Could J2 Global - the owner of brands such as IPVanish (opens in new tab), Ziff Davis, PC Mag, Mashable and dozens more - be looking to add yet another lucrative vertical to its portfolio?
Just days ago, the company disclosed it has more than $700 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments on hand - and it could be looking at web hosting (opens in new tab) as its next big revenue driver.
Of the dozens of acquisitions it has made over the past two decades (including 23 in the past four years), none were in the web hosting industry. The company has, however, previously expressed interest in buying domain registrars (opens in new tab) and website providers, adding that it has access to capital for transactions of up to $1 billion in valuation.
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Its target could be Endurance International Group, otherwise known as EIG, owner of popular web hosting brands like Bluehost, Domain.com (opens in new tab), iPage (opens in new tab), Hostgator (opens in new tab), Constant Contact (opens in new tab) etc.
The company, whose stock price surged last week on rumors of a potential sale, is currently valued at around $859 million - well within J2 Global’s budget.
According to Bloomberg (opens in new tab), which reported on the potential sale recently, private equity firm Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs Group are EIGs largest shareholders.
J2 Global, meanwhile, also announced the pricing of a $750m offering of senior notes earlier this month, to pay back an existing $650 million loan that was due to mature in 2025. The company acquired its sixth VPN brand just days ago as it looks to supplement its legacy online fax (opens in new tab) revenue.
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