point out we have a lot of non-traffic businesses inside of the company and I think that points a little bit to the earlier question and observation that we've always been thoughtful about having a nice balance between businesses and that extract traffic, you know, rents from traffic versus those that are more about extracting transaction or subscription or licensing revenues. I also mentioned, you know, we've had success in citations and answer share when it comes to Google AIOs and, you know, it's worth pointing out that, you know, Google is by far the largest AI answer platform because of the AIO experience. That's not going unnoticed. I mentioned semrush. I should have mentioned IGN was also on their list of top cited sources. And so that sparked a lot of interest from marketers in aligning with our brands who have trust in a time where I think everyone's trying to sort of distance themselves from AI slop. So I think there's a lot going on. It is a period of transition. It's one that, you know, is it new it's been going on for quite some time and I think we've managed well and I do think in the end these brands because they're leadership brands in high value vertical categories do really stand a great chance of being successful in whatever comes next because there'll be something that I haven't even mentioned here that gets developed in the ecosystem and I think we'll have a very good opportunity to present our brands onto whatever platforms those represent. Ronald Josey: That's super interesting. And just talk to us a little bit more in this new world of AIOs and also AILMs or just LLMs, how important it is to build up the brand and what the team is doing to sort of continue to grow the brand so that, you know, as IGN you talked about as being a top-sided source, you know, more advertisers are going to IGN directly given the traffic that's coming from AIOs. Thank you. Vivek Shah: Yes, no, you just nailed it, right? I think that what's happening now is in marketer assessment of media partners, citation and answer share has become part of that conversation. And we do very, very well with that within Google, which is really the dominant platform, right? It's well over 70% of the market. And, you know, you also have Gemini, which is coming on. And so, look, I think that in the end, translating that into value for us is the key, but it certainly caught the attention of others. And these are third parties who are, you know, there are a bunch of companies, including Semrush, including our own [ Moz ] that report on AI visibility and sort of GEO. And so GEO has become kind of the new SEO. So I think we feel good about that. It's early days. How do you translate our strong position into strong media partnerships? But that's absolutely happening right now. Operator: Your next question is coming from Shyam Patil from Susquehanna. Daneal Senderovich: Great, thanks. This is Daneal on for Sean. Thanks so much for taking our question. I was just curious if you have any thoughts about Bending Spoons. They're also an acquirer of digital assets, and they've generally had a positive reception in the market since their IPO. So what's your view there? And then also curious on just AI content licensing and just how should we think about that and what type of assets in the portfolio you would view as the most attractive to potentially monetize from that perspective? Thank you. Vivek Shah: Yeah, you know, so Bending Spoons, it's a useful data point. You know, we know them. We got to know them some years ago. They do a great job. They really do. You're right. They have a very similar model to ours, acquiring, improving and operating, you know, durable digital brands. And so there are similarities. I think there are differences maybe in terms of size of what we're looking at. So I don't think we necessarily run into each other in the M&A market. And you're right. Look, the market, you know, has assigned them a double digit multiple. And it just reinforces kind of our own view that trusted brands like CNET and PCMag and IGN and Everyday Health and Baby Center and all the properties that we operate and own carry much more value than our current multiple reflects. And so for us, the answer to that is to be an aggressive buyer of our own stock, you know, not necessarily just wait for the market to re-rate us. And so that's kind of how we look at it. But it's nice, you know, historically, a lot of times people, you know, have asked, you know, well, who can we compare you to? And what are comps in the marketplace? And so, you know, we're pleased to see them do well. And, you know, we can, you know, do what we do and hope the market starts to recognize that as well on our side. In terms of AI licensing, I sort of reiterate what I said last quarter, which is we're just not inclined to sign a RAG-focused agreement that compromises our right to fair compensation for foundational training. This is the important position that we have taken, and so we want to establish the right financial precedent more than anything else than booking kind of a quick dollar. So the litigation that we have with OpenAI is proceeding. And we continue to believe that as greater clarity on sort of the underlying legal questions come to bear, that it'll lead to a rational licensing market for us and frankly for everyone. So I'd rather be patient that early and you know locking a little bit of cash and so that is kind of where we are there. Operator: This does conclude today's question-and-answer session. I would now like to pass the floor back to Bret Richter for closing remarks. Bret Richter: Thank you, Tom, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. We continue to appreciate your investment of your time, energy and resources into our company. We look forward to our next update with you in the third quarter and for connecting in the interim period. Operator: Thank you. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you once again for your participation. Before you buy stock in Ziff Davis, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Ziff Davis wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $400,209!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,375,393!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 14, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Ziff Davis (ZD) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Completed the $1.2 billion sale of the Connectivity business to Accenture, achieving a 14.5x multiple of trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA less CapEx. Aggressively addressed the perceived valuation gap by repurchasing 4.5 million shares year-to-date, reducing total shares outstanding by nearly 11% in seven months. Tech & Shopping revenue declines moderated significantly to 5% from 18% in Q4 2025, supported by growth in off-platform social channels and affiliate commissions. Gaming & Entertainment growth was driven by record performance at Humble Bundle, which offset advertising headwinds at IGN caused by a weak video game release slate. Health & Wellness faced structural challenges as large pharma clients shifted budgets to lower-cost platforms, though the segment saw sequential improvement from Q1. Cybersecurity & Martech performance was led by IPVanish, which achieved its fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth through improved customer acquisition and white-label partnerships. Implemented an 'agentic coding' approach where the majority of new code is now AI-authored, resulting in a 24% increase in code shipped during Q2 despite lower engineering headcount. Management targets having nearly all corporate code authored by AI before the end of 2026 to drive structural operating leverage and faster feature rollouts. Q3 2026 guidance anticipates sequential revenue growth but a low to mid-single digit year-over-year decline, with modest improvement in adjusted EBITDA margins. Plans to settle $149 million in convertible debt maturing in November 2026 using cash on hand while maintaining a substantial net cash position for M&A. Expects continued sequential growth in MedPage through the balance of 2026, supported by expanded distribution into electronic health record systems. Maintains a disciplined M&A stance, targeting businesses with $5 million to $50 million in EBITDA that possess trusted brands capable of thriving in an AI-driven search environment. Estimated tax obligations related to the Connectivity sale are approximately $200 million, with the vast majority expected to be paid by the end of Q1 2027. Free cash flow conversion in the second half of 2026 will be temporarily impacted by professional fees and taxes associated with the divestiture. Management explicitly noted a 50% prevalence of AI Overviews (AIOs) in relevant search queries, contributing to ongoing declines in traditional search referral traffic. The company is intentionally avoiding 'RAG-focused' AI licensing agreements to preserve the right to fair compensation for foundational training of large language models. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management acknowledged that large pharma clients are shifting spend to lower-cost AI-based platforms, creating a structural challenge for MedPage. The company is countering this by expanding distribution into point-of-care systems and leveraging strength in consumer DTC advertising driven by GLP-1 trends. Ziff Davis remains a programmatic acquirer but noted that any potential M&A must now compete with the high risk-weighted returns of repurchasing their own stock. The strategy remains focused on 'rent extraction' from traffic, transactions, and subscriptions, regardless of the specific revenue mix. Search referral traffic continues to decline as Google increases AI-generated answers, but the company is seeing high 'citation and answer share' for its brands. Management views 'GEO' (Generative Engine Optimization) as the new SEO and believes trusted brands will become more valuable as marketers avoid 'AI slop'. The gaming business is currently 'hits-driven,' with expectations that major titles like GTA 6 will unlock significant activity in the back half of the year. Humble Bundle is the first segment to fully adopt the new AI-led platform redevelopment, which is expected to accelerate revenue through faster feature releases.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Revenue: $286.7 million in Q2 2026, a decline of 2.7% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA: $76.8 million, down 3.7% from $79.8 million in Q2 2025. Adjusted EBITDA Margin: 26.8%, down less than 0.5 percentage point from 27.1% in Q2 2025. Adjusted Diluted EPS: $1.03, up 13.2% from $0.91 in the prior year period. Free Cash Flow: Approximately $54 million in Q2 2026, up 100% from Q2 2025. Advertising & Performance Marketing Revenue: Declined 6% year-over-year. Subscription & Licensing Revenue: Essentially flat year-over-year. Other Revenue: More than doubled, increasing by approximately $3.7 million year-over-year, driven by Symantec Labs contribution. Tech & Shopping Revenue: Declined 5% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA rising more than 8%. Gaming & Entertainment Revenue: Increased 1% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA margins lower due to higher marketing and content costs. Health & Wellness Revenue: Down nearly 5% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA down nearly 10%. Cybersecurity & Martech Revenue: Grew nearly 1% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA also up nearly 1%. Cash and Cash Equivalents: $1.6 billion as of June 30, 2026. Long-Term Investments: $100 million as of June 30, 2026. Gross Leverage: 2.4 times trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA. Share Repurchases: 2.6 million shares repurchased in Q2 2026 for $121.5 million; 700,000 additional shares repurchased since July 1, 2026. