news Uni joins GoDaddy - your thoughts and comments?

[Viator]

Half an hour ago, I have received a message from Uniregistry with (for me) unexpected news:

GoDaddy announces its acquisition of Uni Registrar, Marketplace, and Portfolio.

More information can be found there:
https://uniregistry.com/blog/post/better-together

Obviously, I have an account with both, but currently I do not have any domain registered with GoDaddy. On the other hand, I have a majority of my domain names in my Uniregistry account. I find it convenient, and I have sold a few names on their marketplace (very easy process).

While it is true that GoDaddy is a major player, I can see few similarities between both companies. I have always found it easy to manage domain names in my Uni account, while I have never felt enthusiastic about GoDaddy. The Uni blog post announces that nothing will change in the near future, but more details should come in a few weeks. True, from the domaining angle, the new alliance may bring some additional benefits. Let's see.

I am curious to know if some people on this forum have comments or background information to share about this new development.

 

[GeorgeG]

Half an hour ago, I have received a message from Uniregistry with (for me) unexpected news:

GoDaddy announces its acquisition of Uni Registrar, Marketplace, and Portfolio.

More information can be found there:
https://uniregistry.com/blog/post/better-together

Obviously, I have an account with both, but currently I do not have any domain registered with GoDaddy. On the other hand, I have a majority of my domain names in my Uniregistry account. I find it convenient, and I have sold a few names on their marketplace (very easy process).

While it is true that GoDaddy is a major player, I can see few similarities between both companies. I have always found it easy to manage domain names in my Uni account, while I have never felt enthusiastic about GoDaddy. The Uni blog post announces that nothing will change in the near future, but more details should come in a few weeks. True, from the domaining angle, the new alliance may bring some additional benefits. Let's see.

I am curious to know if some people on this forum have comments or background information to share about this new development.

 

[GeorgeG]

Literally posted about this 10 minutes ago. Not sure how to delete my thread tho, so it aint a duplicate.

 

[Doc]

Half an hour ago, I have received a message from Uniregistry with (for me) unexpected news:

GoDaddy announces its acquisition of Uni Registrar, Marketplace, and Portfolio.

More information can be found there:
https://uniregistry.com/blog/post/better-together

Obviously, I have an account with both, but currently I do not have any domain registered with GoDaddy. On the other hand, I have a majority of my domain names in my Uniregistry account. I find it convenient, and I have sold a few names on their marketplace (very easy process).

While it is true that GoDaddy is a major player, I can see few similarities between both companies. I have always found it easy to manage domain names in my Uni account, while I have never felt enthusiastic about GoDaddy. The Uni blog post announces that nothing will change in the near future, but more details should come in a few weeks. True, from the domaining angle, the new alliance may bring some additional benefits. Let's see.

I am curious to know if some people on this forum have comments or background information to share about this new development.

If GD/ Afternic adopts Uni's user interface, they will improve massively. On the other hand inventory with Uni should become available on GD.

 

[Viator]

Literally posted about this 10 minutes ago. Not sure how to delete my thread tho, so it aint a duplicate.

Sorry! Before starting to write my post, I had been careful to check that nobody had already posted the same news. But by the time I clicked on "Post reply", you had apparently just posted it yourself. Don't worry about duplicates, this is bound to happen with such news of interest to many of us.

 

[robmonster]

Back on December 31, I posted a set of predictions for 2020. Here are 2 of them:

• Godaddy restructuring: During Q1 2020, Godaddy announces housecleaning -- takes out $2 billion of intangible trash. Stock gets rocked. Private equity players directed by Fadi Chehade are in the mix
  
  
• Industry consolidation: Look for DAN, Efty, Escrow.com and Uniregistry all to be acquired in 2020. Godaddy will be a buyer of innovation as they throw in the towel on building great tech internally.

I believe Escrow.com is next on the shopping list.

Looking for the Uniregistry gTLDs to land at Donuts shortly.

 

[Viator]

Back on December 31, I posted a set of predictions for 2020. Here are 2 of them:

• Godaddy restructuring: During Q1 2020, Godaddy announces housecleaning -- takes out $2 billion of intangible trash. Stock gets rocked. Private equity players directed by Fadi Chehade are in the mix
  
  
• Industry consolidation: Look for DAN, Efty, Escrow.com and Uniregistry all to be acquired in 2020. Godaddy will be a buyer of innovation as they throw in the towel on building great tech internally.

I believe Escrow.com is next on the shopping list.

Looking for the Uniregistry gTLDs to land at Donuts shortly.

Thank you very much for those insights - I have not been a frequent visitor on this forum recently, and I had missed your Dec. 31 predictions.
Yes, I have also heard about Escrow.com possibly being the next on the list.

 

[amplify]

No wonder why they yanked my $8.67 .coms for promoting them heavily, wherein I left in protest (I think I have maybe 5 more domains to move over).

They wanted renewals to end 2019 on a high note. But, they lost all mine. And, hopefully, everyone else's that was supposed to be grandfathered into their $8.67 tiered discounts (from what I could tell, very few had the discounts applied after the purge and Topcoin, which was still earned on top of $8.67 renewals and purchases, was useless at bringing down their ridiculous $10.99 .coms).

 

[robmonster]

The earnings call for Godaddy is on Thursday at 5 pm ET:

https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/2151403/8C470F67A128AD76B15CDF718B2AD6E5

Let's see if they announce a restructuring.

Also, the word on the street about the Uni deal is that the purchase price was $350 million. Although the deal does not officially close until June, I would expect them to disclose details on consideration and structure.

Keep an eye out for SEC filings:

https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-...exclude&Find=Find+Companies&action=getcompany

There should be some disclosure soon as the transaction is material.

 

[eRise]

If GD/ Afternic adopts Uni's user interface, they will improve massively. On the other hand inventory with Uni should become available on GD.

Exactly, for Godaddy, it seems to be a wise decision, as Uniregistry could fill up the missing features in their products and services (especially the UI - dashboard, landing page, etc.). However, the question still remains, 'will that provide more opportunities to people in the industry?' I wish it has some benefits to the average domainers out there, and not been a means to monopolize stream.