GoDaddy, the world’s leading domain name provider, has acquired Afternic, one of the industry’s leading domain name aftermarket companies based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The acquisition will enable buyers to quickly and easily purchase registered domain names for sale.
Afternic was founded in 1999, lists more than five million premium domain names for sale, and receives more than 75 million domain searches each month. Afternic’s Domain Listing Service (DLS) displays domain names at more than 100 different registrars, which gives new Top Level Domains (TLD’s) the best chance to showcase their domain names. For example, instead of choosing a single registrar to sell an already registered name like Pizza.NYC – the name can be offered across the entire DLS network-giving the seller the most exposure and customers the best experience. GoDaddy plans to incorporate the DLS into its domain search results and add its aftermarket domain name inventory to the DLS in the coming months. The blend of these two companies is a win for the domain aftermarket and will also improve and simplify the process for buyers and decrease the amount of transfer time.
GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving comments on the acquisition, “Having the right domain name is vital, no matter your venture. GoDaddy is working to bring the ‘domain aftermarket’ together with new registrations and make both super-simple to access. Our customers need an easy way to buy the name they want, regardless of whether it’s new or has been registered previously. This acquisition forms a registrar-led process that creates faster and more trusted transactions across the board.”
GoDaddy plans to keep the Afternic staff in the Boston area. GoDaddy is also acquiring SmartName, a domain parking service, as well as NameFind, a new service for helping entrepreneurs brainstorm a brand name for their business.
Go Daddy continues to make headlines with CEO Blake Irving’s “hell-bent” focus on small businesses, their potential title as a publicly trade company, listed on Career Builder “Best Places to Work” 2013 list, the expansion of their new facility in Tempe, slated to open in 2014 and creating 300 more jobs to Arizona-GoDaddy seems to be living up to their new company motto “It’s Go Time.”
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Learn more about Afternic here.