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with SNWV. Is ZD fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: August 07, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Completed the sale of connectivity business to Accenture for $1.2 billion at a 14.5x multiple, demonstrating asset quality and unlocking shareholder value. Aggressive share repurchase program, buying back 4.5 million shares in 2026 (nearly 11% reduction in shares outstanding), boosting adjusted EPS by 13%. Strong cash position with $1.6 billion in cash and $734 million net cash, enabling debt repayment and future capital allocation flexibility. AI-driven code development has doubled AI-authored code share in one quarter, with 24% more code shipped on lower headcount, improving operational efficiency. Tech & Shopping segment showed significant improvement, with revenue decline narrowing to 5% from 13% in Q1 and 18% in Q4, while adjusted EBITDA rose over 8%. Gaming & Entertainment delivered record quarter at Humble Bundle, with IGN's MapGenie traffic up 30% and Maxroll up 11% year-over-year. Cybersecurity & Martech segment grew nearly 1% in revenue and EBITDA, with IPVanish growing for the fifth straight quarter and SMTP.com delivering double-digit growth. Health & Wellness saw sequential growth in HCP advertising at MedPage Today, with expectations for continued sequential improvement through 2026. Expanded hospital media network with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, enhancing exclusive digital advertising partnerships. Strong free cash flow generation of $54 million in Q2, up 100% year-over-year. Consolidated revenue declined 2.7% year-over-year, with Tech & Shopping and Health & Wellness segments experiencing lower revenues. Adjusted EBITDA declined 3.7% year-over-year, with margin slightly down to 26.8% from 27.1%. Persistent headwinds in traditional search traffic, with AI Overviews now present in 50% of relevant Google queries, pressuring web traffic. Health & Wellness revenue down nearly 5% and adjusted EBITDA down nearly 10% due to reduced HCP advertising spend from large pharma clients shifting to lower-cost platforms. Gaming & Entertainment adjusted EBITDA margins declined despite revenue growth, due to higher marketing and content costs at Humble Bundle. Advertising & Performance Marketing revenue declined 6% year-over-year, reflecting ongoing challenges in ad monetization. Expectation of continued low-to-mid single-digit revenue decline in Q3 2026, with Q4 showing only slight improvement. Planned $200 million tax payments and $149 million convertible debt repayment will reduce cash reserves, though still leaving a strong position. Free cash flow conversion in H2 2026 expected to be negatively impacted by professional fees and taxes related to the Connectivity sale. Uncertainty in AI content licensing, with management choosing to be patient rather than sign early agreements, potentially delaying revenue opportunities. Q: Vivek, I wanted to ask a little bit more about your comments as related to tech and shopping regarding headwinds and traditional search traffic and just seeing if there as alternatives sort of become more clear as you look at lower as the industry sort of understands what's going on from a traffic perspective. So talk to us about the plans overall as we look to continue to shore up or grow tech and shopping. And then I also wanted to hear a little bit more just about the progress you're making in growing off-platform channels. We talked about alternatives, social as an example to manage perhaps the offset and search, but any insights there would be very helpful. Thank you.A: Vivek Shah (CEO): We continue to see declines in search referral traffic, which is an industry-wide experience. The rate of AI Overviews (AIOs) within Google search on queries relevant to our properties has increased to 50%, up from 36% previously. However, we are making progress in other traffic sources, including social platforms (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube), native apps, email, and video. This diversification is why our ad revenue decline is not equal to the web traffic decline. We are also seeing success with Google AIOs, as our brands like CNET and PCMag are among the most cited sources, which is sparking interest from marketers looking to align with trusted brands in an era of "AI slop." Q: I just wanted to ask a little bit more on HCP. If you could talk about the demand environment that you're seeing for HCP advertising. And I think you said that the bookings actually firmed up a little bit actually in Q1, but I wanted to ask about that. And then maybe you could talk a little bit about any efforts underway or opportunities to maybe leverage AI to broaden your service area with providers. And then secondly, on gaming and entertainment, I understand what you're saying about the slate right now. But it seems as though there maybe could be some at least small catalysts in the back half around the slate. I just wanted to ask if you may talk a little bit about your expectations there or maybe historical experience with respect to blockbuster launches like we can expect in the back half?A: Vivek Shah (CEO): On HCP advertising, MedPage grew sequentially over Q1 and we expect that improvement to continue. The structural challenge is that some large pharma clients have reduced spend and shifted to lower-cost, often AI-based platforms. We are expanding distribution, including a newsletter product integrated within electronic health record (EHR) systems. On the consumer side, DTC advertising is performing well, boosted by GLP-1 growth. Regarding gaming, it is a hits-driven business. Major releases like GTA VI, slated for November, are expected to unlock activity and help recovery on the IGN side. Humble Bundle continues to perform well, and we are excited about the revenue potential from faster feature rollout using our agentic coding approach. Q: I wanted to with Vivek, I recognize capital options are still very much everything is on the table. I maybe want to understand, number one, what is the kind of potential pipeline out there -- look and maybe more broadly speaking. Strategically, should we be thinking about additional acquisitions, again, assuming it's going to come at a reasonable price and you're going to be disciplined on valuation. But should we assume that or think of this as more of a try to diversify away or diversify the set so it's less susceptible to a lot of those kind of traffic driven bear cases that we unfortunately consistently hear or is there an opportunity to maybe lean even further into it because all those cases are creating probably some major dislocations in assets that maybe were not attractive a year ago and maybe are starting to look a little bit more attractive now? And then just turning to the Cybersecurity & Martech business, it seems like there's starting to be some green shoots there. I wanted to understand, within Martech, do you see kind of a longer-term data opportunity? I'm obviously trying to draw some other parallels with Ookla and the value of data in that asset. I'm not talking about selling the Martech business, but at least in terms of finding new ways of monetizing the data asset that you have within the Martech group. I would love to hear kind of your thoughts on all the above.A: Vivek Shah (CEO) & Bret Richter (CFO): We have a lot of cash on the balance sheet and are a serial, programmatic acquirer. We will continue to look for attractive opportunities in the small- to mid-market, focusing on businesses between $5 million and $50 million of EBITDA with great, trusted brands. We believe market fear in digital businesses presents a unique opportunity to be an active buyer, but all acquisitions must compete with our own stock, which we have tilted towards. We are being patient and disciplined. On the data question, we have interesting data assets in the Martech space (email, SEO) and within our media businesses, and we are looking for ways to unlock that value through licensing and product improvement. Q: I was just curious if you have any thoughts about Bending Spoons. They're also an acquirer of digital assets, and they've generally had a positive reception in the market since their IPO. So what's your view there? And then also curious on just AI content licensing and just how should we think about that and what type of assets in the portfolio you would view as the most attractive to potentially monetize from that perspective?A: Vivek Shah (CEO): Bending Spoons is a useful data point. They have a similar model to oursacquiring, improving, and operating durable digital brands. The market assigning them a double-digit multiple reinforces our view that trusted brands like CNET, PCMag, and IGN are undervalued, and it justifies our aggressive stock buyback program. On AI licensing, we are not inclined to sign a RAG-focused agreement that compromises our right to fair compensation for foundational training. We want to establish the right financial precedent. Our litigation with OpenAI is proceeding, and we believe greater legal clarity will lead to a rational licensing market. We would rather be patient than lock in a little bit of cash early. Q: And then just talk to us a little bit more in this new world of AIOs and also AI LLMs or just LLMs, how important it is to build up the brand and what the team is doing to sort of continue to grow the brand so that as IGN, you talked about being a top-sided source, more advertisers are going to IGN directly given the traffic that's coming from AIOs. Thank you.A: Vivek Shah (CEO): In the marketer assessment of media partners, citation and answer share has become part of the conversation. We do very well with that within Google, which is the dominant platform, and also with Gemini. Translating For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Interested in Ziff Davis, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Q2 results remained pressured by search-driven advertising: Revenue fell 2.7% to $286.7 million and adjusted EBITDA declined 3.7% to $76.8 million, though adjusted EPS rose 13.2% to $1.03 and free cash flow doubled to $54 million. The $1.2 billion Connectivity sale strengthened Ziff Davis’s balance sheet and capital flexibility. The company held $1.6 billion in cash, plans to pay transaction-related taxes and retire $149 million of convertible debt, and continued aggressive buybacks that reduced shares outstanding by nearly 11% in seven months. Management is responding to traffic disruption with diversification and AI investment. Ziff Davis is expanding through social, video, newsletters and applications while increasing AI-authored code, but expects third-quarter revenue to decline by the low- to mid-single digits year over year. Ziff Davis's $1.2B Deal: A Masterclass in Unlocking Value Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) said its second-quarter results reflected continued pressure in search-driven advertising businesses, partially offset by growth in several operating areas, while the company moved to reshape its capital structure following the sale of its Connectivity business. During the quarter, Ziff Davis completed the sale of its Connectivity business to Accenture for $1.2 billion. Chief Executive Officer Vivek Shah described the transaction as transformative and said the purchase price represented a 14.5-times multiple of the business’s trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures. → Meta’s Earnings Drop Shows Wall Street Wants More Than Ad Growth Shah said the sale demonstrated the company’s willingness to monetize portfolio assets where it sees a gap between its market valuation and the value of its underlying businesses. The company plans to use part of its cash for approximately $200 million in tax obligations related to the transaction and to repay $149 million of convertible debt maturing Nov. 1, 2026. For continuing operations, Ziff Davis reported second-quarter revenue of $286.7 million, down 2.7% from $294.8 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA declined 3.7% to $76.