Squarespace (NYSE: SQSP) announced today that it is purchasing Google Domains, Google’s domain name registrar, in an unexpected move. The purchase price is $180 million, with JPMorgan Chase Bank financing a portion of the purchase.
Google established its domain registrar in 2014, calling it an experiment at the time. It has subsequently grown to become one of the major domain registrars, managing roughly 10 million domains. More over half of those domains end in.com. Google is the fifth-largest registrar of.com domain names.
The company’s decision to divest this business comes as a surprise. It said the decision is “In keeping with our efforts to sharpen our focus.”
Google Domains is a big prize for Squarespace given its customer base. The company has focused on selling domains to end users, and Squarespace hopes to convert some of these people into customers of its site building and other tools.
Squarespace will honor Google Domains renewal prices for current customers for at least 12 months. Customers will remain on Google’s registrar platform during a transition period. Squarespace will also become the exclusive domain name provider for any customer purchasing a domain along with their Workspace subscription from Google directly for a minimum of three years.
SquareSpace is also a registrar. On a conference call today, CEO Anthony Casalena noted that the company has millions of domains under management. According to ICANN reports, about 850,000 are .com domains. Some of its domains are sold through resellers.
The deal is expected to close in Q3.
