8 ms·

Web.com Acquires Network Solutions for $405 Million + Stock

27 points by bhartzer 15y ago

mef 15y ago
Interesting history: VeriSign acquired Netsol for $21 Billion in 2000, and then sold them to Pivotal Equity Group in 2003, but did not include in that sale Netsol's role as the sole registry for .com/net/org TLDs. Today VeriSign's naming division is the company’s "largest and most significant business unit". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Solutions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Solutions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriSign http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriSign
- techsupporter 15y ago
  Minor nit: .org is run by Public Interest Registry and operated by Afilias. That TLD was removed from VeriSign's management in 2003 after VeriSign's contract expired. http://www.internic.net/faqs/org-transition.html http://www.internic.net/faqs/org-transition.html
- wmf 15y ago
  VeriSign was founded as the monopoly SSL CA, then they expanded by buying the monopoly .com registry. Now they're divesting any business units that aren't a monopoly (like the NetSol registrar part or the SSL part) because it brings down their profit margins.
maqr 15y ago
In case anyone is unaware, Web.com is a pretty evil company. From my experience with them, their practice is to sign up businesses to build a website, but Web.com retains ownership of the domain name. They make it difficult and costly to move the domain away, as they're the true owners. When I last interacted with them, I believe the exit fee was something like $150 to have the domain the customer already thought they purchased be placed in the customer's name. In that way, I suppose acquiring Network Solutions makes sense.
- larrys 15y ago
  Yes. I don't know about the $150 charge but I do know that Superpages which they work with does put the domain name in either their ownership or web.com's ownership.
- jhamburger 15y ago
  Ditto on interland (web.com). They basically hold your domain hostage, and force you to jump through so many phone customer support hoops so that most customers will just give up.
- workwells 15y ago
  additionally, web.com owns register.com, which is one of the most difficult and expensive registrars to work with. Quite a group, Interland, register.com, and now NetSol. Scary that unsuspecting soles will blindly fall for their advertising.
edwardy20 15y ago
How do they have enough money to do this? Web.com's (WWWW) market cap is only 236.51M according to Yahoo Finance.

27 points by bhartzer 15y ago

mef 15y ago

Interesting history: VeriSign acquired Netsol for $21 Billion in 2000, and then sold them to Pivotal Equity Group in 2003, but did not include in that sale Netsol's role as the sole registry for .com/net/org TLDs. Today VeriSign's naming division is the company’s "largest and most significant business unit". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Solutions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Solutions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriSign http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriSign

techsupporter 15y ago
Minor nit: .org is run by Public Interest Registry and operated by Afilias. That TLD was removed from VeriSign's management in 2003 after VeriSign's contract expired. http://www.internic.net/faqs/org-transition.html http://www.internic.net/faqs/org-transition.html
wmf 15y ago
VeriSign was founded as the monopoly SSL CA, then they expanded by buying the monopoly .com registry. Now they're divesting any business units that aren't a monopoly (like the NetSol registrar part or the SSL part) because it brings down their profit margins.

maqr 15y ago

In case anyone is unaware, Web.com is a pretty evil company. From my experience with them, their practice is to sign up businesses to build a website, but Web.com retains ownership of the domain name. They make it difficult and costly to move the domain away, as they're the true owners. When I last interacted with them, I believe the exit fee was something like $150 to have the domain the customer already thought they purchased be placed in the customer's name. In that way, I suppose acquiring Network Solutions makes sense.

larrys 15y ago
Yes. I don't know about the $150 charge but I do know that Superpages which they work with does put the domain name in either their ownership or web.com's ownership.
jhamburger 15y ago
Ditto on interland (web.com). They basically hold your domain hostage, and force you to jump through so many phone customer support hoops so that most customers will just give up.
workwells 15y ago
additionally, web.com owns register.com, which is one of the most difficult and expensive registrars to work with. Quite a group, Interland, register.com, and now NetSol. Scary that unsuspecting soles will blindly fall for their advertising.

edwardy20 15y ago

How do they have enough money to do this? Web.com's (WWWW) market cap is only 236.51M according to Yahoo Finance.