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin was 26.8%, compared with 27.1% in the prior-year period. → 4 Oil and Gas ETF Plays as Prices Stay Sky-High Adjusted diluted earnings per share rose 13.2% to $1.03 from $0.91, primarily due to a reduced share count following buyback activity, according to Chief Financial Officer Bret Richter. Free cash flow was $54 million, up 100% from the second quarter of 2025. Advertising and performance-marketing revenue declined 6% year over year. Subscription and licensing revenue was essentially flat. Other revenue more than doubled, increasing about $3.7 million, largely due to the contribution from Semantic Labs in the MarTech group. As of June 30, the company held $1.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents and $100 million in long-term investments. Cash and cash equivalents exceeded outstanding debt by $734 million, Richter said. → Sandisk Just Delivered a Blowout Quarter—Here's Why the Stock Is Falling Ziff Davis accelerated its share repurchases during the quarter, buying back 2.6 million shares under a 10b5-1 plan and deploying $121.5 million. Since July 1, the company has repurchased another 700,000 shares in the open market. Shah said the company had deployed more than $200 million in 2026 to repurchase 4.5 million shares, reducing outstanding shares by nearly 11% over seven months. Since the beginning of 2024, Ziff Davis has repurchased almost 13 million shares. Approximately 7 million shares remain available under the board’s current authorization. The company also completed two small acquisitions in the second quarter and has deployed $9.2 million for mergers and acquisitions year to date. Shah said Ziff Davis will continue to consider acquisitions, asset monetizations and repurchases, but will remain disciplined and patient in evaluating opportunities. Tech & Shopping revenue declined 5% year over year, an improvement from a 13% decline in the first quarter and an 18% decline in the fourth quarter. Segment adjusted EBITDA rose more than 8%, aided by lower expenses and cost-saving measures implemented in the second half of 2025. Shah said traditional search traffic remains under pressure, with the share of relevant search queries presenting Google AI Overviews rising to roughly 50% from approximately 36% when he last provided the metric. The company has sought to offset search declines through Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, connected television, events, newsletters and native applications. He also said CNET, PCMag and IGN were among the most-cited information sources in a Semrush AI Visibility Index report, which has prompted marketer interest in aligning with trusted editorial brands. Ziff Davis has begun generating what Shah called meaningful affiliate commissions directly through social channels. Gaming & Entertainment revenue rose nearly 1%, as a record quarter at Humble Bundle offset advertising declines at IGN. Shah attributed IGN’s advertising weakness primarily to the current video-game release slate rather than traffic trends. He said the planned November launch of Grand Theft Auto VI could help drive activity for IGN, while Humble Bundle is preparing to roll out product features more quickly through an agentic coding-based platform redevelopment effort. Health & Wellness revenue declined nearly 5% and adjusted EBITDA fell nearly 10%, primarily because of lower healthcare professional advertising revenue at MedPage Today. Shah said some large pharmaceutical customers have reduced spending and shifted budgets toward lower-cost, including AI-based, platforms. However, MedPage grew sequentially from the first quarter, and management expects sequential growth through the remainder of 2026. Consumer direct-to-consumer advertising and subscription businesses benefited from growth in GLP-1 prescriptions and associated promotional spending. The company also added GLP-1 support to its Lose It! application and expanded Health eCareers’ association partnerships. Cybersecurity & MarTech revenue and adjusted EBITDA each grew nearly 1%. IPVanish posted year-over-year growth for a fifth consecutive quarter, while smtp.com continued to deliver double-digit growth, management said. Shah said AI has become central to the company’s product-development process. The proportion of released code authored by AI roughly doubled during the quarter, and a majority of newly released or updated code is now written by AI. Ziff Davis is targeting nearly all code being AI-authored before the end of 2026. The company released 24% more code in the second quarter than in the first quarter despite lower engineering headcount, Shah said, with initial quality metrics holding steady. He said the effort is intended to lower the cost per feature delivered and support a wider product roadmap without proportionately increasing resources. For the third quarter, Ziff Davis expects revenue to increase sequentially but decline by the low- to mid-single digits year over year. The company expects a modest improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin from the second quarter. For the fourth quarter, management expects a lower rate of revenue decline than in the third quarter, while adjusted EBITDA margins are expected to be slightly below the prior-year level. Regarding AI content licensing, Shah said Ziff Davis is not inclined to enter agreements focused on retrieval-augmented generation that could compromise its ability to seek compensation for foundational model training. He said the company’s litigation with OpenAI is continuing and that management is waiting for greater legal clarity before pursuing what it views as a rational licensing market. Ziff Davis, Inc is a digital media and internet company that operates a diverse portfolio of online brands, subscription-based services and performance marketing platforms. The company specializes in technology publishing and digital marketing solutions, offering content, reviews and insights tailored to consumer and enterprise audiences. Ziff Davis's flagship media properties include PCMag, which provides expert reviews and comparisons of consumer electronics and software, as well as IGN, a leading destination for gaming news, reviews and entertainment coverage. Founded in 1927 by William B. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Ziff Davis Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

NEW YORK, August 06, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZD) ("Ziff Davis" or "the Company") today reported unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. "With the successful sale of our Connectivity business, our significant share repurchases, and our robust free cash flow, Ziff Davis is in a very strong financial position," said Vivek Shah, CEO of Ziff Davis. "We are focused on deploying capital strategically to maximize long-term shareholder returns." SECOND QUARTER 2026 RESULTS During the second quarter of 2026, the Company completed the sale of its Connectivity business. The results of the Connectivity business are classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented in this press release. Unless otherwise noted, all amounts, percentages, and any discussion in this press release reflect the results from continuing operations, except for the Statements of Cash Flows and Free cash flow, which are presented on a combined continuing and discontinued operations basis. Furthermore, upon the classification of Connectivity as a discontinued operation, the Company determined that Connectivity was no longer a reportable segment. Revenues (1) decreased to $286.7 million compared to $294.8 million for Q2 2025. Operating (loss) income decreased to an operating loss of $(44.7) million compared to operating income of $13.8 million for Q2 2025. This includes a $54.8 million goodwill impairment recognized in Q2 2026 compared to none in Q2 2025. Net (loss) income from continuing operations (2) decreased to $(52.2) million compared to $14.3 million for Q2 2025. Net (loss) income per diluted share from continuing operations (2) decreased to $(1.43) compared to $0.34 for Q2 2025. Adjusted EBITDA (3) decreased to $76.8 million compared to $79.8 million for Q2 2025. Adjusted net income (2) (3) decreased to $37.8 million compared to $38.1 million for Q2 2025. Adjusted net income per diluted share (2) (3) (or "Adjusted diluted EPS") increased 13.2% to $1.03 compared to $0.91 for Q2 2025. Net cash provided by operating activities from continuing and discontinued operations increased 55.9% to $89.0 million compared to $57.1 million in Q2 2025. Free cash flow from continuing and discontinued operations (3) increased 100.3% to $54.0 million compared to $26.9 million in Q2 2025. Ziff Davis completed the sale of its Connectivity division for total proceeds of approximately $1,216.1 million, consisting of approximately $1,179.1 million cash received at closing, or $1,134.1 million net of cash divested, and $37.0 million held in escrow. Ziff Davis deployed approximately $9.2 million for current and prior year acquisitions during the quarter and $121.5 million related to share repurchases in Q2 2026. The following table reflects results from continuing operations, except for Net cash provided by operating activities and Free cash flow which are on combined basis of continuing and discontinued operations, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively (in millions, except per share amounts). EARNINGS CONFERENCE CALL AND AUDIO WEBCAST Ziff Davis will host a live audio webcast and conference call discussing its second quarter 2026 financial results on Friday, August 7, 2026, at 8:30AM ET. The live webcast and call will be accessible by phone by dialing (844) 985-2014 or via www.ziffdavis.com. Following the event, the audio recording and presentation materials will be archived and made available at www.ziffdavis.com. ABOUT ZIFF DAVIS Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZD) is a vertically focused digital media and internet company whose portfolio includes leading brands in technology, shopping, gaming and entertainment, health and wellness, cybersecurity, and martech. For more information, visit www.ziffdavis.com. "Safe Harbor" Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those contained in Vivek Shah’s quote. