Gen Digital, the company behind Norton and Avast, has approached GoDaddy about a takeover, according to the Financial Times. No deal is assured, and the talks remain at an early stage.
Trading in GoDaddy halted briefly for volatility after the stock rose more than 10%; Gen Digital shares slipped about 7% in the other direction. Before the report, GoDaddy’s market value stood near $12.2 billion and its suitor’s at roughly $15.7 billion, a gap that makes any transaction a serious wager rather than a bolt-on.
GoDaddy is the registrar where a business starts: it manages around 81 million domains and serves over 20 million customers, catching owners as they register a name, build a site, buy hosting and set up email. The buyer’s business sits downstream, guarding devices, identities and accounts, so GoDaddy would hand it a much bigger channel for security, privacy and identity offerings.
The Gen that exists today was assembled in 2022, when NortonLifeLock and Avast merged. Its brand roster includes Norton, Avast, LifeLock and MoneyLion. Gen’s fiscal 2026 revenue came in at $5 billion, and 81 million people were paying customers in July. There is an AI dimension too: Gen now sells security tools that lean on AI, and Grok, the xAI model, runs inside its Norton Neo product.
Timing cuts both ways. GoDaddy has been under pressure as investors puzzle over how AI might remake website creation, and February brought a revenue forecast for the year that undershot Wall Street, with sales of its AI offerings trailing expectations. Nothing is agreed, and the size of the deal plus how it would be financed leave room for the talks to collapse.
