SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Some five thousand of his closest friends appear to agree on one thing … Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons knows how to throw a party.
This year’s multi-million dollar holiday bash at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix was epic. The shindig included a raucous, GoDaddy-esque performance from Kid Rock, as well as musical sets from country stars Dierks Bentley and Trace Adkins. All performing to help Go Daddy employees celebrate a banner business year.
The All-American musical line-up tied into the party’s “God Bless America” theme. Marquee landmarks were planted throughout the major league baseball stadium, some sporting customized Go Daddy elements, such as a Mount Rushmore made of Go Daddy Girls and a Golden “Go Daddy” Gate Bridge.
In keeping with Go Daddy tradition, the entertainers and party-theme were well-guarded secrets up until party night. Gourmet food was served, gifts were handed out and Mr. Parsons drew employee names for cash prizes totaling more than $1.1MM, for which the company pays all the taxes.
The party began, as all Go Daddy celebrations do, with the National Anthem. As host for the annual extravaganza, Parsons made a grand entrance under the spotlight, with pulsating music and billowing smoke. Wearing sunglasses, he was surrounded by dancing Go Daddy Girls dressed as U.S.A. cheerleaders.
“What we’ve been able to accomplish could only happen in America,” Parsons proclaimed. The decorated war veteran who served the United States Marine Corps in Vietnam beamed with pride. “Yes, we’re international, but at our core we will always be an American company.”
Over the years, Go Daddy has earned a reputation for over-the-top holiday parties and Parsons never shies away from explaining why.
“People ask me, why we throw such big, blow-out parties? I say, why not – our people absolutely deserve it!” Parsons exclaimed, as a jam-packed crowd of employees roared in approval. “You all have worked very hard to get us to this point,” he told his people. “Go Daddy came from scratch, no sales … and this year, we’re going to write $1.1 billion dollars in business. We have a lot to celebrate, and remember, we’re not here for a long time … we’re here for a good time!”
Parsons listed many of the 2011 Go Daddy milestones and revealed the potential for a strategic financial partnership with KKR, Silver Lake and TCV to officially close, perhaps as early as Friday.
As is Parsons’ style, he used his own special brand of humor, featuring a Top Ten List of reasons why he would remain Go Daddy’s single-largest shareholder after the closing. Reasons such as “get to bang the gavel at board meetings,” “Go Daddy health insurance” and the top reason … “how could I not invest in all of you!”
Go Daddy Girl and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick joined Parsons on stage. Recently announced as the Internet’s Most Searched Athlete of 2011, Danica was the first to help Parsons draw employee prize winner names from center stage.
"The Go Daddy holiday party is always pretty amazing. Think about it, what other company do you know that throws a company holiday party like this?" Danica asked. "Bob is always so generous with his employees. He really wants them to feel special - and if you couldn't tell, Bob really knows how to go all out with his parties!"
Each of the Go Daddy Girls took turns at the prize podium, including fitness guru Jillian Michaels, original Go Daddy Girl Candice Michelle and PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso. Also attending the annual extravaganza were Go Daddy spokesmen, also known as “Auto Racing’s Royal Family,” Mario, Michael and Marco Andretti.
2011 has, in fact, been a tremendous year for the world’s largest provider of Web hosting, domain names and net-new SSL Certificates. Go Daddy took over a top slot in the net-new SSL market, built on its number one Web host ranking, hit the 51 million domain name mark, which is an Internet first, and produced the Super Bowl commercial that drew the most Internet traffic of the year.
Go Daddy also celebrated its extraordinary charity work this year, having donated more than $5MM to a variety of organizations, mostly lower profile charities for unsung issues like homelessness and education. One of those charities is Hope for Haiti. Its Founder JoAnne Kuehner was on hand last night to thank Go Daddy for making a substantial difference with education and healthcare in Haiti.
Go Daddy’s customers have made a difference this year too by contributing to the company’s “Round Up” for charity program. In just eight months, Go Daddy customers have helped generate more than $353,000 for various charities by rounding up to the nearest dollar on the Go Daddy website and giving the spare change to designated organizations, which Go Daddy matches dollar-for-dollar.
“Our customers came through bigger than we ever expected,” said Go Daddy Vice President of Corporate Events and Community Outreach Renee Parsons. “It’s really made a difference and that’s what Go Daddy is all about.”
As one journalist put it, “Party on Bob!”
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About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.
Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans, as well as website design and hosting packages. Go Daddy has a broad array of cloud-based products and services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce website hosting, blog software, search engine optimization utilities, email marketing tools, website design services, website security software and online storage solutions. The Go Daddy Group has more than 51 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers more than one domain name every second of every day. GoDaddy.com is the largest worldwide mass-market hosting provider by annual revenue according to Tier1 Research (Mass-Market Hosting Report-Winter 2011) and is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all new domain names created in 2010 for the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi.
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