domains GoDaddy acquiring Uniregistry's registrar & marketplace, and Name Administration's domain portfolio

[equity78]

The first blockbuster deal of the decade. GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), the company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs, today announced it is acquiring Uniregistry's leading domain registrar and marketplace businesses. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close sometime in Q2 2020. The Uniregistry domain registry is not part of the … [Read more...]

 

[wwwweb]

For those at NamesCon, were there any whispers of this in Austin? It must have been in works for some time, and a great accomplishment if no one leaked any hint of it.

There are a few threads around this topic. I posted this link to an informative article by Paul Nicks on exactly what is involved. Uniregistry as a registrar will continue to operate independently, but now as an Afternic fast transfer premium network partner.

Bob

What advantage is it to them to keep the Uni, Uniregistry brand, when they spend so much marketing under Godaddy.

They solved their Domains Manager UI issue, they beefed up NameFind with 350K names.

They went into the corporate branding business with BrandSight

They filled a lot of holes with this deal, will be interesting when the numbers come out in the filings, as it has to be huge.

The new CEO gets his big moment also, who doesn’t like a acquisition on the corporate side. If you ever wanted a Name Admin name, once it hits NameFind it will get a big haircut from some of their asks.

 

[NickB]

For those at NamesCon, were there any whispers of this in Austin? It must have been in works for some time, and a great accomplishment if no one leaked any hint of it.

There are a few threads around this topic. I posted this link to an informative article by Paul Nicks on exactly what is involved. Uniregistry as a registrar will continue to operate independently, but now as an Afternic fast transfer premium network partner.

Bob

Thanks Bob,

On a side note, I just went to namefind and saw the deal of the century.......

Offices.com - $-1

Went to buy it but it said my Afternic cart was empty

 

[Ntmt]

Read the release here:

https://uniregistry.com/blog/post/better-together

Post from Godaddy side:
https://www.godaddy.com/garage/uniregistrys-registrar-and-marketplace-joining-godaddy/

 

[tonyk2000]

Bad day for escrow .com. Uni had to use them for a lot of their own sales (specific Cayman jurisdiction, /offshore/, special attention from financial institutions --> not easy to receive $$$ by wire internationally etc.). NameFind does not need to.

Like any acquisition in our industry, cannot be beneficial to customers. However, since many bulk customers leaved Uni due to one reason or another in recent years, an effect would not necessary be critical or globally noted.

GoDaddy was wise - not acquired the registry part. An extra proof that ngtlds are barely needed or wanted...

Kudos to @Rob Monster for predicting this. Hope that Epik will remain independent for at least 2-3 extra years. Or maybe more?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

They filled a lot of holes with this deal, will be interesting when the numbers come out in the filings, as it has to be huge.

Yes I agree. With so many aspects of Uniregistry, it must be a complex agreement to negotiate for sure.

Do people in general think it is good or bad for domainers? Now less competition in the marketplace/agent space. But will an even bigger global brand for GoDaddy Uniregistry mean that there will be spillover positive impacts on the aftermarket in general?

So the Uni new extension registries not part of agreement means those, that benefited from the integration with other Uniregistry services and were somewhat troubled even then, have a more unsure future, I would think. I imagine some kind of integration is likely with, it would seem, another partner.

I hope that we will see the Uniregistry landers, or something similar, come to Afternic.

Lots to think about.

Bob

 

[rh2000]

Can you say monopoly?

That is not a good thing.

 

[MSN-Domains]

Godaddy also bought Brandsight in this deal, so Uni was probably an investor in it.

Mark Monitor, Safe Names got some new competitors.

CSC is a pretty big player

 

[Rob Monster]

Bad day for escrow .com. Uni had to use them for a lot of their own sales (specific Cayman jurisdiction, /offshore/, special attention from financial institutions --> not easy to receive $$$ by wire internationally etc.). NameFind does not need to.

Like any acquisition in our industry, cannot be beneficial to customers. However, since many bulk customers leaved Uni due to one reason or another in recent years, an effect would not necessary be critical or globally noted.

GoDaddy was wise - not acquired the registry part. An extra proof that ngtlds are barely needed or wanted...

Kudos to @Rob Monster for predicting this. Hope that Epik will remain independent for at least 2-3 extra years. Or maybe more?

No, not bad.

They should buy Escrow.com next - Uni is already tightly integrated into Escrow.com and would be a required part of the mop-up operation. Escrow needs an exit.

The parent company's stock trades by appointment and keeps falling:

The market cap is about $200 million and comes with a Freelancer network which GD can use across its network of small business clients.

However, no need to chase the stock because the stock price is falling to the price at which the deal gets done. Escrow.com's cash flow from in China is under challenge now.

