GoDaddy jumps 10% on a reported Gen Digital takeover approach; the two carry $12 billion of debt already

GoDaddy shares rose about 10% on Thursday morning after the Financial Times reported that Gen Digital, the company behind Norton antivirus and LifeLock, has made a preliminary takeover approach. Investing.com, citing the FT report, said talks are at an early stage, no financial terms have been disclosed, and GoDaddy was briefly halted for volatility. Neither company had commented publicly as of Thursday morning.

At 10:53 a.m. ET, Nasdaq data showed GoDaddy at $106.09, up 10.1% from Wednesday's $96.38 close, for a market value of about $13.4 billion. Gen Digital was down 3.7% at $25.26, a market value of about $15.1 billion.

The thing the headline leaves out: size and debt

This would not be a big company swallowing a small one. At Thursday's prices, GoDaddy is worth close to 90% of what Gen is worth, before any takeover premium. Buyers normally have to pay above the market price, so a deal could easily cost more than Gen's entire market value.

Both companies already borrow heavily. From their latest filings with the SEC:

Gen's debt figure adds its $7.975 billion of long-term debt and $181 million current portion, from its first-quarter fiscal 2027 release. GoDaddy's comes from its second-quarter 2026 release. Together, the pair already owe about $12 billion.

That is the real hurdle. Gen booked $124 million of interest expense in its last quarter on its existing debt. Any cash-heavy bid would add new borrowing at a time when the 10-year Treasury closed Wednesday at 5.11% on Treasury's own curve. Every $1 billion of new debt at 7% costs $70 million a year, and the two companies together generated roughly $874 million of free cash flow last quarter. The math can work, since both are strongly cash generative, but it leaves little room, which is one reason Gen's shares fell. A bid paid largely in stock would avoid the debt but dilute Gen's holders heavily given the near-equal sizes.

The move also puts a price on how far GoDaddy had fallen. Even after Thursday's jump, the stock is about 26% below its 52-week high of $144.34, according to Nasdaq.

Who it hits

GoDaddy reported 20.5 million customers at the end of June, with average revenue per user of $250. Most are small businesses and sole operators who rely on it for domain names, websites, email and online payments. A deal would not change anything for them soon: this is an early approach, not an agreement, and any merger would take months to close.

What owners should watch is bundling and pricing. Gen's pitch to investors is cross-selling: it reported 81 million paid customers across its consumer security, identity and finance brands. Adding security and identity products to a small-business web account is the obvious play, which could mean new bundles, and higher renewal quotes, for the businesses on GoDaddy.

What traders watch next

Whether either company confirms talks, whether GoDaddy's board engages, and whether any other bidder appears. GoDaddy's stock is trading well above its pre-report price, which suggests the market sees a real chance of a deal, but no terms exist yet. Follow it on our stocks page.

Sources: Investing.com, citing the Financial Times; Nasdaq; Gen Digital and GoDaddy SEC filings. This is market information, not investment advice.