Hostopia to Acquire Certain Shared Hosting Customer Assets of Tucows Retail Service Group

Written by
Tucows
May 6, 2008

Drives incremental growth for Hostopia as Tucows focuses its retail operations on email and online identity

TORONTO — May 6, 2008 — Tucows Inc. (AMEX: TCX, TSX: TC) and Hostopia.com, Inc. (TSX: H) yesterday signed a definitive agreement for Hostopia to purchase certain of Tucows’ shared hosting customer assets including approximately 14,000 Domain Direct, NetIdentity and ItsYourDomain.com (IYD) customer accounts.

Hostopia will pay US$1.6 million in cash for these assets, with adjustments made on closing. This amount is payable 20% on signing of the agreement and 80% upon the closing of the transaction, which is scheduled to occur on May 15, 2008. The companies plan to migrate these accounts to Hostopia’s unified web service platform by July 2008.

“I am confident these shared hosting customers will enjoy quality service and support with Hostopia directly,” said Elliot Noss, President and CEO, Tucows. “This move is the first part of a strategy to reposition our retail business to help individuals and small businesses build their identities online.”

“We are very pleased to have concluded this transaction. We are already hosting some of the Tucows Retail Service Group’s users so the impact on customers should be minimal," said Colin Campbell, CEO, Hostopia. “Our plan is to provide customers with numerous upgrades and additional value-added services to earn their loyalty and continued business. Traditional web hosting is fast evolving to the SaaS (software as a service) model and Hostopia is perfectly positioned to offer these services to these customers.”

The companies indicated that accounts involved in the transaction will continue to be served under the familiar Domain Direct brand, which will operate as a managed service by Hostopia.

About Tucows

Tucows provides Internet services for web hosting companies and ISPs. Through its global network of over 9,000 service providers it provides millions of email boxes and manages over eight million domains. Tucows is an accredited registrar with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Tucows holds a domain name portfolio of approximately 150,000 domain names that are available for sale, monetized through advertising and support our wholesale Personal Names Service. Our Retail division sells Tucows services to consumers and small business owners through Domain Direct, ItsYourDomain.com and NetIdentity. Tucows.com remains one of the most popular software download sites on the Internet. For more information please visit: http://tucowsinc.com.

This release may contain forward-looking statements, relating to the Company’s operations or to the environment in which it operates, which are based on Tucows Inc.’s operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to important risks, uncertainties and assumptions concerning future conditions that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate or differ materially from actual future events or results. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Consequently, investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on Tucows Inc.'s current expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and are based upon the information available to Tucows Inc. at this time. Tucows Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:

Leona Hobbs
Director of Communications
Tucows Inc.
(416) 538-5450
lhobbs@tucows.com

Financial Statement
Share
Previous:
Next:
No more posts to show.
No more posts to show.