2013 Top Stories: A fresh direction for GoDaddy

GoDaddy has a fresh CEO and is moving in a fresh direction.

Blake Irving took the helm of domain name registrar and webhosting giant GoDaddy this year.

It was a big shift for the firm, which had been run by insiders until an investment group bought in to the firm in 2011. The investors later installed an interim CEO until Irving came on board. Irving comes from Microsoft and Yahoo!, and brought a decidedly different attitude to the firm.

The firm that got itself on the map with sexy advertising and controversy has shifted its advertising to focusing on modest and medium-sized business and what its products actually do. The firm that had a strict Not Invented Here attitude started to partner with other firms — and buy them. The firm known for a security complex became a bit more open…a bit more Silicon-valley like.

Of course, these changes aren’t readily apparent to everyone. You can’t change a firm’s image overnight. People still remember GoDaddy’s old commercials. They still remember the elephant. And SOPA.

That was apparent when GoDaddy purchased hosting firm (mt) Media Temple earlier this year. (mt)’s clients include designers and developers, many of which aren’t big fans of GoDaddy. They chose (mt) precisely since it wasn’t GoDaddy.

Despite assurances that (mt) would remain on its own post-buyout, clients took to Twitter to vent their frustrations, and Irving responded explaining that GoDaddy is now a different firm.

Maybe so, but it will take a while to prove it.