Domain Registrar/Web Host GoDaddy Files for $200 Million IPO

[mandy]

The Go Daddy Group, Inc. today announced that it has
filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
relating to the proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The shares of Class
A common stock to be sold in the offering are expected to be offered by Go Daddy and selling
stockholders.

Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch & Co. will act as joint book-running managers for the
offering. In addition, UBS Investment Bank, Cowen and Company, Piper Jaffray and JMP
Securities will act as co-managers for the offering. The number of shares to be offered and the
price range for the offering have not yet been determined.

full press release: http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/pressrelea...pdf?se=%2B

[mandy]

While industry watchers bemoaned the overall health of the I.P.O. market following Go Daddy Group’s cancelled offering, The New York Post says one of the reasons Bob Parsons, the “publicity-seeking C.E.O. of GoDaddy.com,” pulled the company’s initial stock offering was because he couldn’t bear to shut his mouth.

Mr. Parsons apparently found the mandated quiet period before the I.P.O. (a regulatory condition placed on companies to keep them from hyping the stock) “suffocating.” It meant he couldn’t do radio or TV and had to cancel his weekly Internet radio show...

full article: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=6237

GoDaddy, which sells Internet registration names, hasn't been profitable since launching in 1997. Parsons blames this on "ultra conservative accounting" methods the company is required to use and believes the press was wrong to point out in stories on the pending sale.

Of course, he couldn't say that because of the quiet period.

Regardless, the company's financial performance wasn't among the three reasons he gave for pulling the IPO - which the company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in May.

The first unfavorable "market conditions" due to skyrocketing oil prices and fighting in the Middle East was expected.

"We don't have to go public" at No. 3 because, according to Parsons, his being the only investor in the company is also predictable.

It was the second reason - the "Quiet Period" - that stood out...

full article: http://www.nypost.com/business/godaddys_...anders.htm