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations or beliefs and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These factors and uncertainties include, among other items: the Company’s ability to grow advertising, licensing, and subscription revenues, profitability, and cash flows, particularly in light of an uncertain U.S. or worldwide economy, including the possibility of economic downturn or recession; the Company’s ability to make interest and debt payments; the Company’s ability to identify, close, and successfully transition acquisitions or divestitures; the Company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits from the divestiture of the Connectivity business; customer growth and retention; the Company’s ability to create compelling content; our reliance on third-party platforms; the threat of content piracy and developments related to artificial intelligence; increased competition and rapid technological changes; variability of the Company’s revenue based on changing conditions in particular industries and the economy generally; protection of the Company’s proprietary technology; the risk of alleged infringement by the Company of intellectual property of others; the risk of losing critical third-party vendors or key personnel; the risks associated with fraudulent activity, system failure, or a security breach; risks related to our ability to adhere to our internal controls and procedures; the risk of adverse changes in the U.S. or international regulatory environments, including but not limited to the imposition or increase of taxes or regulatory-related fees; the risks related to supply chain disruptions, increased tariffs and trade protection measures, inflationary conditions, and rising interest rates; the risk of liability for legal and other claims; our ability to consummate a sale of one or more of our business lines pursuant to our announced review of potential value-creating opportunities; and the numerous other factors set forth in the Company’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting the Company, refer to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and the other reports filed by the Company from time-to-time with the SEC, each of which is available at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements provided in this press release, including those contained in Vivek Shah’s quote are based on limited information available to the Company at this time, which is subject to change. Although management’s expectations may change after the date of this press release, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update these statements. Non-GAAP Financial Measures To supplement our condensed consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), we use the following non-GAAP financial measures: Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted net income (loss), Adjusted net income (loss) per diluted share, Free cash flow from continuing and discontinued operations, and Adjusted effective tax rate (collectively the "non-GAAP financial measures"). The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. We use these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision making and as means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance and liquidity by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our recurring core business operating results or, in certain cases, may be non-cash in nature. We believe that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our performance and when planning, forecasting, and analyzing future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management’s internal comparisons to our historical performance and liquidity. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors both because (1) they allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision-making, (2) certain measures are used to determine the amount of annual incentive compensation paid to our named executive officers, and (3) they are used by the analyst community to help them analyze the health of our business. These non-GAAP financial measures are not measures presented in accordance with GAAP, and our use of these terms may vary from that of other companies, limiting their usefulness for comparison purposes. These non-GAAP financial measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with the Company’s results of operations determined in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures exclude the certain items listed below. We believe that excluding these items from the non-GAAP measures facilitates comparisons to historical operating results and comparisons to peers, many of which exclude similar items. We believe that non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance. We further believe these measures are useful to investors in that they allow for greater transparency of certain line items in the Company’s financial statements. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as Net income (loss) from continuing operations with adjustments to reflect the addition or elimination of certain items including, but not limited to: Interest expense, net. Interest expense is generated primarily from interest due on outstanding debt, partially offset by interest income generated from the interest earned on cash, cash equivalents, and investments; (Gain) loss on debt extinguishment, net. This is a non-cash expense that relates to extinguishments of long-term debt obligations. We believe this (gain) loss does not represent recurring core business operating results of the Company; (Gain) loss on sale of businesses. This gain or loss relates to the sales of businesses and does not represent recurring core business operating results of the Company; (Gain) loss on investments, net. This item includes realized gains and losses, unrealized gains and losses, and impairment charges on debt and equity investments. The amount of gain or loss depends on the share price for investments with readily determinable fair value and on observable price changes for investments without a readily determinable fair value, and does not represent core business operating results of the Company; Provision for credit losses on investments. This is a non-cash expense that includes changes in the provision for credit losses on investments of the Company in debt and equity instruments and does not represent recurring core business operating results of the Company; Other (income) loss, net. This income or expense relates to other non-operating items and does not represent recurring core business operating results of the Company; Income tax (benefit) expense. This benefit or expense depends on the pre-tax loss or income of the Company, statutory tax rates, tax regulations, and different tax rates in various jurisdictions in which the Company operates and which the Company does not have the control over; (Income) loss from equity method investment, net of tax. This is a non-cash income or expense as it relates primarily to our investment in OCV Fund I, LP (the "OCV Fund"). We believe that gain or loss resulting from our equity method investment does not represent core business operating results of the Company; Depreciation and amortization. This is a non-cash expense at it relates to use and associated reduction in value of certain assets including equipment, fixtures, and certain capitalized internal-use software and website development costs, and identifiable definite-lived intangible assets of the acquired businesses; Share-based compensation. This is a non-cash expense as it relates to awards granted under the various share-based incentive plans of the Company. We view the economic cost of share-based awards to be the dilution to our share base; Transaction, integration, and other charges. This includes expenses associated with the acquisition or disposal of certain businesses, lease agreement terminations, retention bonuses, and other transaction-specific items, as well as certain other items, such as severance, adjustments to contingent consideration, third-party debt modification costs, litigation costs from discrete, complex, or unusual proceedings, and legal settlements. These expenses do not represent core business operating results of the Company; Long-lived asset impairments and other charges. These expenses are incurred in connection with impaired long-lived assets, including right-of-use ("ROU") assets of the Company. Associated expenses are comprised of insurance, utility, and other charges related to assets that are no longer in use, and partially offset by the sublease income earned. These expenses do not represent core business operating results of the Company; and Goodwill impairment. This is a non-cash expense that is recorded when the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value and does not represent core business operating results of the Company. Adjusted EBITDA margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by Total Revenues. Adjusted net income (loss) is defined as Net income (loss) from continuing operations with adjustments to reflect the addition or elimination of certain statement of operations items including, but not limited to: Interest, net. This reflects the difference between the imputed and coupon interest expense associated with the 4.625% Senior Notes and a charge that the Company determined to be penalty interest associated with the 1.75% Convertible Notes, offset in part by a certain interest income earned by the Company. These net expenses do not represent core business operating results of the Company; (Gain) loss on debt extinguishment, net. This is a non-cash expense that relates to extinguishments of long-term debt obligations. We believe this gain or loss does not represent recurring core business operating results of the Company; (Gain) loss on sale of businesses. This gain or loss relates to the sales of businesses and does not represent recurring core business operating results of the Company; (Gain) loss on investments, net. This item includes realized gains and losses, unrealized gains and losses, and impairment charges on debt and equity investments. The amount of gain or loss depends on the share price for investments with readily determinable fair value and on observable price changes for investments without a readily determinable fair value, and does not represent core business operating results of the Company; Provision for credit losses on investments. This is a non-cash expense that includes changes in the provision for credit losses on