A significant milestone in preparing Rightside Group to become an
independent, public company
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Demand
Media, Inc. (NYSE: DMD), a leading media and domain name services
company, today announced that its newly formed wholly owned subsidiary, Rightside
Group, Ltd. (“Rightside”), has filed a Form 10 registration statement
with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the
planned spin-off of Rightside as an independent publicly traded company.
The filing marks an important step reached on Rightside’s path to
becoming an independent company that will be one of the world’s largest
pure-play, end-to-end domain name services providers.
“The Form 10 filing marks another key milestone for the planned
separation and spin-off in 2014, as we have steadily been making
progress in establishing Rightside as a leading player in the domain
name services industry,” said
Shawn
Colo
, Demand Media’s Interim President and Chief Executive Officer,
who will also be a Director of Rightside following the separation.
In order to capitalize on the historic launch
of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) under the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) program, Demand
Media has made significant investments in its domain name services
business, including securing interests in registry operator agreements
or applications for more than 100 new gTLDs. The new
gTLDs create a new and better way to organize the Internet, greatly
expand the inventory of domain name suffixes containing descriptive web
addresses, and open new business opportunities for international
adoption of native language web addresses.
These investments further strengthen Rightside’s existing business, with
approximately 15 million domain names under management and a network of
more than 20,000 active resellers and more than 225,000 retail
customers. The new company will own and operate an ICANN-accredited
registry (United
TLD) and ICANN-accredited registrars providing services to wholesale
customers through eNom
and to retail customers through Name.com.
It will also offer extensive aftermarket services for premium domain
names, including domain name auction services through its NameJet
joint venture.
“We are the world’s largest wholesale Internet domain name registrar and
with our newly launched registry, we believe that we will become the
exclusive operator of one of the largest portfolios of new gTLDs in the
industry. Our ability to provide a comprehensive platform for the
discovery, registration, development, and monetization of domain names
will enable us to fulfill Rightside’s mission to advance the way
businesses and consumers define and present themselves online,” added
Taryn
Naidu
, Demand Media’s Executive Vice President, Domain Name Services.
Demand Media previously announced that
Taryn
Naidu
, who has led Demand Media’s domain name services business
since 2011, will become Chief Executive Officer of Rightside, upon
completion of the separation. Additionally, Rightside executive
management will include Tracy Knox as Chief Financial Officer,
Wayne
MacLaurin
as Chief Technology Officer and
Rick
Danis
as General Counsel.
Dave
Panos
, who previously served as Demand Media’s Executive Vice
President, Emerging Markets and is currently a consultant to Demand
Media, will be appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Rightside.
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
through its NameJet joint venture and an interest in more than 100 new
Top Level Domain registry operator agreements or 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 in North America, Europe and Australia. 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. Statements containing words
such as may, believe, anticipate, expect, intend, plan, project, and
estimate or similar expressions constitute forward-looking statements.
Statements regarding Demand Media’s and Rightside’s future financial
performance and plans for executing the spin-off are based on current
expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, financial
condition, operating performance and results of operations, including
certain assumptions related thereto. Actual results may differ
materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not
be considered an indication of future performance. Forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties including, among others: our
ability to complete a separation of our business into two independent
public companies 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 if we determine that
alternative opportunities are more favorable to our stockholders; the
possibility that we decide to separate our business in a manner or time
frame 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 a separation transaction, which we would not be able
to recoup if such a transaction is not consummated; the expectation that
the 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 a separation; 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 operator 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; and
uncertainties surrounding the timing and results of the review of the
Form 10 registration statement by the Securities and Exchange
Commission. 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. 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.