Vector Capital Completes $200 Million Take-Private Buyout of Register.com; Private Equity Firm to Help Register.com Expand Online Services Offered to Small Businesses

Business Wire, Nov 7, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- Vector Capital, a private equity boutique specializing in buyouts, spinouts and recapitalizations of established technology businesses, today announced the close of its acquisition of Register.com, a leading provider of global domain name registration and online services. Vector acquired Register.com for $7.81 per share, or approximately $200 million.

Based in New York, New York, Register.com is best known for its premium domain name management services, with nearly three million names under management across nearly one million small business, corporate and individual customers. Register.com provides domain name registration services for over 240 different country codes along with an expanding set of online and e-commerce services that help customers bring and market their businesses online.

"Register.com's strong brand, large customer base, and profitable business model make it a rare investment opportunity," said Alex Slusky, Vector Capital managing partner. "We believe we can grow its revenue significantly while refocusing its operations, and we look forward to working with the company's talented team to build lasting value in this business."

"Over the past decade, Register.com has provided the first step to an Internet presence for nearly a million small and medium sized customers," said Amish Mehta, a partner at Vector Capital. "Today, we look forward to helping these customers further develop and maintain their Internet footprint by delivering a broad range of innovative value-added services including email, website hosting and traffic management. Vector is also committed to preserve Register.com's market-leading customer service and support."

Register.com exemplifies Vector Capital's strategy of partnering with public companies with a strong customer base and brand name products but limited opportunities for growth as public entities. Vector Capital offers management teams of such companies an opportunity to go private and rebuild their businesses away from the distractions and resource demands of the public markets.

Register.com is the first investment in Vector Capital III, a new $350-million private equity fund raised by Vector earlier this year. Limited partners in the fund include university endowments, foundations, family offices, funds of funds, and pension funds. Two thirds of these investors also participated in Vector Capital II, Vector's previous fund.

Register.com will join several other Vector Capital portfolio companies from previous Vector Capital funds, including LANDesk(R) Software, spun-out from Intel(R) Corporation, Savi(R) Technology, spun-out from Raytheon(R) Corporation and Corel(R) Corporation, maker of the popular WordPerfect(R), CorelDRAW(R) and Paint Shop(R) families of productivity and creativity software, which Vector took private in 2003.

David Moore, Interim CEO of Register.com, will remain in that position while Vector Capital performs a search for a permanent CEO.

About Vector Capital

Vector Capital is a private equity boutique specializing in spinouts, buyouts and recapitalizations of established technology businesses. Vector identifies and pursues these complex investments in both the public and private markets. Such opportunities are typically underserved by traditional buyout and venture capital firms. Vector actively partners with management teams to devise and execute new financial and business strategies that materially improve the competitive standing of these businesses and enhance their value for employees, customers and shareholders. Among Vector's portfolio companies are Savi Technology, LANDesk Software, and Corel Corporation. For more information, visit www.vectorcapital.com.