Network Solutions To Be Acquired By Private Equity Firm General Atlantic

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Network Solutions, a leading provider of online solutions for small businesses, announced today that General Atlantic, a leading global private equity firm, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Network Solutions from Najafi Companies (formerly Pivotal Private Equity).
Champ Mitchell, chairman and CEO of Network Solutions, and the current Network Solutions management team will continue to lead the company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
In the 1990s, Network Solutions had presided as a monopoly over the domain name system, administering the .com, .net and .org registries and acting as the sole registrar for those domain names.
In 2000, Network Solutions was acquired by Verisign in an all-stock deal worth about $21 billion. Three years later, Verisign sold the domain registrar business to Najafi Companies for $100 million, but kept control of the .com and .net database.
Mark Dzialga, managing director of General Atlantic, said:

Network Solutions has one of the broadest portfolios of products in the industry, strong brand recognition, a solid understanding of the small business market and a dedicated team of professionals committed to providing the support and online expertise these companies need to be successful on the Web. With four million customers, it is one of the largest small business providers anywhere, especially on the Internet. We are looking forward to working with Champ and his team.

General Atlantic has invested in over 150 companies, with current holdings in 50 portfolio companies of which about one-half are based outside the United States. A complete list of General Atlantic’s current investments is available

Source: Dailydomainer.com

[StockDoctor]

Hmmm wonder what the implications of this move are? Netsol has that exclusive with snapnames. Where is verislime with that CLS or whatever?

[DomainBuyerBroker]

Maybe these guys will want to buy registerfly too.