Accenture to buy connectivity division of Ziff Davis for $1.2 billion

MUMBAI: Accenture Plc to acquire Ziff Davis Inc.’s Connectivity division for $1.2 billion; It would be one of the biggest deals in recent years and underlines management’s goal to double acquisition spending in the current financial year.

The deal, announced Tuesday, gives the world’s largest IT services firm ownership of brands including Ookla, Downdetector, Speedtest, Ekahau and RootMetrics. These units provide solutions in fixed broadband, mobile and Wi-Fi network design, intelligence, insights, testing and incident detection.

Accenture is expected to pay this amount in cash and the acquisition will be completed in the coming months. By comparison, that amount represents nearly four-fifths of the $1.5 billion the company spent on 23 acquisitions last fiscal year, according to its financial statements. The company expects to spend about $3 billion on acquisitions this year.

At least 430 administrators work in the Connection department supported by Ookla. Its services are used by telecom operators, hyperscalers including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, and large office complexes to identify weak signal areas and evaluate data center connectivity for speed and AI readiness.

Accenture’s move reflects the strategies of domestic IT services companies, which have collectively invested $4.3 billion in major acquisitions this fiscal year to develop AI-era capabilities.

The $1.2 billion purchase price is roughly five times the Link division’s $231 million in revenue. This acquisition will likely add an estimated 0.3% additional revenue to Accenture’s fiscal year revenue. For context, Accenture generated $69.67 billion in revenue last year, up 7.4%, while Ziff Davis’ connectivity business accounted for nearly a quarter of its total annual revenue of $1.45 billion.

Management expects revenue growth of 2-5% in local currency for the full year; This translates into roughly three-quarters growth at the low end and about one-third growth at the high end from acquisitions.

Strategic scale

Still, Accenture management attributed the acquisition to measuring and improving the performance of its software offerings.

“Without the ability to measure performance, organizations cannot optimize experience, revenue, or security. By acquiring Ookla, we will help our customers across business and government securely scale AI and build the trusted data foundations they need to deliver reliable, uninterrupted connectivity that creates value,” Accenture Chairman and CEO Julie Sweet said as part of the company’s March 3 press release.

At least one expert said the acquisitions would add uniqueness to both his and his clients’ offerings.

“It (Speedtest) has become a reference layer for regulators, marketers and investors. When an operator claims the fastest network, the implicit question is whether Speedtest accepts it,” Sebastian Barros, chief executive of Circles Co, a Singapore-based software company for telecom operators, said in a March 3 blog post.

The deal is among Accenture’s largest acquisitions, alongside its 2013 acquisitions of consulting firm Procurian and digital marketing firm Acquity Group for $375 million and $316 million, respectively.

Like India’s leading IT firms, Accenture is also eyeing major acquisitions. Homegrown IT services companies have been leading the charge since the turn of the century: Tata Consultancy Services Ltd spent $773 million to acquire US-based digital marketing company ListEngage and Florida-based Salesforce consulting firm Coastal Cloud, among larger players.

Even so, spending by both Accenture and TCS is dwarfed by mid-tier IT services provider Coforge Ltd, which made the largest acquisition of an Indian IT firm in December 2025, acquiring US software company Encora in an all-stock deal valued at $2.39 billion.

However, although the value of the acquisitions varies, there is a common thread between Coforge and Accenture; Both spent more on acquisitions than shareholder payouts. As of the three months ending November 2025, Accenture paid $1 billion in dividends to shareholders. Coforge, on the other hand, ₹260 crore ($28.2 million) was paid out to shareholders in the first nine months of the financial year.

Accenture will announce its second quarter results on March 19.