Austin—Website hosting company GoDaddy is paying $125 million to acquire Austin online marketing business Main Street Hub, giving the hosting company an inside line to the world of social media.
Main Street Hub hires “branding experts”—people it describes as photographers, writers, designers, and marketers—to manage social media networks for small businesses. They create content and use Main Street Hub’s software to promote the businesses over networks such as Instagram and Twitter, in hopes of attracting new customers and encouraging prior customers to come back. The company currently works with more than 10,000 small businesses, according to a news release.
Those services, and the ability to promote businesses’ online presence, attracted GoDaddy, according to the news release. Scottsdale, AZ-based GoDaddy says it plans to bring the service to its 17 million small business customers.
Main Street Hub shareholders could make an additional $50 million from the deal, if undisclosed milestones are reached, according to the news release. The company is keeping the Main Street Hub office in Austin, and co-CEOs Matt Stuart and Andrew Allison are staying with the company after the acquisition. Stuart and Allison, who co-founded the company in 2010, will work in GoDaddy’s presence and commerce business.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018. Main Street Hub has raised about $41.6 million since 2011, according to regulatory filings.