investments of the Company in debt and equity instruments and does not represent recurring core business operating results of the Company; (Income) loss from equity method investment, net of tax. This is a non-cash income or expense as it relates primarily to our investment in the OCV Fund. We believe that gains or losses resulting from our equity method investment do not represent core business operating results of the Company; Amortization. Includes the amortization of patents and intangible assets that we acquired. This is a non-cash expense as it primarily relates to identifiable definite-lived intangible assets of the acquired businesses. We believe that acquired intangible assets represent cost incurred by the acquiree to build value prior to the acquisition and the amortization of this cost does not represent core business operating results of the Company; Share-based compensation. This is a non-cash expense as it relates to awards granted under the various share-based incentive plans of the Company. We view the economic cost of share-based awards to be the dilution to our share base; Transaction, integration, and other charges. This includes expenses associated with the acquisition or disposal of certain businesses, lease agreement terminations, retention bonuses, and other transaction-specific items, as well as certain other items, such as severance, adjustments to contingent consideration, third-party debt modification costs, litigation costs from discrete, complex, or unusual proceedings, and legal settlements. These expenses do not represent core business operating results of the Company; Long-lived asset impairments and other charges. These expenses are incurred in connection with impaired long-lived assets, including ROU assets of the Company. Associated expenses are comprised of insurance, utility, and other charges related to assets that are no longer in use, and partially offset by the sublease income earned. These expenses do not represent core business operating results of the Company; and Goodwill impairment. This is a non-cash expense that is recorded when the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value and does not represent core business operating results of the Company. Adjusted net income (loss) per diluted share is calculated by dividing Adjusted net income (loss) from continuing operations by the diluted weighted average shares of common stock outstanding excluding the effect of convertible debt dilution. Free cash flow from continuing and discontinued operations is defined as Net cash provided by operating activities, which includes both continuing and discontinued operations, less purchases of property and equipment, plus changes in contingent consideration (if any). Adjusted effective tax rate is calculated based upon the GAAP effective tax rate with adjustments for the tax applicable to non-GAAP adjustments to Net income (loss) from continuing operations, generally based upon the effective marginal tax rate of each adjustment. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260806819569/en/ Contacts Investor RelationsZiff Davis, [email protected] Corporate CommunicationsZiff Davis, [email protected]

Let’s dig into the relative performance of Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) and its peers as we unravel the now-completed Q1 digital media & content platforms earnings season. AI-driven content creation, personalized media experiences, and digital advertising are evolving, which could benefit companies investing in these themes. For example, companies with a portfolio of licensed visual content or platforms facilitating direct monetization models could see increased demand for years. On the other hand, headwinds include growing regulatory scrutiny on AI-generated content, with many publishers balking at anything that gets no human oversight. Additional areas to navigate include the phasing out of third-party cookies, which could make traditional ways of tracking the online behavior of consumers (a secret sauce in digital marketing) much less effective. The 6 digital media & content platforms stocks we track reported a softer Q1. As a group, revenues missed analysts’ consensus estimates by 5.3% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 1.9% below. In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 3% on average since the latest earnings results. Originally a pioneering technology publisher founded in 1927 that became famous for PC Magazine, Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) operates a portfolio of digital media brands and subscription services across technology, shopping, gaming, healthcare, and cybersecurity markets. Ziff Davis reported revenues of $267.6 million, down 1.9% year on year. This print fell short of analysts’ expectations by 6.9%. Overall, it was a disappointing quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ revenue and EPS estimates. “We remain focused on unlocking value for our shareholders as we look to complete the divestiture of the Connectivity business as well as explore additional value-creating transactions,” said Vivek Shah, CEO of Ziff Davis. Interestingly, the stock is up 4.8% since reporting and currently trades at $45.41. Read our full report on Ziff Davis here, it’s free. Formerly known as K12, Stride (NYSE:LRN) is an education technology company providing education solutions through digital platforms. Stride reported revenues of $629.9 million, up 2.7% year on year, in line with analysts’ expectations. The business performed better than its peers, but it was unfortunately a mixed quarter with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates but full-year revenue guidance slightly missing analysts’ expectations. The market seems content with the results as the stock is up 5% since reporting. It currently trades at $97.20. Is now the time to buy Stride? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. Founded in 2013 as a champion for content creator rights and free expression, Rumble (NASDAQ:RUM) is a video sharing platform that positions itself as a free speech alternative to mainstream platforms, offering creators more favorable revenue-sharing opportunities. Rumble reported revenues of $25.46 million, up 7.4% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 2%. It was a disappointing quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts’ revenue and EPS estimates. Interestingly, the stock is up 11% since the results and currently trades at $9.07. Read our full analysis of Rumble’s results here. Originally known as InterActiveCorp and built through Barry Diller's strategic acquisitions since the 1990s, IAC (NASDAQ:IAC) operates a portfolio of category-leading digital businesses including Dotdash Meredith, Angi, and Care.com, focusing on digital publishing, home services, and caregiving platforms. IAC reported revenues of $422.9 million, down 12.2% year on year. This print came in 17.1% below analysts’ expectations. It was a disappointing quarter as it also recorded a significant miss of analysts’ revenue estimates and a significant miss of analysts’ EPS estimates. IAC had the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is down 5.2% since reporting and currently trades at $42.82. Read our full, actionable report on IAC here, it’s free. With a vast library of over 562 million visual assets documenting everything from breaking news to iconic historical moments, Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) is a global visual content marketplace that licenses photos, videos, illustrations, and music to businesses, media outlets, and creative professionals. Getty Images reported revenues of $226.6 million, up 1.1% year on year. This number lagged analysts’ expectations by 5.9%. Overall, it was a softer quarter as it also logged a significant miss of analysts’ revenue estimates and EPS in line with analysts’ estimates. Getty Images delivered the highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is up 11.2% since reporting and currently trades at $0.90. Read our full, actionable report on Getty Images here, it’s free. Late in 2025 into early 2026, there was hand-wringing around artificial intelligence. For software companies, the fear was that AI would erode pricing power and compress margins as new tools made it easier to replicate what once required expensive enterprise platforms. Crypto investors had their own version of the same anxiety: if AI agents could trade, allocate capital, and manage wallets autonomously, what exactly was the long-term value of today’s crypto infrastructure? These concerns triggered a noticeable rotation away from these sectors and into safer havens. But markets rarely dwell on one narrative for long. Spring 2026 came, and the focus shifted abruptly from technological disruption to geopolitical risk. The US’ conflict with Iran became the dominant driver of market psychology, and when geopolitics takes center stage, the script changes quickly. Investors stop debating growth rates and start worrying about oil supply, inflation, and global stability. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our 9 Best Market-Beating Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. StockStory’s analyst team — all seasoned professional investors — uses quantitative analysis and automation to deliver market-beating insights faster and with higher quality.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Friday, May 8, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET Chief Executive Officer — Vivek Shah Chief Financial Officer — Bret Richter Operator: Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Ziff Davis First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Tom, and I will be the operator assisting you today. [Operator Instructions] On this call will be Vivek Shah, CEO of Ziff Davis, and Bret Richter, Chief Financial Officer of Ziff Davis. I will now turn the call over to Bret Richter, Chief Financial Officer of Ziff Davis. Thank you. You may begin. Bret Richter: Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Ziff Davis Investor Conference Call for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026. As the operator mentioned, I am Bret Richter, Chief Financial Officer of Ziff Davis, and I am joined by our Chief Executive Officer, Vivek Shah. A presentation is available for today's call. This presentation and our earnings release are available on our website, www.ziffdavis.com. You can also access the webcast from this site. When you launch the webcast, there is a button on the viewer on the right-hand side, which will allow you to expand the slides. After completing the presentation, we'll be conducting a Q&A. The operator will provide instructions regarding the procedures for asking questions. In addition, you can e-mail questions to [email protected]. Before we begin our prepared remarks, allow me to read the safe harbor language. As you know, this call and the webcast will include forward-looking statements. