GoDaddy is acquiring the .Club domain extension

Jeff Sass, .CLUB’s Chief Marketing Officer, announced today that GoDaddy is acquiring the .Club domain extension.

This was frankly expected as single New gTLD domain extensions are more expensive to run (and smaller profit margins) and because this was the best time for .club owners to sell to capitalize on the latest .club increased registrations and premium sales (mostly because of Clubhouse).

This is the announcement:

Just weeks away from the 7^th anniversary of the .Club launch, we are excited to announce that GoDaddy Registry is acquiring the .Club domain extension.  This means, once the deal closes, the .Club extension will have a new home. Our team is infinitely grateful for the opportunity that allowed us to participate in this historical time for the domain name industry when new domain choices were finally made available.

We look forward to seeing our registrar partners and registrants continue to reap the rewards of the adoption and usage that .Club domains have experienced since our launch in 2014. Having a strong online presence has never been more important for businesses and individuals than it is today, and we’re proud that .Club had become a globally recognized and trusted top-level domain used by unicorns, startups, universities, and so many of you.

“We’ve always strived to get .Club domains into the hands of those with the ideas and passion to build their online dream, and as part of the GoDaddy Registry family, a leading brand in the Global Domain Industry, we’re excited that .Club will have the resources and expanded team to continue to fulfill that mission,” stated Michele Van Tilborg, .Club President.

It has been an amazing journey for our team, starting with a dream to offer consumers and businesses the perfect domain for their passion or business; then on to winning the right to operate the .Club domain extension in a 2013 auction; and to building a global brand alongside our valued registrar partners and registrants around the world. We couldn’t have done it without all of you. Thank you!

“It seems like it was just yesterday I literally rang the bell to signify .Club domains were available for all to register. It is particularly fitting today that I rang that bell seven years ago from an office at GoDaddy, Inc. as part of our launch events. It is rewarding and exciting to come full circle and see .Club now in the very capable hands of GoDaddy Registry,” added Colin Campbell, .Club Founder and CEO.

Colin added, “We are so grateful to all of our team members who worked so hard to make .Club a success. Jeffrey Sass our CMO, and Dirk Bhagat our CTO who helped launch the domain extension. Michele Van Tilborg who took over as President almost 2 years ago and did an exceptional job accelerating the adoption of .Club. Special thanks to Thomas Campbell, CFO and Jonathan Frost, General Counsel, who both worked tirelessly to support our success. In addition, Nivu Hussain and Abby Xiao Zhang who helped us grow internationally, and of course — the entire .Club team. Thank you all so much!”

We pass the torch to the GoDaddy Registry team with full confidence that they are committed to furthering our mission of bringing passionate consumers, clubs and businesses online. The .Club team will work closely together with the GoDaddy Registry team, which already serves as our backend technical provider, so we expect the transition to be seamless for our Registrar and Reseller partners.

We will continue to share more with you in the coming months. In the meantime, please feel free to connect with us as you currently do.