Network Solutions - History

History

Network Solutions Inc.(NSI) started as a technology consulting company incorporated by Gary Desler, Ty Grigsby, Emmit J. McHenry, and Ed Peters in Washington D.C. in January 1979. In its first few years, the company focused on systems programming services, primarily in the IBM environment. Annual revenues passed $1 million in 1982, growing to $18.5 million in 1986.

Network Solutions was acquired by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in March 1995, and listed on NASDAQ in 1997.

John Dillon reports in MediaFilter.org, "Initially, the service was subsidized by the government. But, in May 1993, the National Science Foundation privatized the name registry (InterNIC - Internet Network Information Center) and paid NSI $5.9 million to administer it. In September 1995, NSI instituted the fee system. A few months earlier, it had been bought out by Science Applications International Corp (SAIC)."

In 2000, Network Solutions was acquired by VeriSign, Inc. for $21 billion.

In 2003, VeriSign sold the registrar business, which continued to operate under the branding Network Solutions, to Pivotal Equity Group. (VeriSign still retains the registry business which had been originally created within Network Solutions prior to VeriSign's acquisition of the company.)

During January, 2006, Network Solutions acquired e-commerce solutions company MonsterCommerce co-founded by Stephanie Leffler and Ryan Noble in Belleville, Illinois.

In 2008, Roy Dunbar was appointed CEO.

On November 2, 2009, Tim Kelly, President of Network Solutions replaced Roy Dunbar as CEO. Roy continues to act as Chairman and advisor to Network Solutions.

On February 6, 2007, Network Solutions announced that General Atlantic, a private equity firm, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Network Solutions from Najafi Companies (formerly Pivotal Private Equity). Although terms of the deal were not released, the Wall Street Journal reported in a story on May 30, 2007 that the price tag was "around $800 million."

In 2003 nearly 90% of the company's revenue was from domain-name registrations, said Network Solutions then-Chief Executive W.G. Champ Mitchell. Since 2005, the company has added 69 services and products and today these new offerings are fueling Network Solutions' growth. Now only 45% of the company's revenue comes from domain-name registrations.

At the end of July, 2007, Network Solutions had 6,659,150 domains under management and was in the top five wholesale domain registrars following Go Daddy with 19,709,215 domains and eNom with 7,646,676 domains. Tucows, the largest publicly traded registrar, has 6,622,982 domains under management with its recent acquisition of ItsYourDomain.com. Melbourne IT, a publicly traded company located in Australia, trailed with 4,664,019 domains under management.

In addition to being a domain name registrar, Network Solutions provides web services such as web hosting, website design and online marketing - including Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click Management.

In August 2011, it was announced that Network Solutions will be bought by Web.com for $405 million and 18 million shares. On October 27th, 2011, Web.com announced the completion of the Network Solutions acquisition. This was immediately followed by the departure of CEO Tim Kelly and other key leadership. Large scale employee layoffs began the following day. By December 31st, 2011, over half of the office space in the Herndon, VA based headquarters had been vacated and returned to the property management. On March 31st, 2012, the company's Belleville, Illinois office was closed.