I bet that Escrow.com deal is done within 90 days and possibly much faster than that since the signs are too obvious and the industry is not that capable of keeping secrets.

 

[wwwweb]

I guess when we saw SAW start selling future media’s domains, something was up.

 

[SuperBrander]

Big fish eats small fish. Never liked Uniregistry's marketplace. Waaaaay too much emphasis on new extensions to the point where their internal search engine favors them over the .com. Try searching for one of your domains there and see how weird it all looks from the POV of a potential buyer. Personally I'm not a fan of their interface as well. We'll have to wait and see what Godaddy will do with them. GD offering installments might be cool. Interesting times.

 

[lennco]

This is starting to look like the Hotel Booking site industry.

Most don't know that all those Hotel booking sites you see advertise on TV (from Hotels.com, Trivago, Hotwire, Kayak ect) are all owned by just 2 companies.

Expedia and Booking.com

 

[wwwweb]

No, not bad.

They should buy Escrow.com next - Uni is already tightly integrated into Escrow.com and would be a required part of the mop-up operation. Escrow needs an exit.

The parent company's stock trades by appointment and keeps falling:

Show attachment 144362


The market cap is about $200 million and comes with a Freelancer network which GD can use across its network of small business clients.

However, no need to chase the stock because the stock price is falling to the price at which the deal gets done. Escrow.com's cash flow from in China is under challenge now.

I bet that Escrow.com deal is done within 90 days and possibly much faster than that since the signs are too obvious and the industry is not that capable of keeping secrets.

Freelancer has a $210M market cap, wasn’t escrow sold for like
$5M number or something like that?

 

[Samer]

i hope Godaddy makes Uni brokers chill out

they overbearing relentless with the emails

Samer

 

[wwwweb]

i hope Godaddy makes Uni brokers chill out

they are overbearing relentless with the emails

You will probably see a lot of them quit after a few months. Some of the veteran ones will
probably integrate into Afternic. They do have good relationships with repeat clients.

 

[1Darko]

Wow - Does anyone know the aquisition price? This is probably a 9 figure deal!?

 

[wwwweb]

Big fish eats small fish. Never liked Uniregistry's marketplace. Waaaaay too much emphasis on new extensions to the point where their internal search engine favors them over the .com. Try searching for one of your domains there and see how weird it all looks from the POV of a potential buyer. Personally I'm not a fan of their interface as well. We'll have to wait and see what Godaddy will do with them. GD offering installments might be cool. Interesting times.

Advantage to Uniregistry’s marketplace was to self close deals at 3%, and put other fees on buyers, with godaddy pushing 20% is that something that is going to change?

 

[Ntmt]

Oh no. Now our domains would be given far little exposure after Namefind and Uni portfolio's.
Its not a domainer game now.

GoDaddy may want to rise prices for domains in their existing and acquired portfolios due to monopoly. And this may be positive for domainers.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Wow - Does anyone know the aquisition price? This is probably a 9 figure deal!?

I think since GoDaddy is a public company when the deal is complete investors will have to be told the price and other considerations. I agree it has to be huge.

 

[Windoms]

Nice job @Paul Nicks @Joe Styler

 

[wwwweb]

Wow - Does anyone know the aquisition price? This is probably a 9 figure deal!?

Depends what you value their 350,000 names at

Their platform, marketplace, employees, and all YOUR sales data.

Also Brandsight

I don’t think it’s a billion dollar deal, but who knows especially if they took stock.

 

[DomainName1]

Congrats to Frank. GD will have the best aftermarket domain portfolio by far (Mike B + Frank S).

 

[alcy]

Wow - Does anyone know the aquisition price? This is probably a 9 figure deal!?

hmmm yes the question everyone curious about.. but no one will know i guess

my guess would be 9 figures too.. but thats still a big range....... but... i havent' bought any registrars so what do I know :P

well i guess its safe to say no one wil ever be buyng godaddy... then again never say never

maybe in some 5 years we hear elon musk buys godaddy and sets it up on mars.

 

[Samer]

Depends what you value their 350,000 names at

Their platform, marketplace, employees, and all YOUR sales data.

Also Brandsight

I don’t think it’s a billion dollar deal,

Billion dollars? maybe if used stock to finance..
I am however a sucker for the all-cash deals.

Samer

 

[1Darko]

Depends what you value their 350,000 names at

Their platform, marketplace, employees, and all YOUR sales data.

Also Brandsight

I don’t think it’s a billion dollar deal, but who knows especially if they took stock.

Yea , that would be 10 figures

 

[bmugford]

GoDaddy is not rebranding. Please.

They have spent way too much money on that branding over the years.
They are the only well known domain company out there.

Brad