Gen Digital Makes Early Takeover Approach for GoDaddy; GoDaddy Jumps as Much as 14%, Gen Digital Falls

Gen Digital (GEN), the maker of Norton antivirus software, has made an initial approach to acquire GoDaddy (GDDY), the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The discussions are at an early stage, no price or terms have been disclosed, and there is no certainty a deal will follow. Both companies declined to comment.

GoDaddy shares jumped as much as 14% on the report, with other outlets citing an 11% gain, before paring the move; SentiSense data showed the stock at $101.01, up 4.8%, in afternoon trading. Gen Digital went the other way, falling 7.6% to 8% in early trading and trading at $23.86, down 9.1%, by the afternoon. That split is typical when a buyer's shareholders weigh the cost and dilution of a large deal: at the time of the report, GoDaddy was valued at about $12.2 billion against roughly $15.7 billion for Gen Digital, so any transaction would be a major step up in size for the acquirer.

Strategically, a combination would pair Gen Digital's consumer security brands, built from the 2022 merger of NortonLifeLock and Avast, with GoDaddy's domain, hosting and small-business tools. Commentators have framed the logic as cross-selling security to GoDaddy's small-business customers, though Gen Digital itself has not described its rationale.

What to watch: whether the approach becomes a formal offer with a stated price, how Gen Digital would finance a deal of this size, and whether GoDaddy's board engages or rebuffs it. The fade in GoDaddy's gain through the session suggests the market is still discounting the odds of a completed transaction.