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2015-03-23

Is the GoDaddy IPO Still "No Go" Time? (video)

Motivation Bongos by Jean-Claude Van Damme | GoDaddy - Scottsdale, Ariz. (Sept. 5, 2013) – GoDaddy is launching its new brand strategy ... ‘It’s go time’ is a comprehensive company-wide messaging transformation supported by a refined GoDaddy user-experience and reinvigorated product offerings... “This is the radical shift we knew we had to make and it’s more than just marketing,” said GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving. “A brand is a promise to our customers and a commitment to understand their needs... There is also a distinctively different approach to GoDaddy’s advertising. Two new television commercials feature iconic martial arts guru and actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, who represents the ‘ass-kicker’ inside every small business owner...."

All jokes aside, Domain Name Registrar GoDaddy has again filed for its IPO (Amendment No. 7 to FORM S-1 with the SEC, March 19, 2015) and it looks like it may still be "no go time"-- for a third time! --

Third Time Is Not A Charm In GoDaddy's IPO Case | Seeking Alpha, March 19, 2015:
  • Web services provider GoDaddy files for IPO for the third time since it was founded. 
  • The PE-controlled [private equity] company offers a complex Up-C structure for its offering and directs most of the proceeds to its principal shareholders.
  • Current growth in the company’s margins seems too little and too late. 
  • GoDaddy is an IPO to avoid." (emphasis added, read more at link above)

 see also: CNN.com - June 24, 2014: "... GoDaddy, the world's largest domain-management company, which has faced financial troubles in recent years. GoDaddy has 57 million domains registered to its service, but the company hasn't generated a profit since 2009 and in the last two years has reported combined losses of $480 million..." 

GoDaddy Sets Price Range for I.P.O. - NYTimes.com - DealBook, March 19, 2015: "GoDaddy, the Internet services provider known for its provocative television commercials, said on Thursday that it planned to sell shares in its initial public offering priced between $17 and $19 a share. At the midpoint of that range, the I.P.O would value the company at $2.72 billion. GoDaddy is planning to sell 22 million Class A shares in the offering. The stock would trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GDDY. The holders of the Class B shares will have voting control over the company...  Last year, it lost $143.3 million on revenue of $1.4 billion. Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are leading the underwriting of the I.P.O."

GoDaddy IPO S-1 Teardown - GoDaddy (Pending:GDDY) | Seeking Alpha, Sept 5, 2014: "This isn't a nice clean IPO. In 2011, GoDaddy did a financing with private equity firms (KKR, Silver Lake and TCV) which drastically concentrated ownership of the company. GoDaddy is leveraged with $1.5B [billion] in debt."

Caveat Emptor! (and see disclaimer at bottom of this web page)