For sale: GoDaddy, asking $1 billion or best offer

By Fahmida Y. Rashid September 13, 2010

Founded in 1997, GoDaddy is privately held by ex-Marine Bob Parsons and is well known for its racy advertising, featuring race car driver Danica Patrick and other scantily clad women. As one of the largest domain name registrars around, GoDaddy currently manages more than 43 million domain names. It also sells e-commerce, security, and other add-on services for people to manage their Web presence.

According to the Wall Street Journal, GoDaddy had revenues between $750 million and $800 million in 2009. Some reports claim the company generates revenues of $2.7 million a day.

GoDaddy filed (and withdrew) papers announcing an IPO in 2006, and rumors resurfaced earlier this year that GoDaddy will go public again. On Sept. 2, Parsons announced on his campy video blog that he was considering selling the company.

With this announcement, GoDaddy is seeking bids from private equity firms. Private equity firms like domain name registrars because of the steady and predictable flow of fee-based subscriptions.

However, $1 billion seems a little much for a company that essentially holds domain names and hosts Web sites. Web.com bought much-smaller-competitor Register.com for $135 million earlier this year.

Qatalyst Partners, headed by heavyweight tech banker Frank Quattrone, will shop GoDaddy to interested buyers.
Qatalyst recently advised 3PAR during Dell and HP’s bidding frenzy. With Qatalyst at the helm, Parsons might just get his asking price.

Fahmida Y. Rashid

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Computing

Best refurbished laptop deals: How to find cheap used computers

microsoft surface laptop go 2020 on desk

If you're shopping for laptops on a budget, then you probably don't want to aim for the best laptops on the market, since they often cost thousands of dollars and usually give you diminishing returns the more expensive they get. On the other hand, refurbished laptops are a great way to save money while also helping the environment and reducing e-waste. Not only that, but most refurbished laptops tend to be refurbished by the brand and are backed by warranties and return windows, so even if something is not right with your refurbished laptop, you can get a replacement or your money back.

To that end, Best Buy, Amazon, and Dell all have really great refurbished laptop sales that you can check out, and the prices really are great. Alternatively, if you're in the Apple ecosystem, take a look at these refurbished MacBook deals, or if you still want to go for something new, you could consider checking out these laptop deals instead.
Best Buy refurbished laptops -- starting at $113
Best Buy's refurbished laptops are -- you guessed it -- Geek Squad Certified and while they may not be free and clear of absolutely all cosmetic scuffs they are still exceptionally clean and always in working order. Some of them even come with additional software like virus tools, streaming access, like Apple TV+, and much more. Of course, the best part is that you can get a premium and fully upgraded model for less, often with more storage, more power, and more features than you would when buying a base model brand new. You've got some great options from Lenovo, Acer, HP, Dell, Gateway, and even Apple to choose from. The cheapest models start around $120 and increase from there. The best way to know what's available is to head over and browse for yourself.

Computing

Best student laptop deals: Laptops for college from $215

online web browser game list

Going to high school or college can be an overwhelming experience, and you probably don't want to add figuring out what laptop you can buy to that stress, especially when you're working under a limited budget and some of the best laptops cost thousands of dollars. That's why we've gone out and picked some of our favorite laptops that work well for students and listed them below, and we've included some of the best budget laptops out there. If you're unsure of where to start, it's worth checking out our laptop buying guide to give you an idea of which direction to go, and if you don't find that in the laptops we've listed below, you can check out these other great laptop deals as well.
HP Laptop 14 -- $204, was $269

The HP Laptop 14 is a popular choice among students because of its entry level price point. It's specs aren't going to blow anyone away, but they're good value for the price and are plenty to get the job done. This build of the HP Laptop 14 has 8GB of RAM and a quad-core Intel Celeron processor. It does check in with just 64GB of storage space -- this may not be enough for some users, but if you aren't planning on loading your laptop up with media this is one that will accompany you well around campus.

Computing

Blue Screen of Death: What it means and what to do if you get one

The Blue Screen of Death seen on a laptop.

The BSOD, or Blue Screen of Death, is an iconic error screen that anyone who's ever used a Windows PC has liekly come across at one time or another. It's no fun, and it can mean there's a problem with your PC that needs fixing. But in most cases, it's just one of those things that crops up, and simply keeping your PC updated will be enough to prevent it from coming up again.

Here's everything you need to know about BSODs and what to do if youget one.
What is a BSOD?
The stop error screen, or as it's colloquially known for its blue coloring, the BSOD, is an error screen that appears when something has gone critically wrong with your PC. It doesn't mean it's fundamentally broken, but it means something has gone so wrong with it that it can no longer function and needs to reboot to get working again.