International Data Group


International Data Group, Inc. is a Massachusetts registered and headquartered media, events and research company focused on the tech landscape. Founded in 1964 by Patrick Joseph McGovern in Newtonville, Massachusetts, the organization is made up of International Data Corporation and IDG Communications, which includes the CIO, Computerworld, PCWorld, Macworld, InfoWorld, and JavaWorld brands. Serving technology decision-makers and enthusiasts in 147 countries, IDG was bought by China Oceanwide in 2017 while maintaining U.S. based leadership.

IDG global brands

IDG has its own international news agency, IDG News Service. It is headquartered in Boston and has bureaus in cities such as New York, Beijing, Amsterdam and Brussels. It provides news, images, video and other editorial content to IDG's web sites and print publications worldwide.
IDG Connect produces, publishes and distributes local IT and business information. Founded in 2006, it has offices in Framingham, Massachusetts, and Staines, Middlesex, U.K., and offers lead generation, research, video, mobile apps, "lead nurturing" and content creation.
San Francisco-based IDG Ventures USA, founded in 1996, invested in USA-based and South-East Asian-based operations. Shortly thereafter it became Ridge Ventures. IDG Ventures is an international network of venture capital funds with approximately $3.6 billion under management, and over 220 companies formed over the last 17 years. The IDG Ventures network comprises five independent partnerships managing funds in North America and Asia. Each partnership makes investments on behalf of its limited partners, including IDG. As of 2013, there are five countries with IDG funds: China, Vietnam, India, Korea, and the United States.

History

Originally, International Data Corporation was founded by Patrick Joseph McGovern in Massachusetts, in 1964. At the outset, the company produced a computer installation data base, and published a newsletter, "EDP Industry and Market Report". Companies such as RCA, Univac, Xerox, and Burroughs paid IDC for use of the data base. During this time, Mcgovern continued to work as a writer for "Computers and Automation" magazine, the first computer magazine, published by Edmund Berkeley.
McGovern frequently described his having sold his old car for $5,000, to fund the startup of IDC.
By its third year, the company had an income of $154,996. A modest net profit of $2,961. McGovern was considering liquidating the company when he hit on the idea of launching Computerworld in 1967, which was a continuation of the monthly newsletter, published weekly instead of monthly, in a different format, with advertising, which became a cornerstone of IDG's subsequent publishing arm.
Subsequently, failing to wrest control of "Computers and Automation" magazine from his friend and mentor, Ed Berkeley, he left Berkeley and founded PC World.
IDG's former subsidiary IDG World Expo produced large-scale events, such as conventions. They were typically conventions for technology businesses. IDG World Expo ran E for All, Macworld Conference & Expo, and LinuxWorld Conference and Expo.
In 2005, several investors, including IDG, attempted to purchase BlogCN.
IDG Books, which was a public company spun off from the privately held IDG, published the popular self-help "...For Dummies" books. The "...For Dummies" range was originally limited to computer related fields, but later expanded to include a much wider variety of topics. The series is now published by John Wiley & Sons. IDG Books/Hungry Minds — as IDG Books was briefly renamed before being sold to Wiley in 2001—no longer exists as a separate company.
McGovern died in 2014, leaving the corporation to the McGovern Foundation, a family corporation. In 2016, the corporation retained Goldman Sachs to explore a possible sale. In 2017, IDG was acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group.
On May 16, 2017, while no public announcement was made several social media posts from both writers and editors across IDG's editorial division indicated that widespread layoffs had occurred. The exact number is not known, but it is believed to be as many as 90, with claims that the layoffs most often affected senior editorial management and senior writers across all of IDG's consumer and enterprise publications. The layoffs appear to be larger than a previous round of layoffs in 2014 after IDG attempted to regroup following McGovern's passing.
On August 1, 2019, Mohamad Ali was named as Global CEO of IDG. Prior to joining IDG, Ali held the positions of President and CEO of Carbonite and Chief Strategy Officer of Hewlett-Packard.