Donuts (company)

Donuts Inc.
Type of site
Private
FoundedNovember 22, 2010 (2010-11-22)
DissolvedJune 22, 2022 (2022-06-22)
Successor(s)Identity Digital
HeadquartersBellevue, Washington, U.S.
Key peopleAkram Atallah, President and CEO
IndustryInternet
URLhttps://donuts.domains/
Not to be confused with Donut Media.

Donuts Inc. was a domain name registrar and registry providing paid domain names under 270 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), as made possible by ICANN's gTLD expansion program, as well as 173 other TLDs including .au (ccTLD) and .org (gTLD managed by the Public Interest Registry), through its own registry status (for example, managing the .social gTLD) and contracts between its subsidiaries and other registries.[1]

It was co-founded in 2010 by Paul Stahura, Jonathon Nevett, Richard Tindal, and Daniel Schindler.[1] The company's headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington.[2]

In July 2017, Donuts acquired Rightside, along with domain registrar Name.com.[3][4][5][6]

On August 11, 2018, Donuts entered into an agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Abry Partners.[7][5][8][9]

In December 2020, Donuts acquired the registry division of Afilias, Inc.,[10][11] a registry, registrar and mobile software developer[12] headquartered outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In January 2021, Ethos Capital acquired Donuts after their failed bid to gain control over the .org internet domain.[13][14]

In 2022, Afilias and Donuts Inc were merged under Identity Digital.[15]

  1. ^ a b "Donuts Inc.'s major play for new Web domain names raises eyebrows". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  2. ^ "Home". Donuts Inc. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  3. ^ "The Cybersecurity 202: Internet domain names are ripe for scam during coronavirus crisis". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  4. ^ "Donuts raises $110M in financing to buy Rightside". geekwire.com. June 14, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Domain name company Donuts Inc. is gobbled up by private equity firm". bizjournals.com. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  6. ^ "Donuts raises $110M in financing to buy Rightside". bizjournals.com. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  7. ^ "Anguilla, with its domain name, cashes in on a quirky trend". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  8. ^ "Abry Partners Enters Into Agreement to Invest Majority Stake in Donuts Inc". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  9. ^ Lohr, Steve (February 4, 2020). "Tropical Breezes, Pristine Beaches and a Domain Name to Die For". The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  10. ^ "Donuts Acquires Afilias". afilias.info. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  11. ^ "Donuts Inc.'s Acquisition Of Afilias, Inc". globallegalchronicle.com. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  12. ^ "Donuts Inc. to Acquire Afilias, Inc. - Donuts News". donuts.news. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  13. ^ "Ethos Capital to Acquire Controlling Interest of Donuts Inc. - Donuts News". donuts.news. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  14. ^ "Ethos Capital To Acquire Controlling Interest of Donuts Inc". ethoscapital.com. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  15. ^ Allemann, Andrew (June 22, 2022). "Donuts rebrands to Identity Digital". Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News. Retrieved July 12, 2022.