Is Ziff Davis Still for Sale?

I reported in min’s b2b this week on the ascension of Jason Young to the position of CEO of Ziff Davis, replacing Bob Callahan, who is now chairman of the company.  I think–and I said so in the issue–the pressure of running the company, running the sales process, and borrowing money to stay afloat became too much for one executive to handle, especially over the course of a year or more.  Therefore, Willis Stein (ZD’s PE owners) put Young in charge of running the show, leaving Callahan the ability to focus on selling the company as chairman.

The piece of the puzzle that I couldn’t place by the time min’s b2b went to press was whether ZD was still retaining Lehman Brothers and Evercore Partners to help them negotiate the sale.  I reached out to a spokesperson for the company, and she said that the company “declined to comment on whether the investment houses were still retained.”

If you read other media reports, you saw that “the sale is less of a focus.”  This is not what I originally thought.  If Lehman and Evercore, however, are no longer in the picture, then perhaps the period for actively seeking buyers is over.  And, the company’s position–that is, declining to comment–makes me believe that Lehman and Evercore are, indeed, no longer in the picture.

And, considering all of this, I now wonder, what is Callahan’s status with the company?  Was he kicked upstairs? 

Frankly, it doesn’t look like it would be a good idea for the company to continue on with only the consumer/small business and gaming divisions left.  Enterprise was about 40% of the company’s revenue, but a smaller percentage of the company’s costs–the company overall may have shrunk by 40% or so, but corporate overhead remained the same…well…maybe got a little bit smaller with the promotion (?) of Callahan to chairman.