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results. Some of those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk factors that we have disclosed in our SEC filings, including our 10-K filings, recent 10-Q filings, various proxy statements and 8-K filings as well as additional risks and uncertainties that we have included as part of the slide show for the webcast. We refer you to discussions in those documents regarding safe harbor language and forward-looking statements. In addition, following our business outlook slides are our supplemental materials, including reconciliation statements for non-GAAP measures to their nearest GAAP equivalent. Now let me turn the call over to Vivek for his remarks. Vivek Shah: Thank you, Bret, and good morning, everyone. Before I discuss our first quarter results, I want to share some high-level thoughts about the company and our vision. Ziff Davis' edge has always consisted of identifying, acquiring and improving businesses. From our first acquisition of PCMag in 2010, for a little more than $20 million, we have been a patient and disciplined buyer of digital media and Internet companies. We've always been focused on business transformation, free cash flow generation and cash-on-cash returns. That model compounded value for a decade, and our shareholders were nicely rewarded. But in recent years, we believe the public market has increasingly denied Ziff Davis reasonable credit for the intrinsic value of the businesses that it owns. Our response, however, is not to abandon the acquisition program that has defined Ziff Davis, but to expand our capital allocation to embrace significant repurchases of our stock while also pursuing monetization opportunities for our businesses where we see an opportunity to unlock value through a transaction. In simple terms, we see this as a pivot from our buy-and-hold past to a future in which active monetization represents a key tool in our pursuit of shareholder value creation. We're pleased with the market response to the announced sale of the Connectivity business, which we expect to close in the coming months. However, we believe that the current trading value of our stock implies that the market continues to assign a very low multiple to the adjusted EBITDA of the rest of our portfolio of businesses. In other words, despite the market's positive reaction to the announcement of the sale of the Connectivity business, our current stock price implies that we're only getting credit to the expected cash proceeds of the connectivity sale while little additional value is being ascribed to the rest of our assets. As a result, we will continue to engage in the pursuit of transactions that offer the opportunity to highlight the value of the businesses in our portfolio. We recognize that we own some businesses facing headwinds and that require turnarounds. However, we believe that we also have businesses worth well in excess of what our current stock price implies. The market appears to be penalizing the better-performing businesses in our portfolio for sharing an ownership structure with those that are under pressure. We believe we can unlock value through active monetization while working to turn around those businesses facing headwinds. At the same time, we can use our balance sheet to continue to return meaningful capital to shareholders while investing in acquisitions that offer the opportunity for attractive future returns for the company. Just last week, we bought a few excellent brands, including Popular Science, Dwell, Domino and the Business of Home for an adjusted EBITDA multiple that is accretive to our own. I'll quote Ben Graham. The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists. Now let me shift to our first quarter results. Please note that the Connectivity segment is not included in the continuing operations results, which Bret and I are discussing today. Our revenue for the first quarter fell almost 2% versus last year with a decline of approximately 13% in Tech & Shopping, offset by nearly 3% growth in the rest of the company. I'll share some observations about each of our 4 continuing reportable segments. Starting with Tech & Shopping, lower revenue came as a result of continued and expected traffic pressures across the segment, impacting affiliate commerce and programmatic display advertising. These declines were partially offset by growth in off-platform monetization, licensing and sponsored content. Building upon off-platform success within the tech portfolio, our shopping group has driven its off-platform growth with social video views growing more than 75% year-over-year across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. We're encouraged that the sequential decline in revenues for the Tech & Shopping segment improved, and we expect each successive quarter in 2026 to be better on a year-over-year basis as compared with the prior quarter. Gaming & Entertainment had a strong quarter, with revenues up over 7%, driven by a record quarter at Humble Bundle and significant growth in both subscription and performance marketing revenues. Map Genie, IGN's map tools destination for gamers increased views by 24% in Q1. While AI search summaries can impact traditional web article performance, Map Genie's interactive approach offers a unique on-site experience that draws repeat visits. IGN has kicked off a year-long program to mark its 30th anniversary. As part of that, we released the key Audience Insights report, Generations in Play, offering a detailed picture of the evolving consumption habits of today's gaming and entertainment audience. The findings are already at work inside IMAGINE, our proprietary audience intelligence platform, where they inform how we identify, model and activate audiences at scale for our advertising partners. While Health & Wellness revenues were up only slightly year-over-year in Q1, it's worth unpacking. We had strong consumer pharma ad revenues in Q1 driven by higher GLP-1 ads and continued positive market reception to our AI-powered data activation tool, HALO. Its audience insights are used to inform campaign design, target audiences and improve performance. We are also seeing momentum in our hospital media network, where we serve as the exclusive digital advertising partner for highly trusted medical institutions. We just secured a long-term extension of our relationship with the Cleveland Clinic, which now has the highest traffic of any digital consumer health brand. Our AI-powered weight and nutrition management app, Lose It! continued to thrive, posting record Q1 revenues. Our PRIME continuing medical education business also had record Q1 revenues as it expanded into a broader set of therapeutic areas. HCP advertising on MedPage Today, however, fell in Q1 due to bookings delays across certain key pharma clients. MedPage Today bookings for the balance of the year are improving. Pregnancy and parenting revenue also fell due to year-over-year declines in traffic-related programmatic and affiliate commerce revenues. Cybersecurity & Martech revenues grew nearly 4% year-over-year in Q1, driven by strong performance in the cybersecurity business. In Q1, we significantly enhanced the digital security of IPVanish with the release of Threat Protection Pro, which was designed to provide always on malware protection, whether or not a user has the VPN connected. With this milestone, IPVanish now delivers a full range of privacy, data protection and malware detection to consumers. VIPRE Security launched a native product integration with Docebo, a leading enterprise learning management system. PhishProof by VIPRE and Docebo delivers targeted security training when employees fail a simulated phishing attack, enabling organizations to implement real-time behavior-based risk reduction. I want to touch briefly on how we're using AI to transform the way we build products. The traditional software development life cycle was designed around long running, human-driven processes with significant time spent on planning, coordination and process overhead rather than the work itself. The first wave of AI tools largely got bolted on to that same process as assistants. Advances in the technology now put AI at the center of the development process, drafting requirements, proposing architecture and generating code and tests. As AI handles the routine work, our teams come together in collaborative spaces for real-time problem solving, creative thinking and rapid decision-making. This shift from isolated work to high-energy teamwork accelerates both innovation and delivery with cycles that took weeks now compressed into days. We're deploying this approach across key product and engineering teams. Over time, we expect this to become a meaningful structural source of operating leverage, providing faster time to market, lower cost per feature delivered and the ability to support a broader product road map without proportionately scaling engineering headcount. Looking ahead, Ziff Davis is in a strong financial position with a robust portfolio of durable, trusted brands across multiple high-value market segments with significant revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, a strong balance sheet and significant investable cash resources, both current and the portion that is pending the sale of the Connectivity business. With that, let me hand the call back to Bret. Bret Richter: Thank you, Vivek. Let's discuss our financial results. Our earnings release reflects both our GAAP and adjusted financial results for Q1 2026. My commentary will primarily relate to our Q1 2026 adjusted financial results for continuing operations, excluding the Connectivity division and their comparisons to the relevant prior period. Please see Slide 4 for the summary of our Q1 2026 financial results. Q1 2026 revenues were $267.6 million. This reflects a decline of 1.9% as compared with revenues of $272.8 million for Q1 2025. Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA was $63.4 million as compared with $71.4 million for the prior year period. Our adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 23.7%, down 2.5 percentage points as compared with adjusted EBITDA margin of 26.2% in Q1 2025. Q1 2026 adjusted diluted EPS was $0.73 as compared to $0.77 in the prior year period. These results are largely consistent with the Q1 2026 expectations we provided last quarter. When we forecasted overall revenues flat to slightly down year-over-year and a decline of approximately 3 percentage points in our adjusted EBITDA margins, with our adjusted diluted EPS benefiting from a year-over-year drop in our shares outstanding due to our active buyback program. Slide 5 reflects performance summaries for our 2 primary sources of revenue, advertising and performance marketing and subscription and licensing. Q1 2026 advertising and performance marketing revenue declined 5.1% as compared with the prior period, while subscription and licensing revenues increased by 1.9%. Other revenues increased by approximately $1.8 million year-over-year in Q1 2026. Slide 6 through 9 reflect the Q1 financial results of each of our 4 continuing reportable segments. Tech & Shopping margins declined due to lower revenue, particularly reflecting a reduction in high-margin affiliate marketing traffic. Gaming & Entertainment margins was slightly lower year-over-year due in part to a larger revenue contribution from the e-commerce business at IGN Store. Health & Wellness margins were lower despite a modest revenue increase. Margins reflect a revenue mix shift due in part to some of the booking delays that Vivek noted earlier as well as a higher revenue contribution in the quarter from the Consumer division. In our Cybersecurity & Martech segment, margins were down year-over-year due in part to revenue mix shifts among the Martech offerings. Please refer to Slide 10 as we review our balance sheet. As of the end of Q1 2026, we had $520 million of cash and cash equivalents and $100 million of long-term investments. However, please note that these figures exclude approximately $26 million of cash and cash equivalents associated with our connectivity business. We continue to have significant leverage capacity on both a gross and net leverage basis. We have not included our Q1 leverage ratios on this slide due to the exclusion of our Connectivity business from adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations, and the fact that the receipt of the cash proceeds associated with the transaction is still pending. However, our balance sheet remains strong, and we intend to provide updated leverage ratio information on a trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA basis, assuming that Connectivity sale is finalized, and we received the proceeds from the sale. We continue to dedicate significant investable capital to our stock buyback program. During the first quarter, we bought back approximately 1.2 million shares under a 10b5-1 plan. We deployed $51.6 million related to share repurchases in the quarter, including $6.7 million related to stock-based compensation net share settlements. Since April 1, 2026, we have also repurchased approximately 560,000 additional shares in the open market. Cumulatively, since the start of our current buyback program in mid-2020, we have repurchased more than 15 million shares. The total amount currently available for repurchase under our Board's current buyback authorization is approximately 9.7 million shares, and we plan to continue to be an active repurchaser of our stock. However, as a reminder, given our ongoing review of potential value-creating opportunities, there may be periods of time when we are not able to repurchase shares under this authorization. We did not complete any acquisitions during Q1 2026. In Q2, so far, we have completed one acquisition, which Vivek mentioned in his remarks, and we plan to be a disciplined acquirer in 2026 as opportunities arise to add businesses at attractive prices and offer the potential for strong cash-on-cash returns. Looking ahead to the rest of 2026, our primary financial objectives remain unchanged. Driving profitable growth, generating robust free cash flow and highlighting the intrinsic value of our businesses to our shareholders. As we noted in our earnings release, we are not providing annual guidance for fiscal 2026 as our exploration of value-creating opportunities is an ongoing process. However, I would like to offer some insight related to certain of our expectations for the balance of 2026. We expect our Q2 2026 results from continuing operations to largely reflect our performance in Q1 2026. Revenues in Q2 are expected to be down at a slightly higher year-over-year rate than in Q1 and Q2 2026 adjusted EBITDA margins are expected to reflect a similar year-over-year decline in Q2 as compared to Q1 2026. Some of this impact to adjusted diluted EPS will again be offset by a year-over-year reduction in our shares outstanding due to our active buyback program. Our goal is to return to total year-over-year growth in revenues from continuing operations for the second half of 2026, with the fourth quarter being stronger than the third. This would reflect an improvement in the rate of decline of tech and shopping with modest overall growth from the combined contribution of gaming and entertainment, health and wellness and cyber and martech. This should result in an improvement in adjusted EBITDA margins from continuing operations, allowing our consolidated margin to approach the levels we saw in the second half of 2025. Margins continue to be a focus of our company. In 2025, our connectivity business was our business with the highest adjusted EBITDA margin percentage, and we are very conscious of the impact that the sale will have on the company's adjusted EBITDA margin from continuing operations. As we continue to pursue valuation enhancement opportunities, we will simultaneously seek to identify opportunities to improve our post-transaction margins through the implementation of new approaches, practices and, in particular, the use of AI. Turning now to our supplemental information. Slide 13 provides a summary of our adjusted results from continuing operations for each quarter of 2025 as well as the first quarter of 2026. Please note that these figures include approximately $2.8 million of certain overhead expenses in the full year 2025 in our corporate segment, which were previously reported in the Connectivity reportable segment. For a period of time after the closing, a portion of these expenses are expected to be offset by payments received for certain transition services that we expect to provide to Accenture. Slides 14 through 17 show reconciliation statements for the various non-GAAP measures to the nearest GAAP equivalents. Slide 18 includes a reconciliation of free cash flow on a combined basis, including the free cash flow associated with the connectivity business. Q1 2026 reflects negative free cash flow of $3.2 million as compared to negative free cash flow of $5 million in the first quarter of 2025. As a reminder, our TDS gift card business is a significant user of working capital in the first quarter of each year. Overall, during the last 12 months, our free cash flow was nearly $290 million, and our free cash flow conversion from adjusted EBITDA, including Connectivity, was nearly 60%. Please note that in 2026, we expect our conversion rate of adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow to be negatively impacted by certain professional fees and taxes associated with the sale of Connectivity. However, excluding certain discrete items, such as this going forward, we expect continued strong free cash flow conversion of our continuing operations adjusted EBITDA. Overall, we are very pleased with what we were able to accomplish in the first quarter of 2026, and we are encouraged by the revenue growth exhibited by a number of our businesses. As we move forward in 2026, we remain focused on executing our plans to continue to deliver shareholder value in the coming quarters. And with that, I will now ask the operator to rejoin us to instruct you on how to queue for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] And the first question this morning is coming from Cory Carpenter from JPMorgan. Cory Carpenter: I had two. I wanted to go -- you mentioned the off-platform strategy that you're implementing. Could you just talk about how big -- how far are you along in that off-platform strategy for some of your digital properties? And what are some of the initiatives that you're working on there that you're most excited about? And then Vivek appreciate your update on capital allocation. Should we think of this as a permanent shift in your strategy? Or is this kind of a temporary thing as you work to refine your portfolio and unlock value with your existing assets? Vivek Shah: Yes. Great questions, Cory. So I'll start on the traffic side. And we've had a lot of success in generating monetization out of our footprint on social media. So that's Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, primarily, where if you look at a number of our brands, we have pretty significant follower counts, and we're able to leverage those follower accounts into ad programs and ad revenue. Video is also pretty important to a number of our brands, in particular, IGN. If you look at the IGN YouTube subscriber base, it's significant. And so that's also a key part of our off-platform activity. But I would also say that we have partnerships. So within the Health business, I mentioned Cleveland Clinic. We also have the Mayo Clinic, and we are working on some other medical partners where we are their advertising, exclusive advertising monetization partner. And then there's e-mail, there's apps. There are a variety of different ways in which we can engage CTV, also is another important one. So it's a pretty diversified set of off-platform traffic. And as I've said, that can replace the web traffic, the organic web traffic that's under pressure. I will point out 2 things, however, that there is -- and I said this the last time or in the last call, there's certain traffic, particularly the affiliate commerce-oriented traffic when somebody is seeking a buying guide or a product review that is harder for us to replace. The unit economics there are pretty compelling. And then also with respect to platforms, some of these platforms come with essentially a rev share or a tax. And so those are things that our dynamics as we look at this evolution. On your second question, yes, we do view asset monetization as a new ongoing tool in our kit. And as I said, as long as the public market value of our EBITDA remains low, and it does, we're going to continue to pursue asset monetization. If we see recovery in the public market value of our businesses, then we might find ourselves holding longer. But the overall message is that we view the portfolio as dynamic and ultimately optimized for shareholder value. Operator: Your next question is coming from Robert Coolbrith from Evercore. Robert Coolbrith: I just wanted to ask a little bit on the MedPage bookings. Any more color there? I think generally speaking, throughout the quarter, we've heard about a lot of strength in HCP spend, particularly in rare disease, but just generally. And any competition from any emerging players? Or is that really being sort of managed separately as part of a search budget? Or is that sort of bleed over? And then, Bret, as you look at the strategic review process for other parts of the business, do you think that there is the ability to sort of neatly carve out whole segments? Or is there, in your view, less likely sort of probability of finding a single last dollar buyer for sort of whole segments? Yes, I'll just leave it there. Vivek Shah: Yes. So let me start on the question relating to MedPage and then let Bret get in on the second one. So yes, look, we had a tough Q1 for MedPage, I think it's a combination of timing, some very specific advertisers who weren't booking in Q1. Now as I said, we're seeing improvement going into Q2 into the balance of the year. So hopefully, this is largely timing. But at the same time, I think there's just more market entrants. I think the HCP part, the health care professional part of the pharma ecosystem does have just a number of new entrants in it, and that's adding inventory, I think, to a fairly -- what has fairly been a pretty tight market. And so it is a little bit of a tale of 2 cities, where on the consumer side, we had a very good quarter, a very strong one on the direct-to-consumer side. But on the