Interesting: Oversee.net knew Network Solutions was leaving ahead of it bought SnapNames
Firm knew it would lose Network Solutions’ expired domain inventory when it bought SnapNames.
Shortly following Oversee.net purchased expired domain platform SnapNames in 2007, Network Solutions pulled its inventory from the service in order to team up with Demand Media on competitor NameJet.
A commonly held assumption is that Oversee.net had overlooked a change-in-control term (or underestimated the risk of it) when it did its due diligence on acquiring SnapNames. In fact, I gave Oversee.net’s due diligence team a “domain dunce” award in 2009.
But perhaps I ought to give myself a domain dunce award on this one. Since that assumption was wrong.
In testimony related to the Monte Cahn lawsuit against Oversee.net, former Oversee CEO Jeff Kupietzky explains that Oversee.net was fully aware of Network Solutions exiting ahead of it concluded the deal:
Lawyer: Well, you’d by now been burned on the SnapNames transaction at that point in time, hadn’t you?
Kupietzky: I wouldn’t necessarily characterize it that way.
Lawyer: Well, you’d by now lost the Network Solutions account?
Kupietzky: The Network Solutions was not a diligence thing. And just to be clear, since I testified regarding this earlier, Mr. Ng made a decision knowing that they were going to pull, to carry on the transaction even though the transaction had a term component that would have allowed him not to.
“Mr. Ng” refers to Oversee.net founder Lawrence Ng.
Network Solutions has some of the best expiring domain inventory since it is the oldest registrar. The inventory instantly made NameJet a force to be reckoned with in the expired domain business. It was a big blow to SnapNames.
If losing Network Solutions wasn’t priced in to the transaction, then I’m surprised Oversee.net went through with the deal. But I don’t want to make any more assumptions regarding that.
Of course the most painful due diligence failure in the transaction was Nelson Brady’s insider bidding.
