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Accenture to Acquire Ziff Davis’s Connectivity Unit, Including Ookla, for $1.2 Billion

Ziff Davis shares surged on the announcement, with Accenture’s stock little changed.

Overview

  • Accenture will buy the entire Connectivity division from Ziff Davis, including Ookla’s Downdetector and Speedtest, Ekahau, and RootMetrics.
  • Accenture says the acquisition broadens its network visibility and analytics to help communication service providers, hyperscalers, and enterprises optimize Wi‑Fi and 5G.
  • Ookla’s tests capture more than 1,000 attributes per run, enabling analytics for uses such as fraud prevention and traffic optimization, according to Accenture.
  • Ziff Davis plans to use the proceeds to reduce $872 million in disclosed debt, and the unit generated $231 million in revenue last year, about 16% of sales.
  • The deal awaits regulatory review and other closing conditions and is expected to close in the coming months, as Ziff Davis shares jumped about 81% and Accenture traded flat.