GoDaddy As The Potential Catalyst For A New IPO Bubble

from the fits-the-billing... dept

We’ve had a few stories lately about the IPO market — and whether or not it was really opening up. Back when Google went public in 2004, there was a lot of talk about how it would open up the IPO market for tech companies again… but that turned out to be wrong. In retrospect, it isn’t hard to see why. Google is clearly a special case for the market — and could have gone public successfully no matter what the rest of the IPO environment was. To really open up the market again, there would need to be a lower profile, but still well known, company to successfully hit the market. While there has been some talk about how slow the tech IPO market has been there certainly have been some companies going public. Unfortunately, many of them seemed pretty questionable. With the folks on Wall Street publicly begging tech startups to go public again, it was only a matter of time until more high profile firms started to head through the door. There was some thought that Vonage might be that company (though some classify it more as a telco play than a tech one), but the questions concerning that company’s IPO have many still believing that the IPO filing is more about trying to force the hand of potential acquirers. However, the latest rumors coming around are that well known (if occasionally controversial, and always publicity seeking) domain registrar GoDaddy is planning to file to sell shares to the public shortly. Since the documents haven’t been filed, and the company’s finances are still under wraps, it’s hard to tell whether this is a more sensible IPO or one that pushes the boundaries. However, what it could do is really bring back a more open window for tech startup IPOs. The other really borderline IPOs that are easy to make fun of only encouraged other questionable firms to take the IPO path. There were no “brand name” tech firms going public. Getting a recognizable “name” in the tech industry to go out successfully could start the lemming process going, where a number of more well known but still private tech companies start working on filing. The folks on Wall Street must be thrilled.


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Comments on “GoDaddy As The Potential Catalyst For A New IPO Bubble”

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40 Comments
Brody says:

Re: What's so special?

My sister has GoDaddy.com. And frankly, she loves it. This is her site. Yes, I know. It’s great. (If you think that’s good, she did all of her graphic work through paint, and Microsoft Excel… now she has Photoshop though.) GoDaddy, is a reliable, inexpensive, easy, and great provider. No stupid ads, statistics trackers. You name it, they got it! They don’t only do domain name registering. They also do web hosting. Not site building, but hosting. I love GoDaddy.

Common Sense says:

Re: What's so special?

Hmmmm… just a domain registrar, with over 15 million domain registrations and being the largest domain registrar in the world and also the largest shared hosting company in the world, fastest growing SSL provider and dedicated serve rprovider in the world. Yet they just had a risque commercial. Maybe you haven’t heard of them since because you don’t watch the business. Pay attention before you spit out non sense

Others deserve a chance too (user link) says:

Others do the same, and sometimes for less

I have been using frugalname.com for a few years now. Same interface, same reliability. Been thrilled with them for my hosting and domain needs (326 domains and counting) There are many GD resellers out there. The money still goes to the same man, but at least the reseller makes a few cents in the process.

Lisa says:

GoDaddy is cheap.. but you get your money's worth

I have a few domain names registered with goDaddy. GoDaddy is good for that but that’s about it… unless you’re into PHP development. I tried to work with them on a j2ee site with jsp’s and servlets with a MySQL database and they were HORRIBLE. Took them two weeks to try to figure anything out and never did figure out why they couldn’t get their end of things working. I ended up cancelling the hosting service. Customer support were not techincal and had no idea what to tell me. The other developer working on the site nicknamed them “NoDaddy”. So if you’re doing just the simple stuff GoDaddy is a good deal. But if you’re a *real* developer that does more than just php then I suggest looking elsewhere

Common Sense says:

Re: GoDaddy is cheap.. but you get your money's wo

Then again if you are a real developer you probably would have read the accepted applications explained on the Go daddy site. Or really if you are a “real developer” you probably want to go beyond the $4-$12 you are paying for SHARED hosting and delve into the dedicated hosting life so you as the “real developer” can do as you please. Then again if you are a “real developer” and need the hosting company to do your work for you maybe you need to look into something else alltogether.

common sense says:

Re: More simpletons than geeks = $$$$$IPO

Hmmmmm. concept of shared hosting unveiled, oh no time to chnage the worlds ideals. People are paying low prices for basic products and complaining that it won’t do what they want despite that they were given the capabilities upfront and then getting mad when a fortune 500 company won’t change everything they do to do there job for them.

