Comments on: Network Solutions Acquired By General Atlantic

By: Joe Pickett

Joe Pickett — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:56:28 +0000

I am Joe Pinkett, the director of NSI, I am doing a fantastic job of running this company into the ground dont ya think? My technique is simply to tell my customer service employees tat they are all a sexy bunch of people right before I rape them mentally!

By: David Mackey

David Mackey — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:50:59 +0000

Wow. Thats pretty amazing. I haven’t used Network Solutions in years. Why use them when discount ones are available and Network Solutions isn’t offering me anything else I want.

By: I know

I know — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:54:17 +0000

Listen,

I know from experience that the leadership at netsol is poor. They promote inexperienced people (who do not use their products) from within. Both as a cost saving measure, and for not being part of the cool club.

No visionaries, no innovation… no future unless they get these types of people in.

By: John

John — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:20:17 +0000

Val, let me save you some retirement income. GoDaddy’s entire business model is predicated on domains as a loss leader. GAAP or not, every domain provider pays the Verisign registry just over $6 a year. This means that the only way for GoDaddy (or any super-discount provider) to make any money is to sell add-on products. More often than not, these are also other commodity products like web hosting. Anyone can look at this and realize that it’s a terrible long-term business plan, especially in a global economy. And no, Bob Parsons is no Herb Kelleher or Sam Walton.

By: Val

Val — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 16:14:30 +0000

Jeepfun, you obviously haven’t read many S1 filings, or at least you don’t understand them. GoDaddy may not be profitable from a GAAP perspective, but they are certainly not hemoraging money. They have incredible cash flow, and the only reason for the loss is that revenue has to be deferred.

For example, if they sell a .com name for 2yrs they can only report one year’s revenue from it each year. But the COGS (what they pay Verising for it) has to all be expensed in the first year. So, take a look at their growing deferred revenue and keep in mind that it will cost them next to nothing to support the 2nd year of registration and you begin to get the idea. These guys are going to be making mint in a just another year or two. Too bad they pulled the IPO. I would have bought a ton in a heartbeat.

Val

By: Nikolay Kolev

Nikolay Kolev — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:28:20 +0000

Recently Pool.com/NameScout.com launched Rebel.com, targeting portfolio owners. Seems nice, Web 2.0 tagging in addition to foldering, low prices, but I still think that GoDaddy is the best choice… especially if you have an Exec Account.

By: Zelion

Zelion — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 08:29:33 +0000

Wowweee, what does that mean for Tucows.
The only public trading registration company on the AMEX.
They have 5.5million domain names under registration and trading at a lousy USD 0,85. If we do a fast calculation with the 800 million that has been paid for Network than Tucows (TCX) should be trading at aorund USD 8,00 a share.

By: Sal

Sal — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 08:08:34 +0000

Both Godaddy and NSI are terrible. Which is worst I don’t really know.
If you guys want a top notch registrar try Moniker.com or Fabulous.com . Both are highly preffered by domain portfolio owners, provide excellent pricing, and top notch service.

By: SM

SM — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 07:07:20 +0000

Jerome - I’m very familiar with domains, thanks for pointing the obvious re: ICANN/Verisign… Now, I’d urge you to become somewhat more familiar with domain secondary market and do some research at domain drops which get auctioned for the highest price..

These are domains that were residing at Netsol for example and registrant didn’t renew, since they have value (generic/OVT/other) they get auctioned.. GoDaddy has TDNAM for auctions, SnapNames is exclusive to NetSol.. I’d suggest reading DNJournal and some other places before you take my comments out of context…

Undoubtedly GoDaddy is #1, if you’re Bob’s fanboy then you can’t really add any objectivity to the discussion.. Bob’s shop is strictly and login-pay $8.95 (or $6.95 if you have Exec account like I do) and bam - cya..

By: Andrew Kuo

Andrew Kuo — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:30:45 +0000

Wowweee, $800 million!

By: Jerome

Jerome — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:05:22 +0000

Oh, and as for service… what services do you need after you’ve bought a domain for 5 yrs pointed at your domain name servers?

By: Jerome

Jerome — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:58:51 +0000

@SM Wow, serious domains reside at netsol or moniker and end of story? That shows how much you know about how things work. Well, any “serious” domain name with a .com behind it doesn’t reside with any registrar at all but with the .com registry which is Verisign. A registrar is simply listing and paying fees on your befalf - no matter who they are.

Also an FYI GoDaddy is listed as either #1 or 2 for selling domains, and is not just a “discount domain seller” but the largest shared hosting company in North America. As for the IPO thing, I read on Bob’s blog that the accounting listing requirements didn’t really reflect his companies financial success because of the way everything is not expensed when a domain is registered as he does, but over the entire 1 plus years of the registration - so in affect millions of dollars were deferred…

By: PE Guy

PE Guy — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:13:26 +0000

To 2nd the point of Michael and Tech Banker, it’s not simply about price it’s also about service. I have domains at GoDaddy, 1and1 as well as Network Solutions and, from a service perspective, Network Solutions beats them each and every time. If every business used the logic applied by many who posted comments here, then you wouldn’t have companies like Nordstrom (i.e., companies with high price, but high service that goes with it). Last I checked, Nordstrom had revenues in excess of $7B and a market cap in excess of $14B.

