From time to time the HostingJournalist.com editorial staff publishes a special selection of editorial pieces on a certain topic or trend. The HostingJournalist.com editor’s picks are being marked as #HJPICKS on our social media channels. This time our editors provide you with a Top-10 list of the most notable WEB HOSTING acquisitions of 2020.
Endurance Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group for $3 Billion
Jeff Fox, President and CEO of Endurance
November 2020 - Endurance, the company that operates web hosting brands such as Bluehost, HostGator, Domain.com and others, has been acquired by Clearlake Capital Group. Clearlake will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Endurance for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $3.0 billion including outstanding indebtedness. Read further.
“We are pleased with this agreement which recognizes the value of our multi-brand scale platform. We are proud to serve approximately 5 million customers worldwide as a provider of solutions that help small and medium businesses succeed online and enhance the value of their customer relationships,” said Jeff Fox, President and CEO of Endurance.
HostPapa Continues Its Expansion into the U.S. with Canvas Host Acquisition
Jamie Opalchuk, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HostPapa
September 2020 - After acquiring web hosting companies like Lunarpages, PacificHost, Mezzohost, and SecureLive, HostPapa from Canada has acquired yet another web hosting company. Canvas Host is based in Portland, Oregon, and has been providing comprehensive domain registration, email, web hosting, reseller hosting, and dedicated servers for personal, business, and non-profit needs. Read further.
“We are excited to welcome the Canvas Host customers to our HostPapa family. We would also like to extend our appreciation to David & Angela Anderson for building such a great company with passionate and loyal customers,” said Jamie Opalchuk, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HostPapa.
Web Hosting Canada Buys Domain Name Registrar Sibername
Emil Falcon, founder and CEO of Web Hosting Canada
September 2020 - Sibername, an Ottawa-based domain name registrar and cloud services provider, has been acquired by Web Hosting Canada (WHC). Financial terms of this acquisition were not disclosed. Founded in 2001, Sibername is an ICANN-accredited registrar. As a provider of domain name services, Sibername is particularly active in Canada, where it provides .CA domain name backordering services, referred to as To Be Released (TBR) domains. Read further.
“With this acquisition, WHC will not only significantly increase its clients, staff and domains under management, but will also create value for its existing clients and services, thanks to Sibername’s domain-centric technology stack and its .CA domain backordering expertise. As COVID peaked and Canadians sought more of their goods and services from local businesses, it became obvious that local online shopping will continue to be a growing trend. It’s only natural that Canadian businesses would look to highly competitive Canadian service providers for fast, local infrastructure. WHC is proud to grow its domain and cloud services platform in Canada, for Canadians,” said Emil Falcon, founder and CEO of Web Hosting Canada.
TWS Acquires Another Dutch Web Hosting Company, Vevida
Matthieu van Amerongen, CEO of TWS
September 2020 - After acquiring a variety of web hosting companies this year, mainly from the Netherlands, Total Webhosting Solutions (TWS) has acquired yet another web hosting company from the Netherlands. This his time they’ve bought Vevida – located in Groningen and founded in 1997. It is one of the bigger Dutch web hosting providers. It will partner with SoHosted, another TWS brand which is also located in the northern part of the Netherlands. Read further.
“TWS’ ecosystem lets companies and their founders maintain a level of customer intimacy and personalized service. At the same time, in-house knowledge is shared with all members within the TWS group, with the sole purpose to have us all learn and improve. For instance, our size allows for significant investment in infrastructure improvements that smaller players cannot make. For us, these are the basics on which we build a better solution for our customers that requires less of their attention and ensure our relationships will last for many years to come. I am convinced that Vevida as well as Sohosted will benefit from this intensive partnership,” said Matthieu van Amerongen, CEO of TWS.
Cloud Equity Group Completes Acquisition of Conseev’s Hosting Brands
Sean Frank, a Managing Partner at Cloud Equity Group
August 2020 - Investment management firm Cloud Equity Group, based in New York, has completed its acquisition of all web hosting companies owned by Conseev. Part incubator, part contract house, Conseev is a software development firm that has been acquiring and consolidating web hosting companies since 2011. The Conseev hosting companies will continue to be led by its current management team. Read further.
