TechDigits

Tech news
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

GoDaddy acquires Cayman domain registrar Uniregistry

GoDaddy acquires Cayman domain registrar Uniregistry

GoDaddy Inc. has struck a deal to acquire Uniregistry’s domain registrar and marketplace businesses.
Uniregistry was launched in Cayman in 2014 by industry pioneer Frank Schilling to provide domain name investors with specialised tools to register, manage and sell domains.

The company later expanded its services, but domain investors always remained the focus of the business.

“Uniregistry is unique in that domain investors built it from the ground up, so their products and services have always catered to the domain investor community,” said GoDaddy vice president Paul Nicks in a press statement.

“Combining Uniregistry’s solutions and incredible knowledge with our platform will help investors succeed and advance future innovations for them.”

In an email to the Cayman Compass, Uniregistry CEO Schilling, said, “This really is a terrific day for Cayman. A mainstream Fortune 500 technology company is setting up and expanding with the kind of real-world tech presence you would normally find in Silicon Valley.”

The deal also covers a portfolio of more than 350,000 domain names that Schilling has built up over the past two decades. It will bring GoDaddy’s portfolio to about 1 million domains.

“Frank is one of the smartest and savviest investors, and his portfolio shows that knowledge and acumen. We can’t wait to bring these to market for our customers with competitive prices,” Nicks said.

GoDaddy is a New York Stock Exchange-listed domain registrar and web-hosting company with an expected turnover of close to US$3 billion in 2019. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020.

Uniregistry staff in Cayman have been informed that there will be no changes in the interim and that GoDaddy plans to maintain operations on island. The registrar service will continue to operate at its existing website.

“There are between 40 and 50 people at Uni, who will form a part of the Godaddy family, and I understand that Godaddy will be renewing its lease at Governors Square so you could expect an expansion of their presence,” Schilling said.

In a corporate blog post, Nicks added that Uniregistry’s products and services for domain investors will bolster the combined product offerings. “Their extensive experience and capabilities in the industry will bring a valuable perspective to how we operate as a team,” he wrote.

Uniregistry’s brokerage team, meanwhile, “will be a huge asset for our customers”, Nicks added. “Combined with the GoDaddy team, they will be able to work together to leverage strategies and contacts in order to provide great service to customers who need brokerage.”

Uniregistry informed customers that “teams and key contacts will remain and all systems will continue to function” in the same way. “The Market will continue selling domain names and it’ll be business as usual. As time rolls on we’ll be looking at how the Uniregistry Market paired with GoDaddy’s expertise can serve the greater investor community at large,” an email to customers said.

Schilling said he is proud of his team, which will now have the opportunity to scale the solutions developed at Uniregistry with GoDaddy’s customers.

Schilling said his 50th birthday was the biggest factor for the sale. “I have been plying my trade for nearly 20 years and Godaddy made us a financially excellent offer.”

He denied that the divorce from his wife Michele, who is a co-owner of the business, had played a role. “While it’s a happy coincidence that there is liquidity in one of my ex-wife’s and my shared business units, she and I share other business interests and will be joined in those for years to come. And, of course, we both continue to reside in Cayman and raise two children together here.”

Schilling said he will remain in the industry, operating the company’s back-end registry division, which was not part of the GoDaddy transaction. The Uniregistry domain registry manages top-level domain names like ‘.link’, ‘.game’ or ‘.help’ with offices in Cayman and in Califormia.

“Think of it like the power plant or utility that keeps the lights on. Godaddy has bought all our consumer-facing and retail infrastructure, but for .ky and the other extensions you see at www.Uniregistry.link, we will continue to own and operate those extensions,” he explained.
Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
0:00
0:00
Close
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
Melinda French Gates Advocates for Increased Female Representation in AI to Prevent Bias
Snapchat+ gains 4 million paying subscribers in its first year
Apple Makes History as the First Public Company Valued at $3 Trillion
Elon Musk Implements Twitter Limits to Tackle Data Scraping, but Faces Criticism for Technical Misunderstanding
EU and UK's Slow Electric Vehicle Adoption Raises Questions About the Transition to Green Mobility
Top Companies Express Concerns Over Europe's Proposed AI Law, Citing Competitiveness and Investment Risks
Meta Unveils Insights on AI Usage in Facebook and Instagram, Amid Growing Calls for Transparency
Crypto Scams Against Seniors Soar by 78% in 2022, Experts Urge Vigilance
The End of an Era: National Geographic Dismisses Last of Its Staff Writers
Shield Your Wallet: The Perils of Wireless Credit Card Theft
Harvard Scientist Who Studies Honesty Accused Of Data Fraud, Put On Leave
Putting an End to the Subscription Snare: The Battle Against Unwitting Commitments
The Legal Perils of AI: Lawyer Faces Sanctions for Relying on Fictional Cases Generated by Chatbot
ChatGPT’s "Grandma Exploit": Ingenious Hack Exposes Loophole in AI, Generates Free Software Codes
The Disney Downturn: A Near Billion-Dollar Box Office Blow for the House of Mouse
A Digital Showdown: Canada Challenges Tech Giants with The Online News Act, Meta Strikes Back
Distress in the Depths: Submersible and Passengers Missing in Titanic Wreckage Expedition
Mark Zuckerberg stealing another idea: Twitter
European Union's AI Regulations Risk Self-Sabotage, Cautions smart and brave Venture Capitalist Joe Lonsdale
Nvidia GPUs are so hard to get that rich venture capitalists are buying them for the startups they invest in
Chinese car exports surge
Reddit Blackout: Thousands of Communities Protest "Ludicrous" Pricing Changes
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
×