Ziff Davis announced on Monday that it has acquired
NetShelter, a technology-centric ad network/platform which claims to represent
about 150 websites. Ziff Davis boasted in a release that the deal with elevate
the company to the position of No. 1 property in the tech category, per
comScore. "The acquisition of NetShelter fully returns Ziff Davis to the
dominant market position in the technology vertical," Ziff Davis CEO Vivek
Shah said in a statement. "We will combine our best-in-class ad targeting
capabilities and trading desk expertise with what our marketers need most
today. High-quality, high-impact inventory that's available at scale on trusted
sites frequented by tech enthusiasts." News of the deal was first reported by TechCrunch on Sunday.
Ziff Davis publishes popular tech sites like PCMag.com and Geek.com, while
NetShelter has MacRumors.com and other sites under its umbrella. Speaking about the deal, Bennett Zucker, Ziff Davis' svp and
gm of data solutions, echoed Shah's sentiment. "As a company, Ziff Davis
started out many years ago as a print publisher. (It) has enjoyed some very
high highs and endured some very low lows along the way. Since June 2010 when
we really began to reinvent the company, it's been our mission to recapture
that No. 1 spot in technology as a goal. And this acquisition, on top of some
others we've made the last couple of years, gets us there."
