Right Call On Rightside – Demand Media Officially Announces Spinco Name and Leadership

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We recently highlighted a piece from DomainNameWire.com speculating that Demand Media’s (DMD) upcoming domain registration spinoff would be named Rightside. It turns out their sleuthing was on the money, as the company formally announced the new name as Rightside last week. The ‘Rightside’ in this case represents ‘everything to the right of the dot – and beyond.’ Clever, but was the ‘and beyond’ really necessary? Are they trying to compete with Buzz Lightyear’s motto? Interestingly, the new company’s domain name will be Rightside.co.

The new company will be based in Kirkland, WA and ‘will advance the way consumers and businesses define and present themselves online through a comprehensive technology platform making it possible to discover, register, develop, and monetize domain names.’ With big changes on the horizon with Top Level Domain names coming, it will be interesting to see how the company will adapt. The new company will be led by Taryn Naidu, currently EVP of Demand’s domain services business. Other leadership positions recently filled include Wayne MacLaurin as CTO, Rick Danis as General Counsel and David Panos as Chairman. Demand, whose CEO recently quit, has initiated a search for a new CEO, but no hire was announced.

Demand recently reported a loss in Q3 and forecasted further revenue declines in Q4 as it continues to suffer from Google’s algorithm changes. The registrar business was a bright spot though and actually saw an 11% increase in revenue. Give the performance disparity, the company was asked during the conference call whether or not it was still committed to the spin. Here was the response:

Yes, I think just going back to why we announced the spin to begin with, there are significant operational strategic benefits to having these businesses on a standalone basis, and we continue to believe that. So I think there’s been some very positive momentum on the Registrar side — in the registry side, I mean. And on the media side, we continue to look toward our growth initiatives. So I don’t think those sentiments have changed.

Good news as the company is still committed to the spin, although there was no update on expected timing. Additionally, Demand has initiated a , but no hire has been announced.

Disclosure: Author holds no position in any stock mentioned.

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