Company Will Lead Expansion of Generic Top Level Domains under Rightside Brand; Taryn Naidu Selected as Incoming CEO
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 2013-- Demand Media, Inc. (NYSE: DMD), a leading media and domain services company, today announced that
Taryn Naidu
, who currently serves as Demand Media’s Executive Vice President of Domain Services, will become the CEO and a Director of the newly formed domain services company that is proposed to be spun off from Demand Media. Demand Media also announced that it has selected the name Rightside Group, Ltd. (“Rightside”) for the spun off domain services business.
Rightside will be a Kirkland, WA based technology and services company for the Internet domain industry. The company will advance the way consumers and businesses define and present themselves online through a comprehensive technology platform making it possible to discover, register, develop, and monetize domain names. Rightside will play a leading role in the historic launch of new generic Top Level Domains, and the name represents a new way to navigate the Internet, while establishing the new company as the one to guide users in the right direction. It’s everything to the right of the dot – and beyond.
Taryn Naidu
, who has led Demand Media’s domain services business since 2011 will become Chief Executive Officer of Rightside, upon completion of the separation. Additionally, Rightside executive management will include
Wayne MacLaurin
as Chief Technology Officer and
Rick Danis
as General Counsel.
David Panos
will be appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors and
Shawn Colo
, Demand Media’s Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, will be appointed as a Director of Rightside in connection with the separation.
“Establishing the leadership team and brand identity of the proposed new company marks an important milestone in achieving our plan to separate our business into two distinct market leaders,” said Demand Media Interim President and Chief Executive Offer Shawn Colo. “I am pleased to announce a very strong executive team led by Taryn. This team has a wealth of industry experience, has played an integral role in building the largest wholesale domain registrar and is driving the transformation of this business into one of the largest end-to-end domain name service providers in the world.”
“Rightside’s mission will be to help millions of businesses and consumers define and present themselves online. We’re able to deliver on this through our distribution network of more than 20,000 active partners, one of the leading domain services technology platforms, a large number of applications for new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), and a deep bench of industry talent,” said
Taryn Naidu
, newly designated incoming Chief Executive Officer of Rightside. “It’s an exciting time for us, as new gTLDs start going live this year and our path to becoming an independent public company as a leader in our industry progresses.”
About Rightside
Rightside plans to inspire and deliver new possibilities for consumers and businesses to define and present themselves online. The company will be a leading provider of domain name services, offering one of the industry’s most comprehensive platforms for the discovery, registration, development, and monetization of domain names. This will include 15 million names under management, the most widely used domain name reseller platform, more than 20,000 distribution partners, an award-winning retail registrar, the leading domain name auction service and an interest in more than 100 newTop Level Domain applications. Rightside will be home to some of the most admired brands in the industry, including eNom, Name.com, United TLD and NameJet (in partnership with Web.com). Headquartered in Kirkland, WA, Rightside will have offices inNorth America and Europe. For more information please visit www.rightside.co.
