Team Internet Still Wants Over $160 Million for Its Domains Business. The Timeline It Set in June Has Passed.

On September 7, Team Internet told the market that talks to sell its Domains, Identity and Software division are at an advanced stage. It still expects a valuation materially exceeding $160 million, and it expects any agreed deal to complete around the year end. Nearly three months earlier it had guided to an outcome in the first half of the third quarter. That window has closed without one, while the valuation guidance has not changed.

Key facts

• The asset: the DIS division, which runs registry platforms behind more than half of the top twenty new top-level domains and sells through about 17,000 channel partners.
• Its numbers: H1 2026 net revenue of $40.8 million, up 7.7 percent and equal to 41.7 percent of gross revenue, and adjusted EBITDA of $13.7 million, up 28 percent.
• The valuation: “materially exceeding USD 160 million”, a figure Team Internet ties to its market capitalization on the day the review was announced.
• The timing: in June, an outcome “in the first half of Q3 2026”; in September, a transaction “in the near term” and completion “around the year end”.
• The balance sheet: net debt of $117.6 million at June 30, up from $87.6 million six months earlier, with leverage at 3.9 times, or 3.1 times on an accounting basis.

The Timeline Moved. The Valuation Guidance Did Not.

The review began on November 11, 2025, when the board said the group’s share price did not reflect the value of its individual businesses and that it had received a number of inbound approaches. DIS was the part where discussions were most advanced, and the board said it alone could command a valuation materially exceeding the group’s market capitalization. A June trading update later put the group’s market capitalization at the time of the November announcement at about $160 million, which is where the figure comes from. By April 24 the group’s own market capitalization had fallen to about £84 million, roughly $113 million, and the expectation still pointed above the November level.

The June statement was the specific one. It said the outcome of the review, including any agreement to sell DIS, would be announced in the first half of the third quarter, and that any resulting transaction would complete during 2026. The September wording drops the announcement date and restates the completion target as around the year end, while adding that the board “remains engaged with multiple parties interested in all or parts of the division.” The standard caveat follows: there can be no certainty that a transaction will be agreed.

What Is Being Sold

DIS is the part of Team Internet that the domain industry knows. Team Internet describes it as one of the world’s leading distribution channels for domain names. It operates registry platforms that support more than half of the top twenty new top-level domains, and it serves small businesses, retail customers and enterprises through approximately 17,000 channel partners. Its recurring subscription model also distinguishes DIS from the success-based revenue generated by Comparison and Search.

The half-year figures explain why the board is unhurried. DIS gross revenue fell 6 percent to $97.9 million, which the results attribute to trimming low-value relationships, but net revenue rose to $40.8 million from $37.9 million, and the net revenue margin widened from 36.5 to 41.7 percent. Adjusted EBITDA rose 28 percent to $13.7 million, out of a group total of $19.5 million.

The Balance Sheet Behind the Sale

Group gross revenue fell from $263.9 million to $179.1 million, as the Search segment completed its transition away from Google’s discontinued AdSense for Domains product. The group nonetheless posted an operating profit of $3.0 million against a $7.0 million loss, its first half-year operating profit since the first half of 2024.

Net debt moved the other way. It stood at $117.6 million at June 30, up from $87.6 million at the end of December, and leverage reached 3.9 times, or 3.1 times on an accounting basis, from 2.9 times six months earlier. Two reasons are given: a one-off working-capital hit from the non-renewal of a registry contract inside DIS, and $14.8 million of scheduled corporate tax on the record profits of 2022 and 2023. The board expects net debt to fall significantly in the second half, and the group reports $78.2 million of liquidity in cash and undrawn facilities. On the call, chief financial officer William Green said the balance sheet “doesn’t depend on a transaction arising from a strategic review” and that refinancing options were executable ahead of the credit facility’s maturity in October 2027.

Chief executive Michael Riedl set out on the analyst call what a sale would fund, in order. Debt comes first, because “an appropriate balance sheet precedes every other use of capital.” Then a return of excess capital through a distribution following any disposal, in a form Riedl said is yet to be determined, with a buyback or a special dividend both possible. Then reinstating the dividend policy suspended in 2025.

Price Over Timeline

Riedl was direct about the slipped date. “It has not happened that way,” he told analysts of the June guidance. “We are not managing towards a specific calendar date,” he said, and “if it takes a few more weeks, the board is happy to give the company and the buyers the few more weeks.” The logic he offered is one any owner who has sold a business will recognize: “We can sell DIS only once.” He also described the shape of the bidding. The group remains engaged with parties interested in all or parts of the division, and “some people would want to own certain parts of DIS at very high valuations.” That suggests the choice is not only between offers but between selling the division whole or in pieces. No buyer has been named.

“The deal will happen when we get the right value,” he said. “We are optimizing for price and not for timeline.”

About the Data

The September figures and the strategic review wording come from Team Internet’s unaudited interim results for the six months to June 30, 2026, published on September 7. The earlier statements come from the company’s own announcements of November 11, 2025, April 24, 2026, June 15, 2026 and July 24, 2026. Michael Riedl’s and William Green’s remarks come from the analyst call held on September 7, as transcribed by Investing.com, and were reported independently by Domain Incite.