GoDaddy COO Scott Wagner will assume CEO duties in 2018. Irving says he will remain on GoDaddy’s board through June 2018.
SAN FRANCISCO — GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving, who reshaped the domain-name company over five years and helped it double revenue and quadrupled its market value to $9 billion, is retiring.
A tech veteran of more than 30 years — he started at Xerox in 1981 and worked his way up through management at Compaq Computer, Microsoft and Yahoo — called it quits, effective Dec. 31, to “work on a pretty long bucket list” with his wife, Irving told USA TODAY.
Scott Wagner, GoDaddy’s chief operating officer who formed a potent one-two executive punch with Irving, will assume CEO duties in 2018. Irving says he will remain on GoDaddy’s board through June 2018.
“It’s been a long time — a lot of boots on the ground battling that takes its toll, ” said Irving, 58, who last week dropped a neo-Nazi site, The Daily Stormer, from GoDaddy’s service.
“I had an unbalanced work life, ” says Irving. “It’s time to focus on (the non-work) part of my life, which I haven’t done well.”
“GoDaddy’s trajectory is clear and our momentum strong, ” said Irving, noting the company’s 17 million customers in 125 countries. “It is the perfect time to transition leadership to Scott Wagner.”
Last week, GoDaddy reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue ($557.8 million) and earnings ($18.1 million, or 10 cents per share) while raising the lower end of its full-year revenue forecast range to $2.22 billion from $2.20 billion. Analysts were expecting $2.21 billion.
GoDaddy GDDY shares closed at $41.87 on Tuesday, near a 52-week high.
Wagner joined GoDaddy in 2013 after 13 years at private equity giant KKR, where he was a partner. While at KKR, he was integral in recruiting Irving to the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company as a key member of the team that invested in GoDaddy in 2011. Indeed, Wagner served as GoDaddy’s interim CEO.
“We’re just scratching the surface of what GoDaddy can become, ” Wagner said in a phone interview. “We plan to continue to expand our platform and products, and innovate to engage customers.”
The tag-team of Irving/Wagner oversaw an aggressive push overseas that accelerated GoDaddy’s transformation.
They also shelved the company’s once-salacious spots of half-naked women. It was a prudent move with 58% of small businesses, GoDaddy’s core audience, owned by women, and a political one amid a renewed focus on diversity in the tech workplace and the role of women in Silicon Valley.
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More: Neo-Nazi website ‘The Daily Stormer’ still up after GoDaddy, Google rejections
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