The big fish keep swallowing the smaller fish and GoDaddy's latest big gulp means the NamesCon conference will have another new owner next year. This comes less than four months after  WorldHostingDays (WHD) bought NamesCon - the largest domain industry conference that Co-Founders Richard Lau and Jothan Frakes started in 2014. 

Today news came that GoDaddy has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Host Europe Group (HEG) for €1.69 billion (US$1.79 billion) in a deal that is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. HEG, the largest privately-owned web services provider in Europe, is a conglomerate that owns WorldHostingDays - and will thus own NamesCon as well when the deal closes. GoDaddy said it will operate these brands independently and invest in their continued growth.

HEG's far flung businesses serve more than 1.7 million customers with especially strong positions in the UK and Germany, including well-known hosting and domain registrar brands like 123Reg, Domain Factory, Heart Internet and Host Europe.  HEG will complement GoDaddy's leading position in the US and its fast-growing international footprint. 

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