WSJ reports that Go Daddy is up for sale.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that The Go Daddy Group is putting itself up for sale, citing unnamed sources. The Go Daddy Group runs domain name registrar GoDaddy.com.
These sources tell WSJ that the company has retained Qatalyst Partners, a firm run by veteran technology banker Frank Quattrone, to shop the company.
WSJ’s sources quoted 2009 revenue for the company of between $750 million to $800 million. These sources were either referring to sales or they have incorrect information, as GoDaddy’s actual revenue for 2009 was $610 million. The company previously told me it is forecasting $940 million to $950 million in gross sales this year.
With operating cash flow of around $150 million this year and steady growth, the company should fetch over $1 billion. However, potential buyers beware: during the lengthy checkout process you will be offered a number of add-on companies for sale, and might end up spending much more than you originally planned.
I contacted GoDaddy and it said it had no comment, as the company doesn’t comment on rumors.
Louise says
“Buyers beware: during the lengthy checkout process you will be offered a number of add-on companies for sale, and might end up spending much more than you originally planned.”
Good one! LOL 😀
Andrew Allemann says
@ Louise,
I joke, but without the savvy cross-sell approach, GoDaddy would be a fraction of its current size.
Prosper says
I wonder if the shady “Standard Tactics,” which is godaddy’s “warehouse” is part of the deal as well 🙂
jontee says
I know many seasoned pro’s who cant figure out Godaddy’s interface. It doesn’t help that they change it every few months.
Obvioulsy, if you half an extra 30 minutes every couple of months you can figure it out, but it is a pain.
DR.DOMAIN says
Wonder if the new owners might be hostile to the domainer community? They start trimming services and / or raising domain prices…I’ll just move my portfolio.
mansour says
Andrew, This is hilarious. In your last article about GoDaddy, you said and I quote “GoDaddy is more popular than God,” and your article today about GoDaddy being up for sale, is a hint from God that he did not wanted to be seconed to none. For your info, as a competitor of GoDaddy and owner of DomainsNext.com, I have been watching their income stream from selling domain names below cost. This lead me to believe and expect that they were up to something, but I didn’t know what. It is obvious now that all the giveaways and the sales below cost, were only to increase their gross income to beef up their financial statement. But this could not go on forever, and at a certain point it would come back to bite you. So the new buyer, whoever it may be, should watch out. The rosy picture seen today may not be so pretty in the future.
BreakingNewsBlog.us says
if true, GoDaddy will be sold to… Google… and its brand name will be changed to… GooDaddy…
M. Menius says
Hmmm. This would make an interesting acquisition for an internet technology company. The GoDaddy brand and # of domains under management would give the acquiring company an instant leadership role in the domain industry.
Google and Microsoft are obvious choices. But I can see Murdoch’s News Corp. and other large media companies going for this too. MySpace was purchased by News Corp. Facebook, Twitter, GoDaddy, and others are ripe fruit.
Landon White says
O.K. Gents,lets be Real,
If its not just a “Big Promo Rumor and there is a actual auction….
The following will prevail:
Of course the Internet clerk will report
a crash near the end of the auction, and then all concerned will say it was rigged and foul.. and then… after an in-depth review and careful consideration it will be found unfair to all concerned and thus, shall be ordered re-scheduled, and the auction is to start anew at
a latter date…
Now as the story unfolds….
good ole slick Godaddy (Motorcycle Bob) shall decide not sell after all BUT will have received a “Million Bucks in FREE Promo” across mainstream media and the internet. I guess you could say “Bob Parsons” is the King of Creative Marketing”
after all … he has made a fortune already out of being just.. the Daddy of them all!
JB says
Very good one!
Louise says
Good one! 😀
Jothan says
Here’s another interesting sale for just above that, which provides a company enough capital resources to acquire godaddy.
http://www.beaconequity.com/top-software-stock-symantec-completes-1-28b-acquisition-2010-08-19/
BreakingNewsBlog.us says
IBM, Intel, Oracle, HP, Dell, Google, Microsoft, eBay, Apple and Amazon have so much money CASH, that, for them, buy the $1 billion GoDaddy, is so easily like buy a Cheesburger… 🙂
Andrew Allemann says
@ Jothan – hmm, I think that would mess up the whole registry/registrar separation bit 🙂
Andrew Allemann says
On twitter the other day I suggested perhaps Intuit should buy them. Lots of small biz cross sell opportunities there.
Alex Tajirian says
The 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.
But then again, the advisor may be off.
Andrew Allemann says
Auction venue? Technically these sales are always an “auction”, meaning they sell to the highest bidder.
Alex Tajirian says
I apologize for not being clear about the venue. I am referring to the choice of auctions vs. negotiations.
tony says
damn. i earn my living on godaddy.
i hope they dont change everything
Mark says
To the poster above Tony:
Can you please elaborate on what you mean by you make a living on Godaddy. Thanks
rewriter says
I don’t think there has been any concrete evidence about this yet