Lawsuits: Bad Day At Black Rock

When CBS last November paid $362.5 million to buy twelve Ziff-Davis magazines (combined monthly circulation: more than 4.5 million), quite a few people thought that the broadcaster had paid too handsome a sum. But CBS Chairman Thomas Wyman remained unfazed, proclaiming the agreement "a rare opportunity to acquire a very successful, well-managed business."

Now that conviction has crumbled. In a suit filed last week in New York State Supreme Court, CBS contends that Ziff Corp., the parent company of Ziff- Davis, along with its auditors at Touche Ross, fraudulently misrepresented the company's finances when the deal for the dozen periodicals, including...