We plan to push domain registrars to improve performance.
Starboard manages about 6.5% stake in a company worth about $ 800 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Although it was not possible to know the exact plan of a hedge fund, Starboard usually encourages investee companies to improve profitability and other ways of performance, often with board seats. I will ask.
In addition to selling domain names, GoDaddy, based in Tempeh, Arizona, hosts websites and sells other web services to businesses. The company’s shares haven’t done much in the last three years, closing at $ 76 per share on December 23, bringing the company’s market value to about $ 12.7 billion.
Equities rose in early November when GoDaddy predicted third-quarter earnings to increase 14% to $ 964 million and full-year earnings of approximately $ 3,765 million.
GoDaddy was founded by Bob Parsons in 1997 and has become known for its provocative advertising, including spots featuring Super Bowl commercials and racing driver Danica Patrick. The company was sold to private equity companies KKR & Co., Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures in 2011.
By the time private equity firms launched in 2015, GoDaddy had been recreating the image to attract entrepreneurs and highlight non-web address products such as e-commerce tools. The company has benefited from a company’s growing online presence and rising ranks for small business owners, but intensifying competition is also hampering its growth.
Although no longer a major shareholder, Silver Lake and KKR still hold seats on the company’s board of directors.
Starboard has invested in other domain registry companies, including Web.com Group Inc., which was unveiled for about $ 2 billion in 2018, and a similar company that Web.com integrated a few years ago.
The fund, run by Jeff Smith, has invested in many other technology names, including NortonLifeLock. Ltd,
Peterfeld, managing member and principal investigator of Starboard, holds the board of directors. Since joining a company formerly known as Symantec, Starboard has sold its enterprise security business for approximately $ 11 billion and integrated it with cybersecurity company Avast PLC to further focus on consumer software. Agreed to.
Write in Cara Lombardo (cara.lombardo@wsj.com)
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