Some Hosts Are Losing a Lot of Sites – Lasse Hall, CEO of Servebolt

The hosting industry in 2026 is being pulled in two directions at once. Private equity and bank-financed buyers are rolling up smaller hosts at a steady pace. At the same time, AI is rerouting sites that used to default to traditional hosting, sometimes to companies and products that do not look like hosting at all. Lasse Hall, CEO of Servebolt, joined the Oslo-based performance hosting company in February 2025 from a background in investment banking, technology consulting, and digital analytics. We talked at Hosts Del Mar about why PE consolidation does not worry him at the macro level, why “some hosts are losing a lot of sites” is a real picture rather than rhetoric, and what the next chapter of hosting looks like from a year inside the industry.

Konrad: First time in Ibiza, first time at Hosts Del Mar. What works about this format compared to a typical industry conference?

Lasse: For me as a CEO it is fantastic. You get to talk to like-minded people across smaller and larger companies. Peer conversations where you can actually discuss tactics and strategies without the salesy approach on everything. You get challenged, and you challenge other people. That is unique with a setup like this, without panels or presentations.

Konrad: You joined Servebolt as CEO in February 2025. A year in, what has been happening?

Lasse: A lot. Most of the big pieces of work are not visible from the outside yet. The tech is fantastic, and from a market perspective I am extremely bullish. I would like to share more, but it is not the moment yet.

Konrad: You came from investment banking, technology consulting, and digital analytics. After a year inside the industry, what is your macro read?

Lasse: From a macro perspective there is a lot of consolidation right now. Private equity and bank-financed buyers are purchasing smaller hosts. But there are roughly 350,000 hosting companies around the globe, so I am not afraid of other companies buying up other companies. From a PE strategy perspective that is a typical playbook. You 10X your value, do an exit, and then who knows what happens after that.

Konrad: So consolidation is not where you focus. What is?

Lasse: From a product and market perspective I see very different stories at different companies. AI has a lot to do with that. Some hosts are losing a lot of sites. Others are struggling against companies that are fast at developing AI agentic products.

Konrad: “Some hosts are losing a lot of sites” is a strong statement. Where is that pressure coming from?

Lasse: It is coming from companies and products that do not look like traditional hosting. Hosts doing AI things you normally would not do as a host. AI companies coming out with new products that compete for the same customer. A lot of that is happening at the same time, in different languages, in different markets.

Konrad: How dramatically will the next two to three years look?

Lasse: Things will change quite drastically. You see it already now with different languages. A lot of AI companies coming out, a lot of AI products going out, hosts doing other AI things that you normally would not do. The pace is different from anything the industry has run at in years.

Konrad: Closing line for hosts going into that next chapter?

Lasse: You just need to be ready for the next chapter of hosting.