Web.com purchases SnapNames

Part-owner of NameJet purchases competing service SnapNames.

Web.com (NASDAQ: WWWW) has purchased expired domain name service and domain marketplace SnapNames from KeyDrive.

The deal will formally be disclosed on Monday following the closing bell, Reglike has learned. Web.com employees tweeted regarding the buyout yesterday afternoon.

Web.com marks the third corporate parent of SnapNames since 2007. In 2007 Oversee.net purchased the firm. It then sold it to KeyDrive (along with domain name registrar Moniker) in 2012.

SnapNames ended up being a bad investment for Oversee.net. Shortly following the buyout, Network Solutions (now part of Web.com) decided to pull its expired domain inventory from the service and partner with Demand Media on a competing service, NameJet.

It turns out Oversee.net was aware Network Solutions was going to do this prior to closing the deal, but it proceeded anyway.

Then it discovered that a SnapNames employee had been shill bidding on the site since ahead of it made the buyout. That inflated the price Oversee.net paid and it had to clean up the mess.

The divestiture by KeyDrive, which also owns Key-Systems and domain name parking service NameDrive, explains a confusing notice last month that Moniker had a fresh CEO. Until then Craig Snyder had been CEO of both Moniker and SnapNames, yet KeyDrive’s initial press release didn’t mention Snyder was staying on as CEO of SnapNames. This makes more sense given the buyout by Web.com.

KeyDrive has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the seller of NameDrive in a payment and performance dispute. It’s unclear if the sale of SnapNames is in any way connected.

Web.com’s buyout of SnapNames will certainly have an effect on the NameJet partnership. It’s possible that both entities will be rolled into one — presumably more information will come to light Monday afternoon. The purchase price might also be disclosed if it’s a meaningful number for Web.com.