I want to share some news I received this morning via email. Wolfgang Reile, President and CEO of 101domain, announced that the company has been acquired by Afilias. I imagine the announcement was made to coincide with the ICANN meeting in Dublin, which kicks off very soon. As you likely know, Afilias is a domain name registry (billed as “the world’s second largest Internet domain name registry”), and 101domain is a popular domain name registrar.
In the email, Mr. Reile announced that he is stepping down from his role as President and CEO. Anthony Beltran, who served as the company COO and CFO, will be leading 101domain going forward. The email mentioned that not much will be changing at 101domain aside from some of the “corporate, registry and operational details.” I presume this means that the 101domain branding will be retained.
The email announcement I received is below:
This month marks an exciting time in the history of 101domain. I am excited to announce that 101domain, Inc. has recently been acquired by Afilias, plc, the world’s second largest Internet domain name registry. With more than 20 million names under management including new domain name extensions and country code domain names, Afilias brings years of expertise and success in the domain name industry together with 101domain’s proven track record as a leading global domain registrar.
Going forward, as a 101domain customer, you can continue to expect the high level of service and leading-edge technologies from 101domain as your trusted global domain name registrar. I will be stepping down as President and CEO. With the acquisition, my long-term COO/CFO, Anthony M. Beltran, will be leading our operations going forward along with our seasoned management team and growing and dedicated staff.
Future expansion plans include continued expansion into additional international territories with additional language and geographical support around the world as well as 24-hour support coming soon through our Southern California and new Dublin, Ireland offices. On top of this, expect new products and services to roll out in 2016.
During the next few weeks, we will be taking care of some corporate, registry and operational details; however, not much else will be changing. Everything else will be business as usual. We will be updating our terms and conditions, domain registration agreements and our privacy policies to better serve you as our customers and to keep up with changing international laws and privacy regulations.
All of us at 101domain are very excited about the future of our growing company and the synergies and expertise in the domain name industry that Afilias brings to the table. We sincerely appreciate your business and hope to serve you well into the future as we continue our mission to provide domain name and web services to all corners of the world.
Sincerely,
Wolfgang Reile
President & CEO
101domain, Inc.
My guess is that 101Domain is poor on cash, offering domains below cost, and now needs a financier and they got one in Afilias. It will take few months before prices start going up like GoDaddy.