Frank J. McCourry (user link) says:

CHEAP

I would never invest in a company that sels there products so cheaply, without advertising to make up the difference. The prices they sell for are cheaper than what many wholesalers can sell for. They cannot possibly do this for an extended period and stay profitable enough to offer public shares any kind of return on their investment.

If they do go public, watch for their prices to go up.

Bob says:

Re: CHEAP

If you consider they don’t ship anything and have no physical products, registering domains is just keeping a database updated. It’s not costly. They’re choosing to penetrate a market by only taking in 500% profit instead of 1500% on registrations.

Hosting is a little different since you have to have a server farm or rent one to sell users. Still they don’t manufacture anything. But as far as domain registration goes, I don’t see why they can’t sustain their business at their low prices.

Emraith says:

their prices have been pretty much the same for years. Ive used them for about 10 domains over the years and always had great reliable service, and cheap too. From what I remember, they were one of the first to offer domain registration for $15/year, instead of most others that were still $35/year. I never plan on using any other domain registration service than godaddy

Phillip says:

Issues

Before godaaddy goes public I would suggest they look internally at cleaning up their service and issues first. Do a search and look for the numerous problems customers have had with godaddy. Domain name hostage holding being a primary one, sure they are easy to use and work well but try to move your name to another hosting company. No I am not a disgruntled exemployee or a unhappy customer, just someone who has had to do a ton of research into companies like this.

common sense says:

Re: Issues

LOL obviously not enough research. Give examples of “domain hotage” or are you speaking as someone who wanted a domain but was not the registrant and you are now upset because you were not able to steal someones legal property. Because if you really did any research you would understand the process and see that as the #1 regitrar in the world they have to follow things that are setup to be guidelines, called LAWS. And they don’t try to throw there weight around to change those like some other companies. (see network solutions, verisign)

You Mon Tsang (user link) says:

Next few months will tell...

I am waiting with baited breath. On one hand, I expect a strong growing, profitable GoDaddy that should succeed in the IPO market. Then there’s Local Matters, which is a 1999-like concept IPO. If GoDaddy goes out, I am not sure if it tells us much. If Local Matters goes out and does well, then expect the floodgates to open!

John says:

What more could you want??

? GoDaddy.com
is by far the best company that I have ever used for not only purchasing Domain Names, but also for Web Hosting and
SSL Certificates
.
With GoDaddy, I get my domain names for less than $ 10.00 per year, and I only pay $ 3.16 per month for my hosting plan,
which gives me 500MB of web space, PHP and MySQL, 250GB of monthly data transfer (bandwidth), and 500 free POP3 email
accounts for my employees! Name one other provider that can offer that! If GoDaddy goes public, more power to them!
They are constanly exceeding my expectations and coming out with better features to help enhance my web sites.

gideon (user link) says:

rise money for development

hi what it takes to rise money for this new compay http://www.businessrec.com. i have a friend that can put $1.000.000 worth of advertising on nation wide t.v if i will be abale to rise $ 1.000.000 for oporation,mean’s office aqupment,sales organzation,stuff – web designers,secrituris,and over head.what this site is all about is business directory to go city by city and in the same time to buy small advertising company all over the map. this is our goal and we do need a help.contact Gideon Azari thank you

GoDummy.Com (user link) says:

GoDaddy will have to stay and look Clean

Can Bob Parsons run a Public company? I am sure he can do just about anything he sets his mind to. Will GoDaddy continue to grow without Bob’s “Shoot from the Hip” feel to the company. The Super Bowl Spots and what came from them made Go Daddy somewhat of a household word for a few days, as a public company would GODADDY use Candice Michelle in this kind of Ads….Don’t think so.

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