But I agree with many of the comments above, if you are focused strictly on price . . . stay away from Network Solutions.

By: Techno-money

Techno-money — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:00:26 +0000

I hear that Generals Atlantic is supposed to be a very big financial outfit. I really do not think they would be buying Network Solutons if they did not think Network had really turned things around. Why flush your money down the toilet when you have to get a return for your investors. I dont think anyone else has payed that kind of money (if that rumor is true) for any other registrar. Look out Enom and GoDaddy…..

also from other reports it looks like Network has started to evolve away from being a pure registrar unlike the low pricers who seem to be so focused on just registring domains. Doubt there is much money in being a low priced registrar.

By: Tech Banker

Tech Banker — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 03:54:02 +0000

I think everyone is missing 5 main points:

1. This is definitely not the same Network Solutions as before. Totally new management and no more VeriSign.

2. If the $800MM purchase price is correct then the company must have done an incredible job turning the business around, since it was sold in 2003 for $100MM! General Atlantic is not a random shop, they know their stuff and wouldnt pay that much if they didnt see value/growth.

3. This is no longer a domain business. All the press and marketing about the company talks about it servicing SMBs and adding value added services. The business is no longer about domains, its about getting you on a domain, building your site, and selling you tons of services (email, security, shopping cart etc). They seem to have great service which is perfect for helping SMBs

4. This makes me wonder what will happen to Register.com and GoDaddy. GoDaddy pulled their IPO and their financials didnt look so hot. They seem to be more into domains and all, but still very similar models. Register is owned by Vector Capital and seems to be the same thing as Network Solutions. Are they on the block too?

5. Is this just proving an excess of capital and firms throwing too much money at so so businesses:

By: SM

SM — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 03:15:08 +0000

It’s pretty clear the $800m value is surely not for their quality of service 3 years ago nor inflated registration prices. They have the amazing domain drops collection which is handled by SnapNames but now I doubt they’ll be auctioning these off.

As for GoDaddy, it’s great for the average Joe but serious domains either reside @ NetSol or Moniker.. end of story

By: Jerome

Jerome — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 02:40:57 +0000

I’ve had nothing but good experiences with GoDaddy. In the early days of the web when I was also one of the ones that didn’t know better I may have bought like one domain from NetSol. Then there was a flash of an ad somewhere about domains for 8 bucks. That couldn’t be right! What happened to the other $27 needed for the process??? Then I read on the site about Bob’s business principles, and I’ve been a supporter ever since.

By: Michael Arrington

Michael Arrington — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 02:01:41 +0000

Hey - NSI answers their phones when you call. Godaddy customer service is really awful. We had a 2 hour conversation with them this last weekend to deal with a simple transfer.

By: Jeepfun

Jeepfun — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 01:32:15 +0000

OK - Not that I want to be bashed but you all do have a lot of distate for Netsol. Aside from price, has your experience recently been that bad? I do say recent as there is no defending them 3 years ago but today? I do want to add that I have domains at several places and my experience at GoDaddy has been horrific so I would look elsewhere.

You also have to admit that NS doesn’t exactly target the tech savvy or cost conscious market. Their target is small business who needs a whole lot more hand holding then your typical TechCrunch reader would need. Like it or not, that costs money but a benefit is that the small biz group is likely to buy other services.

BTW - Back to GoDaddy - if any of you had a chance to read their filing when they planned to go public you would quickly notice that while there market share is doing great, they are hemmoring money and are not making close to any profit.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 01:16:04 +0000

$800m! you’ve got to be joking. As josh says in the comments, this is a company they preys on people who don’t know any better. They are ridiculously over priced with their services, and a literally a relic of the Web 1.0 boom. $8 is what they should be worth.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:43:47 +0000

Network Solutions preys on people who know nothing. Their prices are outrageous.

By: Ivan Pope

Ivan Pope — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:15:34 +0000

The most horrible company I ever had the misfortune to deal with.

By: Leo Klein

Leo Klein — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:02:08 +0000

Wow, the last time I registered anything with NS, they charged me $75 a year. When it came time to transfer the domain, I literally had to send them a fax.

Ye Gads, no regrets here.

By: CVOS

CVOS — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:32:44 +0000

In the time of the nascent internet, Network Solutions was the only place to register a domain name. In 1999 I remember my hosting partner saying this would be changing soon and prices would start falling from the price of $35/yr.

Network Solutions never changed their business model and never tried to compete with enom, godaddy etc. Now its possible they could become members of the web 2.0 deadpool.

By: mathew

mathew — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:17:17 +0000

“Network Solutions offers premium services for a premium price.”

No, actually Network Solutions offers abysmal service for a premium price. If they were the last domain registrar on the Internet, I’d go back to using a raw IP address.