Webhosting is not dead! CVC acquires majority stake in Namecheap for $1.5 billion! | WHT S3E01

In this first episode of Season 3, Lukasz Gawior and Konrad Keck dive deep into the major milestones and surprising turns the web hosting industry took in 2025. The co-founders reflect on the growth of Web Hosting Today and provide an insider's look at the shifting landscape of global hosting markets!

In This Episode, We Cover:
The M&A Landscape: A look at the $50 million in deals closed by the Web Hosting Today team and why the psychological preparation for an exit is just as critical as the financial data.

Major Acquisitions & Rebranding: Discussion on World Host Group’s strategic rebrand to Hosting.com, their acquisition of A2 Hosting, and CBC’s massive $1.5 billion majority stake in Namecheap.

E-commerce & CMS Shifts: Why Cyberfolks (a Polish conglomerate) is betting hard on e-commerce with the acquisition of PrestaShop, and the challenges of upselling add-ons to a hosting base.

The "AI Penalty" & Valuations: Analyzing GoDaddy’s 40% valuation drop despite revenue growth, and why established businesses are being penalized for not yet proving AI as a significant revenue driver.

Event Highlights: Why CloudFest USA in Miami was the "surprise hit" of the year for high-level networking.

Web Hosting Today Evolution: A "bragging" session on our 206% traffic growth, the launch of our new job market, and our mission to become the central hub for the industry.

Timestamps:
00:00 Hosting industry summarized
02:08 In today's episode
03:04 Changes to the podcast
04:12 Let's summarize 2025
05:34 "We helped to close a 50 mln $ deals in M&A"
06:59 How to exit from the industry?
09:34: The past and future of WebHosting.Today
13:56 What didn't go well in 2025 for WebHosting.Today?
16:11 2025 for hosting industry – A2 Hosting, Rocket.Net, World Host Group
22:33 2025 for hosting industry – Namecheap, CVC, PrestaShop
24:41 Sponsors
25:06 2025 for hosting industry – Namecheap, CVC, PrestaShop
39:06 2025 for hosting industry – Cloudfest USA, Hostinger
42:55 2025 for hosting industry – GoDaddy
47:18 See you in the next episode!


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