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Tucows announces Q3 2020 earnings

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Core business revenue up slightly, but headline number drops due to sale of mobile customer base.

Picture of stock chart with the words earnings report

Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX), a domain name and communications company, announced earnings after the market closed today.

Q3 2020 revenue was $74.3 million. That’s down 16.3% from the same quarter last year but it’s difficult to compare. Tucows sold its mobile virtual network operator Ting during the quarter. That, combined with a $1.9 million bulk sale of domains in Q3 2019, accounted for the fall in revenue. Excluding the impact of those two items, revenue eked out a 2% gain.

The gross margin for the domains and Ting internet businesses, both of which Tucows retains, increased 10% year-over-year when excluding the portfolio sale.

New domain registrations in Tucows’ wholesale domains channel increased 30%, and in the retail channel increased 20%, a trend this year as more businesses move online due to the pandemic.

Net income was $0.7 million, down from $4.2 million. Excluding the impact of the Ting mobile sale, it would have been $3.4 million.

Tucows still owns a portfolio of surname domain names that it uses for its RealNames email service. It sells domains from this portfolio from time to time. It grossed $215,000 in sales of surname domains in Q3. Based on my understanding of the typical sales price, I suspect Tucows sold 4-5 domains.

The Covid-19 Surge

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

Domain registrars experienced a surge in new domain registrations in April due to the pandemic.

The words "Domain surge" in Fast font with yellow background

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

April was a strong month for domain name registrars as companies rushed to go digital because businesses were shut down due to Covid-19.

The numbers reflect that, and they’re even more startling when you consider that March was also an up month due to the pandemic.

Consider Wix. Its registrations for February, March, and April were 75,407, 86,353, and 110,573.

Google’s registrations were 132,513, 144,355, and 170,306.

Tucows: 189,784, 201,660, 270,196.

You get the idea.

The trend is most notable for registrars that cater to end users rather than domain investors.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 1,011,313 (990,805 in March) (March number excludes Uniregistry)
2. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 270,196 (201,660)
3. Namecheap Inc. 244,079 (220,563)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 203,981 (167,966)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 170,306 (144,355)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 146,314 (168,265)
7. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 110,573 (86,353)
8. United Internet^ 84,925 (71,767)
9. West263 67,757
10. NameSilo 65,429

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

1. GoDaddy* 53,544,247 (52,559,293 in March) (March number excludes Uniregistry, appx. 900,000 domains)
2. Tucows** 12,815,824 (12,781,969)
3. Web.com++ 7,064,131 (7,119,532)
4. Endurance+ 6,948,816 (6,888,632)
5. Alibaba 5,859,831 (5,787,345)
6. Namecheap 5,690,180 (5,551,106)
7. United Internet^ 5,532,444 (5,521,784)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,647,376 (3,746,993)
9. Google 3,474,697 (3,367,072)
10. GMO 2,310,668 (2,313,794)

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

Tucows sells Ting Mobile assets to DISH, changes mobile strategy

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

Company switches from selling mobile directly to consumers to providing MVNO platform.

Logo for ting mobile services

Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX), a domain name, fiber internet access, and mobile services provider, is selling its mobile services customer base to DISH (NASDAQ: DISH).

DISH will not pay any consideration upfront but will pay Tucows an earnout on the customer base over time. Tucows said the transaction will be neutral to slightly negative for 2020 EBITDA.

Tucows will transition from being a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that resells other mobile networks under its Ting brand to a mobile services enabler (MSE). This means it will provide backend services like billing, provisioning, and customer service to mobile services providers.

As part of the deal, DISH will move its Boost Mobile customer base to Tucows’ MSE platform, likely at the end of next year.

Tucows will eventually become the tier 2 support for DISH mobile customers.

DISH will be able to use the Ting brand for up to two years. It has the option to acquire the brand, at which point Tucows will rename its Ting fiber internet services brand.

Tucows’ move comes as it faces headwinds in the mobile business. Ting grabbed market share by focusing on customer service and simplified pricing models. Competitors have adopted their simplified model. Ting’s relationship with T-Mobile also soured, and it was spending heavily to transition backend services to Verizon.

As DISH moved into the U.S. mobile market, Ting faced an additional strong competitor. Instead of competing with DISH, Tucows now plans to profit from the company’s entry.

Investors appear to approve of the move. Shares in Tucows are up 12% at the time of publication.

Adam Eisner moves from Tucows to Intercap Registry

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Eisner moves to the registry side of the domain name business.

Headshot photo Adam Eisner

Adam Eisner

A long time Tucows employee has moved to Intercap Registry as its General Manager.

Adam Eisner will help Intercap sell its .inc and .dealer domains. The company soon plans to offer domains ending in .box, too.

Eisner was editor-in-chief of The Web Host Industry Review before joining Tucows in 2004. He has been at Tucows ever since, most recently working on the company’s Ting fiber to the home internet service.

In a press release, Eisner stated: “I’m thrilled to be joining Intercap Registry. While I believe that our extensions are already performing well on a comparable basis, they all have significant upside potential, and I look forward to growing all aspects of the business.”

Before the surge: .Com in March

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

Registrars saw an uptick in new registrations in March, which turned into a flood in April.

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 March 2020.

This data gives the first inkling of increased demand for domains thanks to Covid-19, but the real surge began in April as companies quickly moved their businesses online. We’ll get that data next month.

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

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 990,805 (970,641 in February)
2. Namecheap Inc. 220,563 (203,248)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 201,660 (189,784)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 167,966 (174,972)
5. Alibaba (HiChina) 168,265 (91,190)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 144,355 (132,513)
7. Dynadot 105,006
8. Chengdu West 94,655 (61,674)
9. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 86,353 (75,407)
10. United Internet^ 71,767 (68,936)

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

1. GoDaddy* 52,559,293 (52,296,013 in February)
2. Tucows** 12,781,969 (12,791,432)
3. Web.com++ 7,119,532 (7,121,051)
4. Endurance+ 6,888,632 (6,851,967)
5. Alibaba 5,787,345 (5,747,031)
6. Namecheap 5,551,106 (5,431,296)
7. United Internet^ 5,521,784 (5,512,155)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,746,993 (3,961,980)
9. Google 3,367,072 (3,282,713)
10. GMO 2,313,794 (2,304,518)

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

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains 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

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