ZIFF DAVIS, INC. ZD → Consensus Cloud Solutions, Inc. CCSI
| Parent | ZIFF DAVIS, INC. ZD |
|---|---|
| Spinco | Consensus Cloud Solutions, Inc. CCSI |
| Status | Completed |
| Structure | Spin-off A filing states a pro-rata distribution: holders receive shares automatically. |
| Focus | Focus-increasing Parent and spinco operate in different industries — the class the research associates with stronger post-separation returns. |
| Ratio | 1 Consensus share for every 3 J2 Global shares |
| Ratio note | Holders of record held J2 Global stock, which renamed itself Ziff Davis at completion. |
| Parent retains | 19.9% |
| Checked against EDGAR | 2026-08-22 |
Data trap
Three share-count hazards in one deal. The information statement estimated 20,060,861 shares; the actual figure issued was 19,902,924. A later annual-report footnote says the former parent 'distributed 19,902,924 shares', which is wrong as written — that is the total issued, of which only 80.1 percent was distributed and 19.9 percent retained. And the final Form 10 amendment still carried placeholder dates, so the record and distribution dates come from the parent's 8-K instead.
The restated filings have landed; this is kept as history.
Catalyst clock
- 2021-04-19Separation announced
- 2021-08-18Form 10 filed
- 2021-09-21Form 10 last amended
- 2021-09-23Form 10 effective
- 2021-10-01Record date
- 2021-09-30When-issued trading opens
- 2021-10-07Distribution
- 2021-11-09First standalone earnings
- —Index inclusion announced
Performance since separation
| Consensus Cloud Solutions, Inc. since separation | -40.24% |
|---|---|
| ZIFF DAVIS, INC. over the same window | -54.85% |
| S&P 500 (SPY) over the same window | +74.56% |
| Russell 2000 (IWM) over the same window | +34.35% |
| Excess over the S&P 500 | -114.80% |
| Excess over the Russell 2000 | -74.59% |
Measured from the first regular-way close on or after the distribution — 2021-10-08 at 64.88 — to 2026-08-21 at 38.77. Window: 4.9 years. The 2021-10-07 session was skipped: it traded on when-issued volume, not regular-way, and pricing from it would measure the return against a market that no longer existed the next day. Two benchmarks, because one is misleading: spin-offs are usually small companies, and across this period small caps lagged the S&P by several points a year on their own. Measured against the S&P alone, roughly a third of any shortfall is company size rather than the separation. Returns are arithmetic over end-of-day closing prices. Unlike every other figure on this page, they do not come from a filing.
Pre-distribution investor return
| Parent, announcement to separation | price history starts after the separation |
|---|---|
| Combined (ZIFF DAVIS, INC. + Consensus Cloud Solutions, Inc.), pre-distribution to now | -42.74% |
| Combined excess over the S&P 500 | -118.81% |
| Combined excess over the Russell 2000 | -79.17% |
Combined treats a pre-spin holding as 1 Consensus share for every 3 J2 Global shares valued at the parent's last close before regular post-spin trading resumed — 2021-10-06 at 120.51 — against that same basket today. That baseline is a practical proxy, not an attempt to isolate exactly how much value the separation transferred: for a large parent and a small spinco, ordinary day-to-day price noise can be bigger than the transfer itself.
Filings
Every fact on this page comes from one of these.
- 10-12B/Afiled 2021-09-21 · 0001193125-21-277989Final amendment; its information statement still leaves the record and distribution dates blank
- 8-Kfiled 2021-09-22 · 0001193125-21-278816Board declares the special dividend, setting the October 1 record date and the October 7 completion
- 8-Kfiled 2021-10-08 · 0001193125-21-294817Completion: distribution consummated October 7, 2021; 80.1 percent distributed
- 10-Qfiled 2021-11-15 · 0001866633-21-000004First periodic report; trading began on Nasdaq October 8, 2021
- 10-Kfiled 2022-04-15 · 0001866633-22-000021First annual report; 19,902,924 shares issued at the separation
Notes
J2 Global's separation of its cloud fax business, with the parent renaming itself Ziff Davis and keeping the ZD ticker. Left unclassified: EDGAR files the parent under telegraph and other message communications and the spinco under prepackaged software, codes that do not describe either business well enough to support a focus judgement. Classified focus_increasing: the filing narrows Consensus down to only its core Cloud Fax/healthcare-interoperability business — related B2B backup, cybersecurity and SMB-enablement lines that had shared the same internal 'cloud services' umbrella were deliberately carved out and kept with Ziff Davis, a genuine sharpening on both sides. Consensus was levered with roughly $805 million of new senior notes and paid Ziff Davis about $261 million in cash, landing at negative pro forma equity — a classic leveraged cash-out spin.