Ziff Brothers Investments (ZBI)

In 1927, William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard Davis started a publishing company together. Thirty-one years later, in 1958, his son William Bernard Ziff Jr. bought out Davis and kept the Davis name. It was a small decision with enormous consequences.

By the 1970s and 1980s, Ziff Jr. had transformed Ziff-Davis Publishing into the dominant force in tech publishing - Car and Driver, Popular Electronics, PC Magazine, Computer Shopper.

His genius was understanding niche: by targeting specific industries, he could offer advertisers better targeting. Their technical reviews were so influential they could literally make or break new products entering the market.

But in 1978, everything shifted. Ziff Jr. was diagnosed with prostate cancer and given only a few years to live. The good news was: the diagnosis turned out to be wrong - he lived much longer.

By 1984, he decided to sell most of the computer and business magazines, keeping only a few titles like PC Magazine. He wanted his three sons to take over the publishing empire. They didn’t want to and wanted to invest instead.

That refusal sparked the creation of one of the most influential hedge fund family offices the industry has ever seen.

The Family Office Is Born

In 1992, the three sons of William Bernard Ziff Jr. - Dirk, Robert, and Daniel Ziff - formally set up Ziff Brothers Investments (ZBI) as their family office.

Two years later, in 1994, their father sold the publishing group to the private equity firm Forstmann Little & Company for $1.4 billion. The proceeds became ZBI's initial capital.

They started by backing other hedge funds, many of which became brand-name funds today. By 1997, they were managing $4 billion. At its peak, the firm ran between $5 billion and $10 billion.

By 1999, they decided to start trading their own capital alongside their external seeding efforts.