Web.com Rings the NASDAQ Closing Bell: A Small Business Grows Up


In 1997, David Brown, Web.com Chairman and CEO, had a dream and a strong desire to serve what he believed was a forgotten market: small business. His wife is a small business owner.  He didn’t want small businesses to be left behind on the then-new Internet, he says.

At that time, he started a small business called Atlantic Teleservices, Inc., the predecessor to Website Pros.  The company embarked on a series of acquisitions:

  • 2007 – Web.com
  • 2010 – Register.com
  • 2011 – Network Solutions

Fast forward to today.  Almost 15 years after the business started, Web.com (its name currently) now serves nearly 3 million small business customers.  And on Tuesday, February 28, 2012, at 4:00pm, the company had another milestone:  its leadership team rang the closing bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange.  Here’s a photograph taken in Times Square to show the occasion:

Ringing the NASDAQ Closing Bell

Brown said this about the NASDAQ ceremony:

“We are delighted to ring the NASDAQ Closing Bell in recognition of our acquisition of Network Solutions and to celebrate our enhanced opportunity to serve small businesses.  We strongly believe that mass adoption of the internet by small business is taking place right now, and with nearly three million customers and the most comprehensive suite of end-to-end solutions, Web.com is uniquely positioned to be the go-to provider for small businesses. On behalf of more than 1700 employees, we stand ready to assist these small businesses in their quest to harness the power of the internet so they can compete and succeed online.”

NASDAQ offers companies traded on the NASDAQ exchange a publicity opportunity to participate in either an opening bell or closing bell ceremony.  The event takes place in the NASDAQ television studio.  It is live and broadcast on a giant screen on a building in Times Square, New York (called the NASDAQ Tower), as well as other places.

The ringing of the bell doesn’t have a direct impact on the stock price or trading.  But it certainly brings publicity to a publicly-traded company and serves a point of pride for the company’s employees.

Web.com trades under the symbol WWWW.

4 Comments ▼

Anita Campbell Anita Campbell is the Founder, CEO and Publisher of Small Business Trends and has been following trends in small businesses since 2003. She is the owner of BizSugar, a social media site for small businesses.

4 Reactions
  1. Martin Lindeskog

    Anita: What an uplifting business story! I have visited the financial district several times and the bell ringing is a symbolic action that the free market is working! 🙂

    Do you know about the story about how the domain name web.com was acquired?

  2. Congrats to the team at Web.com

    This is big!

    Go!

    The Franchise King®

  3. HA! WWWW, I guess that makes perfect sense…