Jacksonville-based Web.com CEO and President David L. Brown has announced he will be retiring in early 2019.
The news comes at a pivotal time in the internet company’s history. It was bought in October by an affiliate of Siris Capital Group, LLC., a private equity firm for approximately $2 billion, and is preparing to move into a new headquarters building.
“Working alongside our Web.com employees for the last 21 years has been immensely rewarding, and for that, I am forever grateful,” said Brown in a news release.
Brown founded the company in 1997. Since then it has grown to approximately 3.5 million customers. As of November 2017, Web.com had nearly 1,000 employees in Jacksonville and nearly 3,800 employees worldwide, according to the company’s 2016 annual report.
“Over the last 21 years, David Brown has successfully grown and evolved the company to a leading global provider of domain name registration and web presence services to millions of customers globally. We are deeply appreciative of David’s contributions and partnership. We look forward to announcing his successor in early 2019,” said Robert Aquilina, Siris Capital executive partner and chairman of the Web.com board of directors.
Brown will stay on for a brief period to help with the transition to a new CEO.
Web.com is expected to move into its new headquarters – which is under construction at 5379 Gate Parkway – in the spring of 2019.
Among the amenities in the 218,700 square-foot facility will be an outdoor courtyard and pedestrian walkway under J. Turner Butler Boulevard to the St. Johns Town Center.
The development is expected to include an expansive dining area, fitness center, health clinic, and open floor plans for greater flexibility in workplace design.
Web.com’s current Jacksonville headquarters is in the Flagler Center in the 12800 block of Gran Bay Parkway West.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
