Biggest domain name company transaction ever announced just before the U.S. holiday.
The Friday before a holiday weekend is usually a slow news day. But I heard some whispers Friday that Go Daddy was going to make a big announcement, hence my tweet around noon.
Indeed, a few hours later Go Daddy announced that it took an investment from KKR, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures.
I talked with GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons Friday evening. Since most of my U.S. readers were already off drinking beer and buying fireworks, here’s a quick recap of what he told me. You can read the full details here.
-If you include options, Parsons owned 78% of the company and employees owned about 22%
-36 people will gross $1M+ from the transaction
-Parsons is still the largest single shareholder in the company
-Warren Adelman was promoted to CEO and Parsons will now chair the board
Usually, the Friday before a holiday is the time to “bury” bad news. It’s in the manual. But this was good news, right?
@ Kevin Murphy – you mean like how Demand Media issued its S-1?
Yes, I think in this case they just weren’t able to finalize the deal until later in the week, but they knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it under wraps over the holiday weekend. Just my guess, though.
Rick S. also tweeted about his Property.com and Properties.com sale on July 1 as well.
1.8 billion to Bob… a good amount of money to retire… 🙂
Bob will never retire.