“We believe strongly in the long-term growth tailwinds around the hosting sector. We’re excited to partner with Juan and his team to continue to build an international conglomerate with real scale advantages and a differentiated value proposition for its customers,” said Sean Frank, a Managing Partner at Cloud Equity Group.
team.blue Aquires Turkish Hosting Provider, Natro
Jonas Dhaenens, CEO of team.blue
June 2020 - Natro, a leading Turkish web hosting provider, is joining team.blue – a merger that originated from the companies Combell and TransIP with an employee count over 600 people. With the acquisition, team.blue is expanding its footprint to the fast growing Turkish region. Founded in 1999, Natro has a comprehensive product range that includes domain names, web hosting solutions, email, virtual servers and various security solutions. With over 120.000 customers and 500K+ domain names registered, it holds leading positions across multiple market segments. Read further.
“It is refreshing to see how Natro’s vision connects perfectly to what we are accomplishing in the whole of team.blue. Offering easy to use and reliable digital tools for businesses in Turkey is at the heart of Natro’s mission. I’m excited to welcome the 70+ new colleagues that are delivering on this promise for the Natro customers every day,” said Jonas Dhaenens, CEO of team.blue.
Liquid Web Buys Microsoft Windows CMS Hosting Provider, ServerSide
Joe Oesterling, CTO of Liquid Web
June 2020 - Managed hosting and managed application services provider, Liquid Web, has acquired ServerSide. The acquisition is adding Microsoft Windows Content Management solutions to Liquid Web’s portfolio. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The ServerSide team, including Steve Oren, founder, and CEO, have joined Liquid Web and have helped lead the effort to migrate customers onto the Liquid Web platform. Read further.
“The acquisition of ServerSide supports Liquid Web’s mission to power leading content management platforms. With ServerSide, we are excited about building upon the relationships ServerSide had with Sitefinity, Kentico, and Sitecore and their ecosystem partners,” said Joe Oesterling, CTO of Liquid Web.
GoDaddy Payed $218M for Neustar’s Registry Business
Andrew Low Ah Kee, Chief Operating Officer (COO), GoDaddy
May 2020 - Last month, web hosting provider GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) announced its acquisition of Neustar’s Registry business. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, but now it has become clear that GoDaddy is paying $218 million for the business. GoDaddy expects the transaction to close in the coming months. Read further.
“GoDaddy is committed to helping everyday entrepreneurs bring their ideas online with the best possible domain name choices. Neustar’s registry platform enables us to accelerate that commitment and provides enhanced scalability for future growth. For more than two decades, GoDaddy has used its consumer insight to drive innovation in the domain industry and we’ll continue to do so by creating more choice and value for consumers,” said Andrew Low Ah Kee, Chief Operating Officer (COO), GoDaddy.
European Web Hosting Provider one.com acquires SYSE
Stephan Wolfram, Group CEO of one.com
February 2020 - one.com, a large European provider of web hosting services and domain names to a combination of private customers, SMEs and SOHOs, has acquired Norwegian web hosting provider SYSE for an undisclosed consideration. The acquisition of SYSE represents the second acquisition one.com has made in Norway following the acquisition of Digital Garden in September 2019. Read further.
“SYSE represents another very exciting step in one.com’s growth story – we are delighted to welcome the organisation and team into the Group. The partnership between one.com, Digital Garden and SYSE creates an excellent platform in the Norwegian market which will continue to grow. We have been highly impressed with SYSE’s ability to listen to customers and their commitment to delivering technical and innovative products to the web hosting market with outstanding support – they will complement our existing global development and support team exceptionally well,” said Stephan Wolfram, Group CEO of one.com.
Equinix Enters Cloud Hosting Market, Buys Bare Metal Company Packet
Sara Baack, Chief Product Officer, Equinix
January 2020 - Global colocation data center provider Equinix has now entered the cloud hosting market with its services by acquiring leading bare metal services provider, Packet. The acquisition extends Equinix’s colocation services to include is intended to accelerate Equinix’s strategy to help enterprises more seamlessly deploy hybrid multi-cloud architectures on Platform Equinix. Financial terms of this acquisition were not disclosed. Read further.
“By acquiring Packet, we are making it easier for enterprises to seamlessly deploy multi-cloud solutions at Equinix and extract greater value from our rich ecosystems and global interconnection platform. Packet’s innovative and agile bare metal service, and neutral approach to software stacks, fit our own cloud-neutral model and match our strategy for helping enterprises flexibly deploy digital infrastructure, within minutes, at global scale. Our combined strengths will further empower companies to be everywhere they need to be, to interconnect everyone and integrate everything that matters to their business,” said Sara Baack, Chief Product Officer, Equinix.
