SnapNames under Web.com management: What will change

Web.com is a technology incubator based in Jacksonville, Florida – a city with a huge sprawl and a lively metro, that I enjoyed living in.

As a personal parenthesis, I’ve great memories from Jax, some of which I shared in this documentary about stolen domain names; at some point, I even owned JAX.net, which I sold at a healthy profit.

Back to Web.com – their acquisition of SnapNames from the Key Drive group is a welcome addition of a familiar brand to the Web.com family of brands, that includes Network Solutions and Register.com.

By acquiring SnapNames, Web.com has the opportunity to vastly improve the following key elements:

• Rebuild the drop-catching core service, by utilizing updated technology and a solid cluster of registrars
• Improve and strengthen the brand by rebooting its image and appeal; SnapNames will be then spun off as a stand-alone product
• Resolve and eliminate issues related to customer service, something that plagued SnapNames under its short-lived prior ownership

At this point, the acquisition will effectively return ownership of the company to US soil from its Luxemburg-based owners, and possibly will lead to the retention of its US-based personnel only.

A full announcement on Monday will detail the acquisition’s particulars, including the potential disclosure of stats and figures.

SnapNames managed to make it through the “Hank Alvarez” scandal of 2009, and was sold by Oversee to Key Drive as a “hot potato”; the service continued to provide domain investors with an alternative to Pool and other secondary drop-catchers.

Overall, Web.com is expected to provide technological and financial support, while maintaining SnapNames as an independent division and brand. While mergers aren’t great to endure, for the most part, the particular acquisition will benefit SnapNames by establishing profitability and lowering its operational costs.