GoDaddy Reports $874 Million Q4 Revenue, Blowing Past Estimates

By Jemima McEvoy | Friday, 12 February 2021 | Business, Tech

GoDaddy overcame the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and posted strong revenue growth at the end of last year, according to the Q4 earnings report recently released by the online website builder and domain name company. The Arizona-based web hosting company reported total Q4 revenue of $873.9 million, which is a YOY (year-over-year increase) of 12%. Here are other highlights from the online website builder, as well as an overview of what GoDaddy has in store for the future.

GoDaddy Business Earnings — Report Highlights

The Q4 earnings report from GoDaddy was full of good news: the 12% YOY revenue boost as well as a 13.1% YOY increase in bookings. This amounted to $943.1 million worth of bookings for the website builder company in Q4.

The sources of revenue for the business that saw the biggest increase in value during Q4 included revenue from business applications, which went up 20.4% from the same time the year prior; domain name revenue, which increased by 14.2%; and international revenue, which went up 12.2%. Revenue accrued from domain names and from website hosting and presence services contributed the most to the company.

Another promising metric for the website builder company is that it saw its number of customers increase by nearly 1.4 million in 2020.

Exceeding Business Expectations

The growth posted in the Q4 earnings beat expectations for GoDaddy. Wall Street was predicting earnings per share of $0.36 for a total revenue of $865.03 million. At a revenue just under $10 million higher than projected, GoDaddy ultimately reported diluted earnings of $0.41 per share in Q4. This amounts to a 0.04 difference in reality versus expectations of the earnings per share.

The company attributes this boost in earnings per share to the company’s customers. “2020 was a really strong year for our business despite the obvious challenges, as our customers proved once again to be resourceful entrepreneurs and successfully pivoted to expand their online presence,” said GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani in the Q4 earnings announcement.

It’s hard to know where GoDaddy stands against its competitors because SquareSpace — perhaps its key rival — does not trade publicly. Neither do Domain.com, SiteGround, and HostGator.

Future Business Projections

GoDaddy has some high-level executive departures to contest with, including Chief Financial Officer Ray Winborne, who is retiring in 2021. Nonetheless, the company is planning for equally strong growth for the next year. GoDaddy predicts it will see total revenue of approximately $3.70 billion for its online website builder company in 2021. This will mark a 12% YOY growth, similar to the growth rate of Q4.

This projected growth in its sales and earnings per share will come from expansion of its business like the acquisition of Poynt in February of this year, aggressive marketing, and new services improved or introduced throughout 2021.