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Latest .com ranking has some surprises

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

Two registrars posted big gains in September.

The words "top 10 domain registrars" in purple and yellow text

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers September 2020.

There were a couple of surprises in the monthly numbers. Perhaps they are anomalies. First, Hosting Concepts/OpenProvider had a surge in one-year .com registrations, placing it in the top ten. Second, United Internet’s PSI brand posted a surge that doubled the overall company’s .com registrations compared to the prior month.

CentralNic’s brands continue to grow, and I’ll add them as a combined entity starting next month.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in September:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 914,038 (970,570 in August)
2. Namecheap Inc. 284,154 (276,557)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 231,791 (245,360)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 178,499 (199,710)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 157,453 (168,619)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 155,926 (221,686)
7. United Internet^ 142,553 (70,580)
8. Hosting Concepts B.V. d/b/a Openprovider 101,645
9. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 97,021 (108,029)
10. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 71,291 (68,308)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of September 2020.

1. GoDaddy* 54,450,745 (54,215,433 in August)
2. Tucows** 12,963,637 (12,930,920)
3. Endurance+ 7,232,301 (7,183,871)
4. Web.com++ 7,066,244 (7,041,224)
5. Namecheap 6,516,860 (6,338,718)
6. Alibaba 5,947,947 (5,962,510)
7. United Internet^ 5,639,402 (5,554,345)
8. Google 3,924,273 (3,846,200)
9. Xin Net Technology Corporation 2,244,819 (2,539,828)
10. GMO 2,191,732 (2,212,268)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

2020 in Review: Consolidation

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Two major registries were among the domain name businesses gobbled up in 2020.

The word "consolidation" in large block letters spread over two lines, underneath "2020 top stories" text

This is the second in a series of posts about the domain name industry in 2020. Read the others here.

If you want to make a guaranteed prediction about the future of the domain name industry, just predict that there will be more consolidation.

2020 was another year of big acquisitions in the domain name business.

It started with GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) announcing the acquisition of Uniregistry (the registrar business, not the registry) and Frank Schilling’s domain name portfolio for something less than $200 million.

GoDaddy followed up by entering into the wholesale registry business in a big way by acquiring Neustar’s registry business for $218 million.

Donuts is acquiring Neustar’s archrival Afilias in a deal that should close by the end of the year.

CentralNic (London AIM: CNIC) continues to roll up the domain industry and has expanded its horizons to online advertising after acquiring Team Internet in 2019. It bought CodeWise for $36 million this year.

Web.com acquired New Zealand domain name registrar FreeParking after losing a planned acquisition of WebCentral, which went to Australian company 5G Networks instead.

There’s continuing consolidation among new top level domains, too. XYZ has been particularly acquisitive.

And, although it’s not technically consolidation, Clearlake Capital Group’s $3 billion acquisition of Endurance International Group (NASDAQ: EIGI) shows that private equity is still very interested in the domain name space.

Which brings us to the acquisition that didn’t happen. More on that in the next post.

Top .Com domain name registrars

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

Xin Net continues its fall, Key-Systems jumps.

The words "top 10 domain registrars" in purple and yellow text

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers August 2020.

Xin Net continues its precipitous fall in domains under management, likely due to Chinese domain investors not renewing their domains. Also notable this month is Key-Systems making an entry into the top 10 monthly adds with a startling increase in registrations. I will start aggregating CentralNic’s registrars for inclusion in the list if that happens again.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in August:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 970,570 (980,072 in August)
2. Namecheap Inc. 276,557 (281,870)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 245,360 (248,333)
4. Alibaba (HiChina) 221,686 (193,608)
5. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 199,710 (200,407)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 168,619 (169,345)
7. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 108,029 (109,552)
8. United Internet^ 70,580 (71,225)
9. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 68,308 (57,944)
10. Key-Systems CentralNic 62,757

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of August 2020.

1. GoDaddy* 54,215,433 (54,055,970 in August)
2. Tucows** 12,930,920 (12,926,699)
3. Endurance+ 7,183,871 (7,123,142)
4. Web.com++ 7,041,224 (7,035,136)
5. Namecheap 6,338,718 (6,177,045)
6. Alibaba 5,962,510 (5,923,722)
7. United Internet^ 5,554,345 (5,552,903)
8. Google 3,846,200 (3,753,882)
9. Xin Net Technology Corporation 2,539,828 (2,793,597)
10. GMO 2,212,268 (2,249,611)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

How domain stocks are faring in 2020

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Endurance leads the way after acquisition.

Picture of stock chart with the words "domain stocks"

It’s been a wild ride in the stock market this year. On March 14, I wrote about how domain name stocks fared during the pandemic market crash up through the close on March 13. I wrote an update in May about how shares had rebounded with the market.

Fast forward to now: The NASDAQ is up 29% for the year, the S&P 500 up 7%, and the Dow is down 2%.

Domain stocks should probably be compared to the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

Here’s a look at how domain stocks have fared this year. Data is based on the closing price on December 31, 2019 and November 4, 2020.

Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN): Verisign is up 6% for the year, closing at $203.39 yesterday. The company is seeing a nice uptick in domain registrations as businesses move online during the pandemic. The market is likely also pricing in 7% annual price hikes for the next four years, with the first kicking in before October 2021.

Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX): Shares in the company that owns Enom have increased 23% this year. The market cheered when Tucows divested its lagging mobile phone business.

GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY): Before announcing earnings yesterday evening, shares were up 17% for the year.  The stock is getting hit today.

Endurance (NASDAQ: EIGI): An acquisition by Clearlake Capital values shares at $9.50 each. They’re currently trading at $9.36, nearly double their closing price on December 31, 2019.

CentralNic (London AIM: CNIC): CentralNic continues its acquisition binge, moving heavily into online advertising. Shares are down 15% for the year.

MMX (London AIM: MMX): An accounting scandal at this top level domain company has pushed shares lower in recent weeks. Shares are down 37% so far this year.

NameSilo (OTC: URLOF): Thinly traded NameSilo is having a rough year on the market. The OTC stock is off 55%.

Clarivate (NYSE: CCC): I didn’t include Clarivate in my analyses earlier this year because domains are just a small part of what it does (it owns MarkMonitor). But it has had a great year on the market; shares are up 80%!

I do not own individual shares in publicly-traded domain name companies to avoid a conflict of interest. Mutual funds I own, including index funds, do hold some of these stocks.

Endurance International Group to go private in $3 billion deal

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

Clearlake Capital to acquire EIGI.

Endurance International Group Logo

Clearlake Capital Group is acquiring Endurance International Group (NASDAQ: EIGI) in a $3 billion deal (including debt).

The private equity company will pay $9.50 per share, a 64% premium over Friday’s closing price of $5.81.

Endurance International Group is a rollup of web hosting and domain name companies. Its brands include BuyDomains, BlueHost, Hostgator, Domain.com, and Constant Contact, among others.

The company has struggled to integrate its systems and brands over the years and has also suffered under a huge debt load. Its revenue has also struggled to tread water; but in Q3 revenue was up 3% year-over-year.

Share peaked above $20 in 2015. But anyone who bought shares this year will be happy with the result. Shares dipped below $2.00 during the Pandemic panic, and the $9.50 acquisition price represents the highest price the stock has hit since October 2018.

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