February 7, 2007 - (HOSTSEARCH.COM) - General Atlantic has agreed to purchase web hosting and domain registration provider Network Solutions, it was announced yesterday. General Atlantic has suggested the company will continue with its transition to a one-stop SME Internet marketing provider. This is the third time the company has changed ownership in nine years and financial information for the current acquisition remains undisclosed.
In the 1990s, Network Solutions had authority over the .com, .net, and .org domains, but the loss of registrar monopoly powers led to the company being bought by VeriSign. VeriSign adopted Network Solutions activity, leaving it redundant. In 2003, VeriSign sold 85 percent of Network Solutions to Najafi Companies, the current owners. Despite its decline in prominence, General Atlantic believes Network Solutions still has considerable potential.
"We see there to be tremendous continued opportunity as people migrate from offline marketing activities to the Internet," explained General Atlantic’s Senior Vice President, Pat Hedley. "There is tremendous interest from small and mid-sized businesses to establish and develop their online presence, and we believe Network Solutions is a leader in this area and will continue to deliver good growth going forward."
Mr Hedly went on to explain that the current Network Solutions management team was likely to remain in position.
