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10-K 1 a12312017-10k.htm 10-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017

or

☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from __________ to __________

Commission File Number: 001-36904

GoDaddy Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware				46-5769934
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)				(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)
		14455 N. Hayden Road
		Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)
		(480) 505-8800
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class		Name of each exchange on which registered
Class A Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share		New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer	☒		Accelerated filer	☐
Non-accelerated filer (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)	☐		Smaller reporting company	☐
			Emerging growth company	☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of June 30, 2017, the aggregate market value of the registrant's Class A common stock held by non-affiliates, based upon the closing sales price for the registrant's Class A common stock as reported by the New York Stock Exchange, was $3,685,245,433. For the purpose of calculating the aggregate market value of shares held by non-affiliates, we have assumed that all outstanding shares are held by non-affiliates, except for shares beneficially owned by each of our executive officers, directors and 5% or greater stockholders. In the case of 5% or greater stockholders, we have not deemed such stockholders to be affiliates unless there are facts and circumstances indicating that such stockholders exercise any control over our company. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for any other purpose.

As of February 23, 2018, there were 133,934,978 shares of GoDaddy Inc.'s Class A common stock, $0.001 par value per share, outstanding and 33,999,841 shares of GoDaddy Inc.'s Class B common stock, $0.001 par value per share, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant's Definitive Proxy Statement relating to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated. Such Definitive Proxy Statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the registrant's fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.

GoDaddy Inc.

Annual Report on Form 10-K

Year Ended December 31, 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

		Page
Note about Forward-Looking Statements		3
PART I.
Item 1.	Business	5
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	18
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	51
Item 2.	Properties	51
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	51
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	51
PART II.
Item 5.	Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	52
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	54
Item 7.	Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	58
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	76
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	78
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	123
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	123
Item 9B.	Other Information	125
PART III.
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	125
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	125
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	125
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	125
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	125
PART IV.
Item 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	126
Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary	129
Signatures		130

NOTE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the sections titled "Business," "Risk Factors," "Use of Proceeds" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, involving substantial risks and uncertainties. The words "believe," "may," "will," "potentially," "plan," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "project," "expect" and similar expressions conveying uncertainty of future events or outcomes are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements include, among other things, those regarding:

•	our ability to continue to add new customers and increase sales to our existing customers;

•	our ability to develop new solutions and bring them to market in a timely manner;

•	our ability to timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing solutions;

•	our dependence on establishing and maintaining a strong brand;

•	the occurrence of service interruptions and security or privacy breaches;

•	system failures or capacity constraints;

•	the rate of growth of, and anticipated trends and challenges in, our business and in the market for our products;

•	our future financial performance, including our expectations regarding our revenue, cost of revenue, operating expenses, including changes in technology and development, marketing and advertising, general and administrative and Customer Care expenses, and our ability to achieve and maintain, future profitability;

•	our ability to continue to efficiently acquire customers, maintain our high customer retention rates and maintain the level of our customers' lifetime spend;

•	our ability to provide high quality Customer Care;

•	the effects of increased competition in our markets and our ability to compete effectively;

•	our ability to grow internationally;

•	the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates on our business and our ability to effectively manage the exposure to such fluctuations;

•	our ability to effectively manage our growth and associated investments;

•	our ability to integrate recent or potential future acquisitions, including our recent acquisition of Host Europe Holdings Limited (HEG) and our proposed acquisition of Main Street Hub, and to deliver a broader range of cloud-based products built on a single global technology platform;

•	our ability to maintain our relationships with our partners;

•	adverse consequences of our substantial level of indebtedness and our ability to repay our debt;

•	our ability to maintain, protect and enhance our intellectual property;

•	our ability to maintain or improve our market share;

•	sufficiency of cash and cash equivalents to meet our needs for at least the next 12 months;

•	beliefs and objectives for future operations;

•	our ability to stay in compliance with laws and regulations currently applicable to, or which may become applicable to, our business both in the United States (U.S.) and internationally;

•	economic and industry trends or trend analysis;

•	our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel;

•	the amount and timing of any payments we make under tax receivable agreements (TRAs) or for tax distributions;

•	the future trading prices of our Class A common stock;

as well as other statements regarding our future operations, financial condition, growth prospects and business strategies.

NOTE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS (continued)

We operate in very competitive and rapidly-changing environments, and new risks emerge from time-to-time. It is not possible for us to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this report may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those implied in our forward-looking statements.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances described in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Neither we, nor any other person, assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this report to conform such statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

Unless expressly indicated or the context suggests otherwise, references to GoDaddy, we, us and our refer to GoDaddy Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, including Desert Newco, LLC and its subsidiaries (Desert Newco). We refer to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (together with its affiliates, KKR), Silver Lake Partners (together with its affiliates, Silver Lake) and Technology Crossover Ventures (together with its affiliates, TCV) collectively as the Sponsors. We refer to YAM Special Holdings, Inc. as YAM. We refer to Robert R. Parsons, the sole beneficial owner of YAM, our founder and a member of our board of directors, as Bob Parsons.

Part I.