Top domain registry Donuts Inc has announced today that it will acquire rival Rightside for $213 million in a merger deal. Under the agreement and plan to merger, Donuts will pay $10.60 per Rightside share in an all-cash tender offer. Exactly a year ago, Donuts made a $70 million offer, but it was declined.

The closing of the deal depends on gaining the approval of 50% of Rightside’s shareholders as well as regulatory approvals and other closing conditions and After the transaction, which is expected to close in the 3rd quarter of 2017, Rightside will become a privately owned subsidiary of Donuts and its shares won’t be listed on public markets. This is a good option for the company since it scaled down after selling eNom to Tucows at the beginning of the year.

Donuts in turn will gain the 40 new gTLDs that Rightside manages, its technical registry system, domain registrar Name.com and about 300,000 domains, mostly in the .com extension. The two companies are already partners because Rightside provides Donuts with technical registry services for its over 200 gTLDs.

The management of both companies welcome the merger and look forward to this next step in their cooperation.

To read about Tucows acquisition of Enom, go to <Wholesale Domain Registrar Enom to be Acquired by Tucows>.
To find out about more merger deals, visit <GoDaddy will Acquire Host Group Europe in a $1.79 Billion Deal>.