More consolidation in the domain name industry as Web.com to join with Endurance.
Endurance International Group plans to acquire Web.com and rename itself Endure Digital.
In September, Web.com owner Siris Capital opened a position in Endurance. In November, Clearlake Capital Group announced it was taking Endurance private in a $3 billion deal.
Last month, Clearlake announced that it was making an investment in Web.com. Later in the month, Moody’s rated the debt Clearlake is raising as part of the deal and disclosed significant details; namely that Endurance and Web.com will become one under the Endure Digital umbrella and that the company plans to spin off Constant Contact, its email marketing platform.
After acquiring Endurance, Clearlake will acquire Web.com from Siris at an enterprise value of $2.2 billion. That’s slightly more than what Siris paid to acquire Web.com in 2018.
Siris will then roll its existing equity in Web.com into the combined entity and become an equal share partner in Endure Digital. [Update 1:00 PM PST: The company announced the official name will be Newfold Digital. Newfold Digital will be led by Web CEO and President Sharon Rowlands and Web CFO Christina Clohecy.]
Endurance International Group is a roll-up of hosting and domain companies including BlueHost, HostGator, BuyDomains and Domain.com. Web.com owns Network Solutions, Register.com, NameJet, Snapnames, and a handful of other registrars.
For 7 years now Endurance butt buddies pay fees to keep Endurance.bike, a domain I created in 2014 on the DPML (Domain Protected Marks List).
Private Equity firms are taking over the domain industry and that is not a good thing.
Buy, sell, repeat.
Many burn their fingers, like HG on Netnames. And it seems Siris is exiting web.com at near zero profit, too.
Hello Andrew,
Is this coincidence ? They are taking a 1 word (.com EPA) and rebranding to a 2 word (.com EPA) . JAS 2/11/2021
Gratefully,Jeff Schneider (CONTACT GROUP) We don’t Follow, We Create
Wow! BuyDomains will be in the same boat with NameJet, SnapNames and these other registrars.
I hadn’t thought about that. But Web.com already held back some of its expiring inventory, so I suppose not much will change.
NewFold will be a free cash flow extravaganza with all the domain and hosting renewals and very little incremental operating costs, just like GoDaddy. Probably a great investment in the long run if you can buy the shares at a low enough price after IPO.