Network Solutions Acquired by Web.com

Last Wednesday, Web.com announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Network Solutions, a privately owned domain name registrar. They will do so primarily in order to be able to capitalize on the shift from traditional to online marketing by many small and medium businesses, which is currently taking place.

As part of the acquisition, the Florida-based Web.com will pay Network Solutions 405 million USD in cash. They will also issue 18 million shares of Web.com common stock, as well as refinance the current debt of Network Solutions.

Network Solutions and Web.com are both domain name registrars. However, in addition to this they also offer other complementary services, such as online marketing, e-commerce, and others, which are targeted at small and medium businesses. For example, one of the services Web.com offers is setting up Facebook pages for customers.

“Even as the Internet has been a game-changing resource for consumers and large companies with the scale to tap enterprise marketing resources, there are many small business owners who could more fully leverage the growing adoption of online local search, social media and mobile devices to grow their businesses.” Web.com wrote in a blog post on their website.

As of the end of June 2011, the two companies together have almost 3 million clients, more than 9 million domains under management, and over 1,900 employees. Once they join, they will be able to compete against GoDaddy.com, and other companies of similar size.

Last year, Web.com also acquired Register.com, another privately held domain name registrar, as well as a website design and management services provider. Register.com at the time boasted of over 800,000 subscribers, and was also targeting small businesses with the services they offered.

The agreement is still subject to Web.com shareholder approval, along with customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. It is expected to be completed in the fall of 2011. Once it is finalized, the majority owner of Network Solutions, General Atlantic, and other existing Network Solutions shareholders will become the owners of about 37 percent of Web.com.

Links

• Network Solutions Official Website
• Web.com Official Website

About Stephane Brault

Stephane is a web developer and system administrator with over 18 years of experience. Specialized in PHP programming and Linux server administration, he also provided development and consulting services to SMBs for several years before becoming an online entrepreneur.