An official look at Go Daddy’s revenue numbers.
I still remember a conversation just before the Super Bowl in 2005. I was eating lunch with a bunch of techies and the topic of Super Bowl commercials came up. Someone asked “who is this Go Daddy company, anyway?”
Flash forward to 2010. If you ask someone on the street where they would go to register a domain name, they’ll likely say “Go Daddy”. About half of all newly-registered domains are registered at the company.
Go Daddy continues to grow like gangbusters. I’ve reported some of the company’s numbers on Domain Name Wire before, but yesterday I had a chance to get an official historical look at the company’s growth from Ryan Corder, Senior Director of Finance for the company.
Sources: The Go Daddy Group, SEC Filings
The company’s growth since the opening up of registrar accreditation has been staggering. In 2001 the company grossed $4.3 million in GAAP revenue; last year it hit $610 million. I had previously reported revenue of $750 million for 2009, but this was actually sales. (As a growing company, GAAP revenue lags sales because sales are recognized over a period of time.) For 2010 the company forecasts between $940-$950 million in sales.
Perhaps more important as a privately-held company is Go Daddy’s cash flow. The company forecasts an operating cash flow of $140-$150 million for 2010.
Go Daddy’s employee base has grown with the revenue, bringing much needed jobs to Arizona and Iowa. In 2003 the company employed 323 people; it now keeps 2,700 (and growing) on the payroll.
No wonder Bob Parsons is always smiling.
Spent 4 years working for GoDaddy and I’m glad to hear they are doing so well. Bob is revolutionary and has changed the domain name business for the better.
Because they are so big all you hear is Godaddy did me bad.
But you never hear the good news because people who are happy don’t complain or talk.
You can see they are doing good by the money coming in.
They have great support. Even big domainers should consider all the plusses you get from a company this size. Lock your domains so they can’t be transferred without a Godaddy manager signing off. Get a custom phone line straight in.. To bad they aren’t public.
They are like microsoft. They did hosting and got it wrong. Slowly they turn it around and have good hosting now. Biggest company is always going to win.
It is almost amusing to hear a comment like that, “Who is Godaddy?” but of course things change at a rapid clip in this space.
Ripe for IPO. The perfect growth story for Wall Street.
@M. Menius
Yeah, we’ll see. I was there during the initial offering that was called off. We all really thought it was going to happen.
godaddy’s making profit ?? or loss ??
thanks
Profit. Just think of the revenue from 2 line items, parking and expired auctions.
@ Dot investing – I actually think parking and expired auctions represent a very, very small % of GD’s revenue.
I have about 3 thousand domain names, the lion’s share at GoDaddy. I wanted to touch base on this as I have heard too many techies griping about this or that, and wanted to say that there is one long-timer out here who is happy with Godaddy
I have my own rep (we are on a first name basis), I get proactive notifications on my portfolio, their hosting is excellent, and I get great prices.
In the interest of disclosure, I am not an affiliate, employee or in any way aligned with GoDaddy other than as a customer.
Another Happy Customer right here.
@Beer Froster
People say Godaddy is not a good registrar because its true. By your own admission the only time they begin to treat you fair is once you have 3000 domains with them. If you had domains elsewhere you would see that others will go the extra mile where godaddy will not. Good marketing does not a good company make. Which was better VHS or Betamax? Just because everyone knows about Godaddy does not make them the best registrar.
@no daddy – “If you had domains elsewhere you would see that others will go the extra mile where godaddy will not.”
By all means, please list one. Just one registrar that will go the extra mile. 99% of all registrars will NOT do that. So do tell which one(s) provide excellent customer service. Because many of us have been actively looking for several years.
@No daddy – I have used Enom for more than 8 years and their support and sales suck compared to GoDaddy. I too was one of those looking for a good domain registrar and GoDaddy fit the bill. I have also purchased SSL certificates for many years through GoDaddy with no major problems. The web interface at Enom is far easier to use than GoDaddy, but the capabilities/features at GoDaddy are much better.
I started out with zero domains at GoDaddy and their support has always been excellent in comparison to Enom, even with a single domain. When I got to 200 domains I got a dedicated account rep. In comparison, Enom will not respond to tickets quickly, no phone number to call for support, prices are high, they want you to put down $7500 in order to get “competitive” pricing. Sorry, but as a long time web development company our experiences show that GoDaddy by far is better than at least one of the other big players… Enom. I can’t say we’ve tried any other registrars for long enough to be able to fairly compare them with GoDaddy or Enom.
I own more than 1000 domain all bought it through godaddy,love to do business with them,I got my own rep he introduce me to new business I didn’t know godaddy has, love doing business with GD, dealt with others in the past they all suck…
I tried GoDaddy out with one domain purchase, liked it. Moved a few more and purchased a Hosted account, liked it (Control Panels/Dashboards are easy to use). Moved all my domains from an old company and never been happier. I am amazed by the quick response I get (even with my lowly 63 domains) be it by mail or phone.
Used Godaddy for about 9 years own 20 domains never had any problems.
GoDaddy is a wonderful registrar and ive been with them for over 6 years. Never 1 problem with their domains. Not to fond of their hosting installations however hosting is not their main focus. Ive purchases, trasnfered in and out over 1,000 domains in the past year and mind you 6 years ago I only had 1 or 2. The only other alternative ill recommend is NameCheap.