OK, so basically they were already owing those website since few years, right? I don't think I fully understand their move. Usually you buy more companies (and their websites) to expand yourself and not to fully shut them off.
I presume that most of these sites were 'ad driven'? I'm not a madman adman, but if you get 20 unique hits on your first site, and the same 20 people are hitting your other site, why wouldn't you just consolidate the two? Surely you can't sell the same ad twice for the same dollars to the same people. Just merge the sites into one; that has to make overall management simpler and has to be cheaper in the long run.
Thing is, these Webzines appear to be extensions of a single advertising model. I get that they have to make money, but industry consolidation and dependence on advertisers totally dilutes the product. Gordon Holt started his magazine to get away from that sort of industry influenced payola. Now his magazine is simply an industry mouthpiece.