Domain Registrar GoDaddy Headed For IPO Next Year, Seeks $4.5 Billion Valuation
GoDaddy, the world's largest domain name registrar with 14 facilities spread across the world, is reportedly planning an initial public offering (IPO) next year and is seeking a valuation of $4.5 billion. The paperwork for the IPO was filed by GoDaddy Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Scot Wagner back in June, and he met with analysts a week ago to provide an update.
According to a report in the New York Post, GoDaddy is backed by buyout bigwigs KKR and Silver Lake, the latter of which is the same one that helped Michael Dell buy back the computer company he founded and take it private.
Part of the reason why GoDaddy wants an IPO is because it will provide the company an opportunity to diversify and offer more services before Google and other rivals make a hard push to encroach on its territory.
"Some of our current and potential competitors have greater resources, more brand recognition and consumer awareness, more diversified product offerings, greater international scope, and larger customer bases than we do," GoDaddy wrote in its IPO document.
Nevertheless, GoDaddy is still the big daddy in domain registrations. It has 12 million customers and manages 58 million domains. It's also comprised of more than 4,000 employees.
According to a report in the New York Post, GoDaddy is backed by buyout bigwigs KKR and Silver Lake, the latter of which is the same one that helped Michael Dell buy back the computer company he founded and take it private.
Part of the reason why GoDaddy wants an IPO is because it will provide the company an opportunity to diversify and offer more services before Google and other rivals make a hard push to encroach on its territory.
"Some of our current and potential competitors have greater resources, more brand recognition and consumer awareness, more diversified product offerings, greater international scope, and larger customer bases than we do," GoDaddy wrote in its IPO document.
Nevertheless, GoDaddy is still the big daddy in domain registrations. It has 12 million customers and manages 58 million domains. It's also comprised of more than 4,000 employees.
