GoDaddy IPO Values Company at 4.5 Billion

Web hosting and Domain Name company GoDaddy Inc. has priced it’s initial public offering at $20 per share, above the $17 to $19 per share range it had previously indicated, valuing it at around $4.5 billion, including debt, according to underwriting sources.  The IPO would raise $440 million at this price. A GoDaddy spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

GoDaddy shares are expected to start trading today Wednesday April 1st and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “GDDY.”

The company, whose Super Bowl commercials have previously featured race car driver Danica Patrick and super model Bar Rafaeli have since toned down its advertising and added more than 1.1 million customers last year.

GoDaddy was founded in 1997 and in 2011 was acquired by a private equity consortium led by KKR & Co LP and Silver Lake Partners LP for $2.25 billion, including debt. Since then it has expanded from its roots in internet domains to provide services to small and medium-sized businesses such as website building and web hosting. Revenue has risen about 52 percent in last three years to about $1.4 billion and net loss has narrowed to $143.3 million in 2014, from $279 million in 2012.

Competitors include Endurance, United Internet, Web.com and companies like Amazon.com Inc, Google Inc and Microsoft Corp, which have recently entered the domain name registration business.

JP Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup were lead underwriters to the IPO.