GoDaddy CEO Scott Wagner: New Services, International Market Will Fuel Growth
*By Conor White*
Web hosting company GoDaddy has doubled its revenue in the last five years and seen its stock increase in price by more than 175%. Recently appointed CEO Scott Wagner believes that's only the beginning.
"Today GoDaddy is a useful utility to get your idea started online," Wagner explained. "And our goal over the next five years is to really be the place where ideas start, grow, and thrive online."
Wagner has been at GoDaddy since 2013, serving as CFO and COO before taking over the top spot in January. He'd previously been at investment firm KKR, where he led the portfolio operations team. The firm poured $2.25 billion into GoDaddy back in 2011.
In an interview Wednesday on Cheddar, Wagner mapped out where GoDaddy is headed next and explained why he's so bullish on the future of the company.
"Seven \[million\] of our 18 million customers are from outside the U.S., that will continue nicely," he said. "And it's adding new services ー so connecting not only a tool to build your website to social media platforms.
"We just bought a business called Main Street Hub that'll really be the place where not only can you have an idea and position it on the web, but syndicate that content everywhere you need to be on social media."
GoDaddy reported first-quarter revenue of $633.2 million, up 29% from the year before, and 17.7 million customers, up 17.4%.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/ceo-of-godaddy-talks-future-plans)
Global semiconductor sales topped $500 billion dollars for the first time in history in 2021. Demand for microchips has been at an all-time high amid a global shortage, but questions still remain about the future of semiconductor production. Cheddar News was joined by Tristan Gerra, Senior Research Analyst at Baird, to answer some of these questions and more.
Stephen Gardner, director at ETF Managers Group, explains why investors shouldn't be rushing to sell vaccine stocks like Moderna or BioNTech even as the spread of COVID-19 slows down.
Keith Smith, President of Direct Digital Holdings, and Mark Walker, CEO of Direct Digital Holdings, discuss the challenges businesses have reaching diverse audiences and the future of programmatic ads.
Compass Inc. reported its Q4 earnings on Wednesday, noting a 31 percent surge in quarterly revenue year over year. The real estate brokerage platform allows agents to promote and market their properties online and saw a 90 percent agent retention rate as well. Compass CEO Robert Reffkin joined Cheddar News to discuss the company's earnings, what ongoing inflation means for the housing market and how they help agents directly. "Let me start by saying my mom is actually a real estate agent, has been the majority of my life. She's a real estate agent today at Compass, and so I built Compass with her in mind," Reffkin said. The goal for an agent is to grow their business and have a better quality of life, more income to support their family, more time to be with their family, and it's not just software. It's a platform of software and services."
While many are excited to watch the final two NFL teams square-off and see which one ultimately takes home the trophy, some, on the other hand, are there for another mian attraction -- the commercials. Companies during this year's game are looking towards the future From electric vehicles, to robots, and crypto-currency, several first-time advertisers are expected to join long-time advertisers like Pepsi, Budweiser and Doritos during the NFL's biggest game. Tom Morton, Global Chief Strategy Officer at R/GA, joined Cheddar News' Big Game Special to discuss.
Americans are expected to spend nearly $24 billion in 2022 for Valentine's Day, and many of those gifts will be in the form of chocolate. John Galloway, interim president of the Americas and CMO of Godiva, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss what chocolate trends the brand is seeing this year, plus the impact of inflation and supply chain issues on the industry.
Darren Schuringa, Founder & CEO, of ASYMmetric ETFs, talks about the strength of the U.S. consumer and discusses how tension between Russia and Ukraine is impacting the energy market.