direct-to-provider side, it was more challenging. Having said that, the continuing medical education business, which is called PRIME, which operates a little bit differently, not your conventional HCP engagement advertising, that continues to do well for us. So look, it's a mixed bag. As you know, the health segment has been a very strong segment for us for a while now. So I kind of view these as hopefully, temporary glitches in what's going on. And then I'll just throw in because we're talking about health and wellness and while you didn't ask the parenting and pregnancy piece, that is also one where the traffic challenges, particularly with respect to affiliate commerce within BabyCenter and What to Expect when someone is clicking on to buy a stroller or layette or something like that. That also has had -- the search challenges have presented themselves there. So I'll pause there and let Bret answer the second question. Bret Richter: Thanks, Vivek. And thanks, Robert. I think the way I'd approach this answer is our goal is to pursue a per share value enhancement. And as a result of that, we leave the aperture open for all sorts of pursuits and possibilities, transactions and transaction structures. Obviously, through the sale of Connectivity, that was one of our reportable segments, 1 of our 5 divisions. And the governor is not to limit ourselves to a transaction like that or exclude another transaction like that. The facts and circumstances will present themselves as we pursue different opportunities. Sometimes it's a reaction inbound, sometimes it's an effort to stimulate inbound. But essentially, the governor is our perception of the implied value of the business based on how our stock is trading versus what the private market value might be. And is there an opportunity to realize that gap in some efficient manner. Operator: Your next question is coming from Ron Josey from Citi. Ronald Josey: I wanted to drill down a little bit more on the operations of the business. And I was interested in your comments that a little more than 75% growth in social views for shopping and how you view -- and so I wanted to understand how do you view social's way to manage traffic longer term and other sources of, call it, distribution longer term as we have these call it, traffic headwinds to search? And then as it relates to AI, your commentary on where we stand and how product development should improve. Talk to us about how this improvement is manifesting or how you can see this build into more products that can lead to even greater actual return and greater growth. Vivek Shah: Yes. Great questions, Ron. So I think with respect to what you're referring to the off-platform views or the distributed media, I think what's developed over the last handful of years and maybe potentially sort of underreported is how much consumer engagement. And in fact, we get far more consumer engagement off-platform, meaning outside of the websites we own and outside of the apps we own and get far more engagement for our content in places that we don't. And so you have 2 things happening. I think one is you've seen the shift in consumer behavior. We've all experienced it. If you look at your screen time. If you use an iPhone, you'll see how much of your time is actually not in the browser and is on these platforms. And so we're going to go with the consumers. And so we've done that. But the other piece that's come together is the ability to monetize that. I think in the early days of social media, it was difficult to figure out how to extract a rent. That has been solved across all of these platforms. And I think the platforms understand that we feed them with high-quality content, high-quality audience and are more than happy to allow us to extract the rent, and they often share in that extraction of rent. So I think that ecosystem has come together nicely. I think it's been somewhat well timed with some of the challenges we've had, I think, as an industry with search. On your question around where does what we're doing in AI show up. And I think it's going to show up and has started to show up in product features, and I've talked in the past about things that we have implemented that I think have driven growth at properties like Lose It! and at VIPRE. And then I've talked about HALO and Clara and Imagine and the AI-based ad targeting and insights engines that we've created. So we've had a number of products that I would call customer-facing, whether it's consumer-facing or market-facing from a B2B point of view, but also from a product and engineering velocity point of view, we have long pipelines across all of our various products of things that we want to have happen and do. And in the past, where we would talk 4 quarters out or 5 quarters out, we're now talking weeks out to push product. And I think that velocity is going to be really valuable in unlocking revenue. With respect -- and so 1 or 2 things happens. Either we're in a business where the pipeline isn't -- the product pipeline and what we're looking to do isn't deep, at which point this is going to be a cost savings because we're going to be able to use fewer resources to do same or it is very deep, and we're using same resources to accelerate. Either way, we see value creation. And look, I think the nuance that I was trying to convey in my prepared remarks is that I think at the start of AI, we were viewing it more as sort of "copilot." It is now the pilot. And I think that putting AI at the center of our work really is changing the velocity with which things are happening. So I'm super excited for it. Operator: Your next question is coming from Ross Sandler from Barclays. Ross Sandler: Vivek, it's sort of related to what you just answered on that last question, but it sounds like just from 90 days ago, and certainly from last year, we've had a bit of a tone change around internal use of AI to not only kind of push content, but also to manage cost across the organization. So could you just talk about how the thinking might have changed on that? And then related to the off-platform growing and some of the like kind of legacy affiliate high-margin declining, how does that combined with managing cost vis-a-vis AI impact your view of like operating margins or EBITDA margins across the businesses over the next couple of years? Thoughts on that would be great. Vivek Shah: Yes. Look, I think what is -- I don't know if anything's changed in terms of our views around the impact and the positive impact AI can make on our business. I think the toolkit has just improved significantly. I mean it is -- and we're seeing it, I think, across the board, I mean it is pretty extraordinary how much more powerful some of these models have become and their capabilities. So I think that's part of it. I also think that it's how we are staffing and how we are training our population. We've put a lot of effort into an AI-forward mindset across the entire company, and I think that's starting to engage. And then I think, look, I think as things succeed in some parts of the portfolio -- other parts of the portfolio, we have a very good, healthy internal competitive dynamic inside the company. People see things that are happening in one place and want to see them replicate. So I think this is only going to improve, tell you that I think we are really focused on bringing in every new hire we're making is very AI-native hire. So I think that's a very important perspective as well. I think on your questions around margin, look, this is the trick. We've always been a very margin-focused company. As Bret pointed out, with the pending close on the Connectivity business, that was our largest margin business. And so we're going to look to try to improve margins in the businesses we own, notwithstanding some of the pressures around high-margin revenues being replaced by lower margin but still very good margin businesses. Look, our free cash flow orientation is built into the DNA of the company. It is how we think. It is how we value potential acquisitions. It is honestly the source of all of our capital allocation, right? I mean, this is what we do. We generate free cash flow, and we recycle that free cash flow, whether it's share repurchases or it is acquisitions of companies or capital investments in our business. So look, I don't -- I think our -- we're very focused on, we're a margin-first probably company, maybe more than anything else, and we recognize these dynamics that we're going to work through. Operator: Your next question is coming from Shyam Patil from Susquehanna. Daneal Senderovich: This is Daneal on for Shyam. I was just wondering if you could elaborate a bit on the acquisitions of Popular Science, Dwell, Domino and Business of Home. Just what was the rationale behind these deals? And how do you see Ziff Davis adding value to these businesses in the coming years? Vivek Shah: Yes. So look, I think that -- you've heard me talk about this a lot. I'm a big believer in the value of brands. It is very hard, particularly in today's market to build brands. And so when you get a brand like Popular Science, which was founded 150 years ago, arguably the most famous, well-known science media brand ever, you get excited about that, and we're going to incorporate it into our tech group where science has always been an area of interest for our audience. And so I think it's a natural tuck-in for our CNET group. And then for the home and lifestyle brands, Dwell is a great architecture oriented brand. Domino is a great interior design brand, Business of Home. Anyone that's in the trade knows it, reads it and will swear by it. And so getting into a category at all brands, by the way, Dwell and Domino in particular, with a very, very strong social footprint. And so from our point of view, I think helping those businesses unlock the social value that is, I think, embedded into these brands as well as unlocking other product development opportunities that exist within those spaces. And look, I think in the end, I think I pointed this out, this was from an acquisition price point of view, a very attractive one for us. And so that's one thing that I'll say is that the market fears to us present a really unique opportunity to be an active buyer in the space. I mean, the valuations are compelling. And while these businesses are experiencing headwinds, not unlike the ones we're experiencing, I think we're showing some resilience, and we're showing the ability to manage through, transform and come out the other side with very, very valuable assets. And back to this as a manager of assets inside of the company, these are assets that I'm excited for us to own. Operator: There are no further questions in queue at this time. I would now like to hand the call back to Bret Richter for any closing remarks. Bret Richter: Thanks, Tom, and thank you all for joining us today on our Q1 2026 earnings call. As always, we value your time and investment in our company, and we look forward to continuing to engage with you in the coming months. Operator: Thank you. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you once again for your participation. 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