Top > Webmaster > 2006 > January > 2006-01-02

Web Expansion Via Mergers and Buy-outs

Merges and buy-outs seem to be the easiest ways to expand a business. This seems to be the most common method of expansion in the online business world. The most recent buy-out was done by Inter Land, a leading provider of websites and online services for small and medium-sized businesses. The company recently announced that it has completed its asset acquisition from Web Internet, LLC and Web Service Company Inc. Included in the assets are the domain name Web.com, web hosting business comprised of approximately 9,000 subscribers, accredited registrar business and trademark rights. Inter Land paid approximately $4.8 million in cash, restricted stock and assumed liabilities.

"Acquiring Web.com is an exciting step toward increasing our market penetration. Web.com is an under-utilized asset that we can unlock to reach its full potential," stated Jeff Stibel, President and CEO, Inter Land. "In addition to a tremendous branding opportunity, this acquisition adds revenues, significant direct navigation traffic, and an entrance into the consumer segment of the web hosting market." As a result of this acquisition, Inter Land intends to change its corporate name to Web.com, Inc. The formal name change is expected to take place in the first half of 2006.
The name change is a strategic move designed to clearly align the company with its branded line of business: offering web services (including websites, web hosting, and web marketing) for small and medium-sized businesses and consumers. The Web.com acquisition is anticipated to bring approximately $75K in monthly hosting revenues. The Web.com assets also generate one-time, non-recurring revenues which are not included in the recurring revenue total, such as domain registrations, domain privacy, URL forwarding and advertising and commerce revenues.