Web-hosting company GoDaddy Inc (GDDY.N) posted a 17.5 percent rise in revenue in its first quarterly report as a public company, helped by customer additions and an increase in revenue per average user. GoDaddy forecast revenue of between $390 million and $395 million for the second quarter and between $1.60 billion and $1.61 billion for the full year. The company, which manages about 59 million Internet domains, nearly a fifth of the world's total, said it had 13.1 million customers at the end of the first quarter ended March 31, compared with 11.9 million a year earlier. Average revenue per user rose to $115 from $105. GoDaddy, known for its racy TV commercials, said bookings rose about 14 percent to $498.7 million in the first quarter. The Internet domain registration company had filed to go public in 2006 but later withdrew, citing unfavorable market conditions, the same year Google Inc (GOOGL.O) launched its free web-hosting service Google Page Creator. GoDaddy competes with United Internet, Web.com and companies such as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Endurance International Group Holdings Inc (EIGI.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), which have recently entered the domain name registration business. The company's net loss narrowed to $43.4 million, or 34 cents per share, for the first quarter ended March 31, from $51.3 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $376.3 million from $320.2 million. The company's shares rose as much as 5.5 percent in after-market trading, before reversing course sharply to trade down as much as 3.7 percent. Up to Monday's close, the stock had risen more than 33 percent since GoDaddy went public on April 1. Source: Reuters
