Com Laude Acquires Markmonitor, Renewing Consolidation in the Enterprise Domain Management Market

The enterprise domain registration market is experiencing a new wave of consolidation. Renowned registrar Com Laude recently announced that it will acquire longtime competitor Markmonitor. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Markmonitor was previously part of Newfold Digital, which Newfold acquired three years ago for $302.5 million. As part of Newfold's latest strategic restructuring, the company has decided to divest Markmonitor to focus resources on its core businesses, Network Solutions and Bluehost, and optimize its product portfolio.

Com Laude and Markmonitor have long been competitors in the brand protection and enterprise domain management services sectors. Both companies specialize in providing domain portfolio management and branded top-level domain (gTLD) operational support to high-value clients.

Markmonitor is currently one of the world's largest registrars in terms of scale, hosting over one million generic top-level domains. Com Laude manages approximately one-quarter as many certified domains as Markmonitor.

Following the acquisition, Com-Lauder CEO Ben Crawford will continue to lead the company, and MarkMonitor head Stu Homan will also retain his current position. The company's offices in Idaho, London, and Tokyo will all remain in place.

Notably, Com-Lauder announced in mid-month that it would acquire Fairwinds Partners, a consulting firm specializing in new generic top-level domains (NTLDs). With the completion of these strategic acquisitions, Com-Lauder is expected to play an even more prominent role in the new TLD application process next year.

Source: Domainincite