Two large domain-industry sales ran past their timelines in Q3 2026
in plain words
Two big companies were still trying to sell parts of their domain and hosting businesses at the end of summer 2026. Smaller hosting companies kept buying each other. A report said the owner of Norton wanted to buy GoDaddy, but neither company has confirmed it.
Full summary
Two large sale processes in the domain industry were still open at the end of the third quarter of 2026. IONOS German web hosting and cloud company, formerly 1&1, whose company IONOS SE is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar. Full definition of IONOS had planned to sell Sedo A German domain marketplace that also offers brokerage and parking. Full definition of Sedo, its domain marketplace A website where domain names are listed, bought and sold. Full definition of domain marketplace, and Team Internet A London-listed group, formerly CentralNic, with registry, registrar and advertising businesses. Full definition of Team Internet had expected an outcome from its review of its Domains, Identity and Software division in the first half of the quarter. Neither company had named a buyer by September 30.
IONOS's executive board decided in September 2025 to sell Sedo as Google wound down AdSense for Domains Google's ad program for parked domains, wound down in 2025 and 2026. Full definition of AdSense for Domains, and to focus on hosting and cloud. Sedo has been treated as a discontinued operation since then. Domain Name Wire A domain industry news site founded in 2005 by Andrew Allemann, with a weekly podcast since 2014. Full definition of Domain Name Wire reported in March, citing IONOS's full-year results, that the company still aimed to close a sale in the third quarter. Sedo's revenue was €291.5 million in 2025, down from €312.2 million a year earlier. No sale appeared on IONOS's announcements page through September, and Sedo still appeared among the group's brands.
Team Internet said on September 7 that its review had reached an advanced stage. It repeated its expectation of a valuation well above USD 160 million and now expects any agreed deal to complete around the year end. The division runs registry The central database and system of a top-level domain, or loosely the organization that runs it. Full definition of registry platforms behind more than half of the twenty largest new top-level domains. Team Internet's net debt stood at $117.6 million on June 30.
Several smaller deals also closed. webgo brought Linevast into its group on July 1 to expand business hosting and managed servers. Your.Online added Zone on August 3. Zone is an Estonian host and registrar A company that registers domain names for customers with the registry. Full definition of registrar that has sold domains and hosting since 1999, and it continues to operate independently under chief executive Martti Varik.
In the United States, Green Olive Tree, a veteran-owned managed-hosting provider, bought ZebraHost, a cloud and colocation provider, for $1.1 million. The deal closed June 22 and became public July 15.
In registries, Identity Digital A company, formerly Donuts, that runs many gTLDs and provides registry services. Full definition of Identity Digital's subsidiary Jolly Host became the contracted party for .网站 in late July. Domain Incite A news blog based in the United Kingdom on the domain name business and ICANN, edited by Kevin Murphy since 2010. Full definition of Domain Incite counted it as the seventh gTLD generic top-level domain A top-level domain not tied to a country, run under ICANN contracts. Full definition of gTLD contract reassigned to Jolly Host since February.
Infomaniak went public through a reverse takeover. Its shareholders agreed on July 29 that Perrot Duval Holding would acquire the Swiss host in exchange for new shares. Completion followed on September 25, and the renamed Infomaniak SA has traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange since October 1.
Finally, the Financial Times reported on September 24 that Gen Digital, owner of Norton, had made an early-stage takeover approach to GoDaddy The largest registrar, which also runs a registry business and an aftermarket platform. Full definition of GoDaddy. On September 28 Gen filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a LinkedIn post by chief executive Vincent Pilette, in which he says he cannot comment on rumors. Neither company has confirmed the approach.