ie8 fix

Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King
Home / News & Blogs / Between the Lines

WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion

By | September 10, 2010, 2:48pm PDT

GoDaddy.com, the Internet domain registration company known for its racy Super Bowl ads, is up for sale, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The company could fetch as much as $1 billion, likely from a private equity firm, in an auction, the report said, citing “people familiar with the matter.”

Qatalyst Partners, the firm run by tech banker Frank Quattrone, is shoppint the company, which manages more than 43 million domains - and brings in a steady flow of cash from its subscription fees.

The sources told the WSJ that the privately-held company posted revenue between $750 million and $800 million in 2009.

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “Between the Lines”

Topics

Wall Street Journal, Internet, Investment, Finance, Sam Diaz

Sam has been a technology and business blogger for more than 18 years.

Disclosure

Sam Diaz

Sam Diaz has nothing to disclose.

Biography

Sam Diaz

Sam has been a technology and business blogger, reporter and editor at ZDNet, the Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News and Fresno Bee for more than 18 years. He's a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a graduate of California State University, Fresno.

Related Discussions on TechRepublic

Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?
Ask a Question Start a Discussion
15
Comments
Add Your Opinion

Join the conversation!

Just In

RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
tomlin21-24319035676893835085146735905770 11th Oct
Its my satisfaction to declare you that your guideline has fascinated me. You take place being best right into reebok jerseys a wonderful labor. Keep going to maintain the spirit massive.
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
Wow!!!
ycsoftware Updated - 10th Sep 2010
That is all we can say at YCSoftware (http://ycsoftware.net). The Big Companies are gearing toward the Cloud....
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
cybursoft 10th Sep 2010
@Larry Dignan, Sam Diaz, Andrew Nusca i love your work an i read Between the Lines all the time. I want to comment but it is puzzling , Why would some one even think about selling a company that is doing good ? I mean is he dying ? 'IMO 'Most people would love to do their hundred years with a problem free 800 million in the pocket aye?
0 Votes
+ -
Generally speaking, for self enrichment
klumper 11th Sep 2010
@cybursoft
Why would some one even think about selling a company that is doing good ?

As opposed to serving the public, and your workforce. It's the newfangled way.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
hysonmb 13th Sep 2010
@cybursoft
Maybe they're thinking to sell while the company is up and live the rest of our days without a concern for money. If it were me, I may not sell, but, they could be thinking more logically and moving on to enjoy living the worry free life. Plus, they're likely to write some form of verbage into any sale that ensures they are still collecting money.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
Alex_Tajirian 12th Sep 2010
Choosing an auction venue suggests that their advisor, Frank Quattrone, believes either that there are a very large number of interested buyers or few that have similar views on the growth potential of the domain name industry.

The latter is typically associated with stable businesses, not credible for the domain industry.

http://DomainMart.com
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
dletcher@... Updated - 13th Sep 2010
Mr. Parsons has a nack for building companines and selling out as they peak. Parson's Technology developed some tax software back in the 80's and he sold out before TurboTax and TaxCut dominated the market. He built up a local phone company, TeleConnect, and sold to MCI right before the dotcom bust. Now he's built up GoDaddy. So I'd say GoDaddy has peaked. Also, revenue does not equal profit. It's easy to skim off money when something is growing. I'd assume revenue is slowing and costs are continuing to rise as the company matures and has to support all those users. Also, some of their revenue is from stupid parked domains. Someone else may be able to make more advertising revenue from them. I'd say buyer beware.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
jakerson9@... 13th Sep 2010
I think that Go-Daddy is an extremely smart purchase for someone who wants to gain a proven business model, a proven revenue generator, and 43 million b2b type customers, in a business environment that is very likely to improve significantly. If someone like Amazon wanted to move a huge user-base into its cloud, $1b might be a steal.
-J.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
Eddy-ICUR12 Updated - 13th Sep 2010
They would sell because they can get top dollar for their investment at a time when most investments are struggling, which gives them cash to explore a lot of oppertunies at bargain prices.
0 Votes
+ -
Searching for new Host?
coolboy143 14th Sep 2010
Hello,

I feel most of you might search for new company anyone knows how is http://www.webhost.uk.net ?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
GodaddyRefugee 14th Sep 2010
With Godaddy up for sale, its time to take the right decision and choose the best webhosting partner for your website that offers affordable and reliable web hosting solutions - http://www.rshosting.com

RSHosting is now offering 50% discount with all their shared web hosting, reseller and vps web hosting plans on their servers in US and UK datacenters.
More information can be found on their blog at http://www.rshosting.com/blog/godaddy-refugee-coupons.html
0 Votes
+ -
BIKINI JOE KNOWS!
BikiniJoeKnows 14th Sep 2010
Bob Parsons IS BORED!! He has been advertising for several years that HE IS NOT NEEDED TO RUN THE COMPANY (Smart PR) He Hunts, Rides Bikes always away doing something....this TELLS NEW OWNER "Things will be just FINE WITHOUT BOB"....THE BIG SET UP!!! HE is a GENIUS at BUILDING EM and even MORE at SELLING THEM!!
0 Votes
+ -
No GoDummy!
BikiniJoeKnows 14th Sep 2010
http://GoDummy.com shows a look a like Bob Parsons Cop and a small picture of Bob with the 3 Stooges the only real lesson here is "Early to Bed, Early to Rise...Advertise-Advertise-Advertise!"
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
lilpeachy Updated - 14th Sep 2010
As a GoDaddy subscriber with five domains, I find this news quite disturbing. The company was also built on the premise, all tech support is in the US. Most tech reps have been very good. I can only hope service stays above average in this day of incompetent tech support and service everywhere you turn.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
Fortunate i uncovered , this excellent website online, will china nfl jerseys make certain to bookmark it so i can occur to repeatedly.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: WSJ: GoDaddy for sale, could fetch $1 billion
tomlin21-24319035676893835085146735905770 11th Oct
Its my satisfaction to declare you that your guideline has fascinated me. You take place being best right into reebok jerseys a wonderful labor. Keep going to maintain the spirit massive.

Join the conversation!

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
ie8 fix