Founder will retain large stake in company.
Namecheap is about to have a new majority owner.
The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that CVC Capital Partners has come to terms to buy a majority stake in the company. It will value the registrar and hosting company at $1.5 billion, including debt.
Namecheap founder Richard Kirkendall will retain a large stake in the company.
The company generated revenues of approximately $400 million in last year.
Namecheap is the second-largest domain name registrar. As of the latest published data, it had 11.5 million .com domains registered in May. This is on top of many millions of domains registered in other extensions.
The company is known for cheap domains, and also for its vocal founder. Kirkendall has frequently sparred with GoDaddy, which holds the title of the largest domain name registrar.
In addition to Namecheap, the company operates Spaceship, a domain registrar and sales platform that is courting domain name investors.
If Spaceship’s 5% lenders go dark, use your own landers.
I am curious how involved the PE owners will be, especially as it relates to things like Afternic. Will the owner push to just do what brings in the most money?
Use DaaZ landers , they are much more safer on this part. They are consistent in the last 6 years. Relatively small marketplace compare to GD or NC – but clearly domainer first marketplace.
Everytime I move most of my domains something happens… the company raises prices, goes down in quality or is acquired and goes downhill. Richard keeping “large stake” is only thing that gives me some hope.
DAAZ is a relatively small marketplace compared to giants like Namecheap, but it has consistently stood out as one of the most domainer-friendly platforms over the last 6–7 years. It may not make as much noise in mainstream marketing as some of the bigger players, but it has quietly built a reputation as a reliable, seller-first marketplace that serves domain investors exceptionally well.
These private equity clowns lost huge money in China, too bad not all the money.
Mr. Bob Parson is my hero…really admire that guy…
Remember he sold GD….that when GD went downhill….and that the rest of the story.
That what going to happen to name cheap….
Really missed the GD 99 coupons
Congrats to Richard and the team.
Great exit for him.
Congrats to Richard and the team!
Congrats about what, that he sold his baby?
That’s a huge move in the domain industry. A $1.5B valuation really underscores how valuable registrars with strong customer bases and recurring revenue streams have become. Great to see Richard Kirkendall retaining a large stake—it should help preserve Namecheap’s original culture and vision.
We’ve trusted Namecheap for years, and all our domains are held with this registrar. With its scale (11.5M+ .coms plus many other TLDs) and the growth of Spaceship, this deal could significantly reshape competition with GoDaddy and others. It’ll be interesting to see how it impacts pricing, service quality, and domain investor engagement moving forward.
I feel sorry for whomever bought namecheap. A sucker born every day. Orginally NC was a decent registry and good alternative to Go Daddy, but over time there prices were raised more and more and ther customer service went to absolute sh** until now its in my opinion as a domainer of more than 22 years one of the worst registries right behind IONOS, and Network Solutions. Overpriced, and their Ukrainian customer service is just plain rude.
Hopefully, the new owners will make some changes and return Namecheap back to being friendly to domainers again.
I just left this comment about it at another blog:
“[Redacted first sentence.]
“PE” – let’s spell it out, “Private Equity” – is long well known for devouring and destroying everything it touches; for none of its intentions being good, all of its intentions being bad and to stripmine anything it comes near to enrich its eilte “stakeholders” and discard the devastated remains.
Was HostGator a “PE” deal, by the way? Might as well have been. From great to get-me-ten-million-miles-away-as-fast-as-possible in nothing flat.
Check out the tragic anti-social anti-human story of Crozer-Chester Medical Center and “PE” when you get a chance.
That said, I don’t blame Richard Kirkendall or anyone else with him getting rich in the process for taking the windfall. We all probably would do that including me. But let’s just be honest about “PE.”
I also just added this at the other blog:
“P.S. I want to add a candid tale of two contrasts here as well:
1. I’ve always hated NameCheap. Don’t know what anyone ever saw in it. Possibly even the worst most unpleasant domain management software ever.
But…
2. I was doubtful at first, but Spaceship has rapidly become one of the best registrars of all time ever. Some of the best domain management software ever, possibly even the best. Sad to contemplate what the future might hold now that “PE” will have a hold, however.
What a contrast, at least while it lasts.”