About Demand Media
Demand Media, Inc. (NYSE: DMD) is a leading digital media and domain services company that informs and entertains one of the internet’s largest audiences, helps advertisers find innovative ways to engage with their customers and enables publishers, individuals and businesses to expand their online presence. Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, Demand Media has offices in North America, South America and Europe. For more information about Demand Media, please visit www.demandmedia.com
Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties regarding the Company's future financial performance, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, financial condition, operating performance and results of operations, including certain assumptions related thereto. Statements containing words such as may, believe, anticipate, expect, intend, plan, project, and estimate or similar expressions constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others: our ability to complete a separation of our business into two independent public companies as previously announced and unanticipated developments that may delay or negatively impact such a transaction; the possibility that we may decide not to proceed with the separation of our business as previously announced if we determine that alternative opportunities are more favorable to our stockholders; the possibility that we decide to separate our business in a manner different from that previously disclosed; the impact and possible disruption to our operations from pursuing the separation transaction; our ability to retain key personnel; the high costs we will likely incur in connection with such a separation transaction, which we would not be able to recoup if such a transaction is not consummated; the expectation that the previously announced separation transaction will be tax-free; revenue and growth expectations for the two independent companies following the separation of our business; the ability of each business to operate as an independent entity upon completion of such a transaction; our ability to successfully pursue, acquire and operate new gTLD registries; the impact on our registry business given our limited experience in providing back-end infrastructure services to new and existing registries; the impact of any delays, limitations or even cancellations in introducing new gTLDs; changes to ICANN’s gTLD registry agreement and its governing policies that could adversely affect our registry business; our ability to successfully market and sell our gTLDs; the difficulty in predicting and developing consumer demand for new gTLDs; changes in the methodologies of internet search engines, including ongoing algorithmic changes made by Google as well as possible future changes, and the impact such changes may have on page view growth and driving search related traffic to our owned & operated websites and the websites of our network customers; our ability to effectively monitor the quality of search traffic to our network of undeveloped websites; changes in our content creation and distribution platform, including the possible repurposing of content to alternate distribution channels, reduced investments in intangible assets or the sale or removal of content; continued deterioration in the market capitalization of the Company, which may result in an impairment of certain intangible assets on the Company’s balance sheet; our ability to effectively integrate, manage, operate and grow a crowd-sourced e-commerce website such as Society6; our ability to manage risks associated with the sale of goods over the internet; our ability to successfully launch, produce and monetize new content formats; the inherent challenges of estimating the overall impact on page views and search driven traffic to our owned & operated websites based on the data available to us as internet search engines continue to make adjustments to their search algorithms; our ability to compete with new or existing competitors; our ability to maintain or increase our advertising revenue; our ability to continue to drive and grow traffic to our owned & operated websites and the websites of our network customers; our ability to effectively monetize our portfolio of content; our dependence on material agreements with a specific business partner for a significant portion of our revenue; future internal rates of return on content investment and our decision to invest in different types of content in the future, including premium video and other formats of text content; our ability to attract and retain freelance creative professionals and artists; changes in our level of investment in media content intangibles; the effects of changes or shifts in internet marketing expenditures, including from text to video content as well as from desktop to mobile content; the effects of shifting consumption of media content from desktop to mobile; the effects of seasonality on traffic to our owned & operated websites and the websites of our network customers; the impact of seasonality on our e-commerce business; intense competition, including with our registry and registrar businesses, which could lead to pricing pressure among other effects; our ability to expand our customer base and meet production requirements; our ability to acquire, renew or sell domain names, and grow our domain name aftermarket and advertising services business; changes to regulations and policies which may adversely affect the domain name registration system or the Internet domain name acquisition process; our ability to manage risks inherent in our role as a registry and as a registrar of domain names, including disputes over registration of domain names and control over websites and potential liability for illegal activities by domain name registrants on their websites; our ability to develop additional adjacent lines of business to complement our growth strategies; our ability to continue to add partners to our registrar platform on competitive terms; changes in amortization or depreciation expense due to a variety of factors; potential write downs, reserves against or impairment of assets including receivables, goodwill, intangibles (including media content) or other assets; changes in tax laws, our business or other factors that would impact anticipated tax benefits or expenses; our ability to successfully identify, consummate and integrate acquisitions; our ability to retain key customers and key personnel; risks associated with litigation; the impact of governmental regulation; and the effects of discontinuing or discontinued business operations. More information about potential risk factors that could affect our operating and financial results are contained in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2012 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission(http://www.sec.gov) on March 5, 2013, and as such risk factors may be updated in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, information under the captions Risk Factors and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Furthermore, as discussed above, the Company does not intend to revise or update the information set forth in this press release, except as required by law, and may not provide this type of information in the future.
Source: Demand Media, Inc.
Demand Media
Media Contact:
Jean Lin, 310-319-6854
Jean.Lin@demandmedia.com
or
Investor Contact:
Julie MacMedan, 310-917-6485
Julie.MacMedan@demandmedia.com