Dotster Sells RevenueDirect to Sedo

February 24, 2009; 09:51 AM

VANCOUVER, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dotster, Inc., a leading provider of Internet business services, has signed a definitive agreement to sell its domain monetization service RevenueDirect to Massachusetts-based Sedo, the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names. The two companies have also formed a strategic partnership, enabling Sedo to benefit from Dotster’s large inventory and leading registrar presence, while Dotster customers will gain value from Sedo’s advanced monetization engines and access to the world’s largest domain name marketplace. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Dotster is dedicated to helping businesses and individuals get online and grow, while domain monetization is more focused on generating value from owned, parked domains,” said Clint Page, CEO of Dotster. “We will continue to make investments in growing value-added Internet services that enhance our customers’ online results, such as shared and private hosting and our new social media platform, Dotster Connect^SM.”

Demonstrating this continued Internet services investment, Dotster has recently acquired two companies, EmailBrain^® and FortuneCity.com^®, to expand its online marketing and hosting offerings. Also introduced in 2008, Dotster Connect is an online community platform. The product provides a complete suite of social networking and media sharing capabilities such as blogs, forums, video, real-time collaboration and more. Users of all sizes can achieve improved results with Web 2.0-enabled customer websites and intranets.

Brian Unruh, CFO of Dotster, added, “Dotster’s value-added services are achieving year-over-year, double-digit growth rates, such as shared hosting at 65 percent, and are key to building on the company’s long history of profitability, positive cash flow and strong balance sheet. This deal is a win for our customers too, as they can continue leveraging domain monetization through our relationship with Sedo, while expecting additional investments from Dotster that will help them achieve their growing online objectives.”

About Dotster, Inc.

Dotster is a leading full-service provider of essential resources for businesses to get online and grow online. It has helped approximately one million businesses and individuals establish their web presence, build their web sites, and drive revenue. Dotster offers its customers a complete set of services including the ability to get online with a domain name and email address; build a major web presence with web hosting and custom web site design; generate traffic with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), website promotion and social media platforms; and reduce IT costs with Virtual Private Server hosting.

For more information, please visit www.dotster.com or call (360) 449-5900.

About Sedo

Sedo, an acronym for "Search Engine for Domain Offers," is the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world's largest database of domain names for sale, with more than 15 million listings. The success of Sedo's model has attracted a global membership base of more than 800,000 domain professionals. Sedo is majority-owned by AdLINK Group (ISIN DE0005490155 / German WKN: 549015), which is part of the German United Internet AG (ISIN DE0005089031/ WKN 508903). Sedo offers regional versions of its site for the UK (Sedo.co.uk), France (Sedo.fr), Germany (Sedo.de), and Spain (Sedo.com). For additional information, please visit www.sedo.com.

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Source: www.businesswire.com