GoDaddy Said Talking To KKR, Silver Lake

Sponsors: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Silver Lake

Target: GoDaddy.com

Price: $2billion

Seller: Founder Bob Parsons

Buyout firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Silver Lake are in talks to buy Internet domain site GoDaddy.com and a deal could be more than $2 billion, two sources familiar with the matter told sister news service Reuters.

GoDaddy.com registers Internet domain names for commercial and private users. The New York Post earlier reported news of the takeover talks. GoDaddy has hired investment bank Qatalyst Partners, the Wall Street Journal reported. Private equity firms are expected to bid.

The company declined to comment.

GoDaddy is the world’s largest domain name registrar. The company, founded by Bob Parsons in 1997, says it has more than 43 million domains under management.

The company posted revenue between $750 million and $800 million in 2009, the Journal report said. GoDaddy has made a name for itself by running racy television ads to promote its brand, some of them featuring race car driver Danica Patrick.

Private equity deal flow so far in 2011 has risen about 42 percent from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.

KKR and Silver Lake declined comment. GoDaddy was not immediately available for comment.

(Megan Davies is a correspondent for Reuters in New York; additional reporting by Alexei Oreskovic and Gabriel Madway.)