Clearlake and Siris-Backed Newfold Digital Acquires Yoast to Help Customers Get Found Online
JACKSONVILLE, Florida, August 12, 2021 – Newfold Digital, a leading web technology provider backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”), and Siris Capital Group, LLC, has acquired Yoast, the leading search engine optimization (SEO) plugin provider for WordPress. The acquisition is a part of Newfold Digital’s long-term strategy to connect Newfold Digital customers with world-class web presence tools and services to empower online success in a digital world.
“SEO is a growing need in our customer base and essential to online success, especially as we see more businesses expand their online presence,” said Sharon Rowlands, President and CEO of Newfold Digital. “Yoast is a well-known and respected brand in the WordPress community. We are excited to welcome them to the Newfold family and to help improve SEO and drive visitors to our growing customer base.”
Yoast is a WordPress plugin powering more than 12 million websites. The plugin helps website owners generate more visitors from search engines such as Google and Bing, increase readers’ engagement, and attract more visitors from social media. Additionally, the brand offers a robust online academy with SEO training courses. With Yoast’s expertise, Newfold Digital will look to expand its SEO offerings to better serve the company’s nearly seven million customers.
“We’re excited to join Newfold Digital to continue our mission of SEO for everyone by leveraging the leading global portfolio of web presence brands,” said Marieke van de Rakt, CEO of Yoast. “We are confident that the strength and leadership Newfold Digital provides will help to ensure Yoast remains the most used SEO plugin for WordPress for many years to come and will fuel future innovation.”
Yoast will continue to deliver the same great service as it has for years while joining Newfold Digital’s portfolio of brands including Bluehost, Web.com, Domain.com, and Network Solutions. All Yoast employees, including its leadership team, will join Newfold Digital.
“We are delighted to welcome Yoast to the Newfold Digital family,” said James Pade, Partner, Clearlake, and Tyler Sipprelle, Managing Director at Siris. “We want Newfold Digital to be the partner of choice for online presence companies that want to work with an established leader in the space as they seek their next stage of growth.”
RBC Capital Markets served as financial advisor and Morrison & Foerster LLP acted as legal counsel to Yoast. Raymond James served as financial advisor and Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal counsel to Newfold Digital.
About Newfold Digital
Newfold Digital is a leading web technology company serving nearly seven million customers globally. Established in 2021 through the combination of leading web services providers Endurance Web Presence and Web.com Group, our portfolio of brands includes: Bluehost, CrazyDomains, HostGator, Network Solutions, Register.com, Web.com and many others. We help customers of all sizes build a digital presence that delivers results. With our extensive product offerings and personalized support, we take pride in collaborating with our customers to serve their online presence needs. Learn more about Newfold Digital at Newfold.com.
About Yoast
Yoast was founded in 2010 and is one of the fastest-growing companies in the WordPress industry. Yoast SEO, the well-known plugin for WordPress with over 12 million active installs, is the flagship product of Yoast. Based in The Netherlands, Yoast makes it easier for everyone to get great results from their websites. For more information visit yoast.com.
About Clearlake
Founded in 2006, Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is an investment firm operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with experienced management teams by providing patient, long term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.® The firm’s core target sectors are technology, industrials, and consumer. Clearlake currently has approximately $39 billion of assets under management, and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 300 investments. The firm has offices in Santa Monica and Dallas. More information is available at www.clearlake.com and on Twitter @ClearlakeCap.
About Siris
Siris is a leading private equity firm that invests primarily in mature technology and telecommunications companies with mission-critical products and services, facing industry changes or other significant transitions. Siris’ development of proprietary research to identify opportunities and its extensive collaboration with its Executive Partners are integral to its approach. Siris’ Executive Partners are experienced senior operating executives that actively participate in key aspects of the transaction lifecycle to help identify opportunities and drive strategic and operational value. Siris is based in New York and Silicon Valley and has raised nearly $6 billion in cumulative capital commitments. www.siris.com.
Media Contacts
For Newfold Digital:
Emily Watkins
corporatecomms@newfold.com
For Clearlake:
Jennifer Hurson
Lambert & Co.
845-507-0571
jhurson@lambert.com
For Siris:
Dana Gorman / Blair Hennessy
Abernathy MacGregor
212-371-5999
dtg@abmac.com / bth@abmac.com