Summary
GoDaddy closed fiscal 2025 with fourth-quarter revenue of $1.27 billion, up 6.8% from the prior-year quarter. Operating income increased 24.0% to $317.0 million, and operating margin reached 24.9%, up 3.5 percentage points. Net income rose 23.4% to $245.1 million. Operating cash flow was $370.6 million, up 8.8%, and capital expenditures fell 52.1% to $6.9 million. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP measure, was $370.3 million, up 8.3%. Normalized EBITDA was $431.2 million, up 12.1%, with a 33.8% margin. Total bookings were $1.2832 billion, up 5.0% on a reported basis and 4.5% on a constant currency basis. Annualized recurring revenue was $4.3362 billion, up 7.3%. The company added 9,000 net customers sequentially. Deferred revenue rose 7.3% to $2.38 billion, and remaining performance obligations rose 6.9% to $3.32 billion.
For the full year, revenue was $4.95 billion, up 8.3% on a reported basis and 8.4% on a constant currency basis. Operating income was $1.13 billion, up 26.2%, and operating margin was 22.8%, up 3.2 percentage points. Net income was $875.0 million, down 6.6%, largely because the prior year included a non-routine, non-cash income tax benefit, while 2025 included a one-time benefit for an uncertain tax position. Diluted earnings per share were $6.22, down 3.6%. Operating cash flow was $1.60 billion, up 24.2%, and capital expenditures were $23.9 million, down 10.2%. Free cash flow was $1.6136 billion, up 19.0%. Normalized EBITDA was $1.5859 billion, up 13.6%, with a 32.0% margin. Total bookings were $5.400 billion, up 7.2%. Gross payments volume from commerce offerings grew to $3.4 billion, up 31%. GoDaddy repurchased 10.2 million shares of common stock in 2025.
Operationally, GoDaddy expanded its AI-powered Airo experience. The Airo.ai platform now has 25 agents in production, and in February the company announced integration of its Agent Name Service with MuleSoft, a Salesforce company, to extend ANS into enterprise-grade workflows. Management targets first-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 6% at the midpoint versus the same period in 2025. For full-year 2026, the company targets revenue growth of 6% at the midpoint versus the $4.951 billion generated in full-year 2025. First-quarter 2026 normalized EBITDA margin is expected to be approximately 32%, and full-year 2026 normalized EBITDA margin is expected to be over 33%. Full-year 2026 free cash flow is targeted at approximately $1.8 billion, versus the $1.6 billion generated in 2025.
Risks remain broad. The filing cites the unpredictable nature of a rapidly evolving market, fluctuations in financial and operating results, the company's rate of growth, service interruptions, dependence on payment card networks and acquiring processors, cyberattacks, acquisitions and divestitures, product acceptance, deployment of AI and machine learning, growth management, hiring and retention, competition, regulatory and legal developments, privacy concerns, restructuring, macroeconomic conditions, geopolitical tensions, interest rates, inflation, and share repurchase execution. The company also noted that after a competitive rebid in the second quarter of 2025, it no longer operates as the registry service provider for the .CO top-level domain after October 3, 2025, though the transition did not have a material impact on 2025 financial results. Customer retention was approximately 85% in each of the five years ended December 31, 2025, except 2024 when it was approximately 84%. Retention for customers with more than three years of tenure was approximately 90%, and more than 89% of total revenue for 2025 came from customers who were also customers in the prior year.
Forecast
Reported figures
GAAP, from SEC filings| Metric | Q4 FY2025 | Q3 FY2025 | QoQ | Q4 FY2024 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.27B | $1.27B | +0.7% | $1.19B | +6.8% |
| General & administrative | $103.6M | $91.3M | +13.5% | $112.1M | -7.6% |
| Total operating expenses | $956.9M | $968.6M | -1.2% | $937.0M | +2.1% |
| Operating income (loss) | $317.0M | $296.7M | +6.8% | $255.6M | +24.0% |
| Operating margin | 24.9% | 23.4% | +1.4 pp | 21.4% | +3.4 pp |
| Net income (loss) | $245.1M | $210.5M | +16.4% | $198.6M | +23.4% |
| Net margin | 19.2% | 16.6% | +2.6 pp | 16.6% | +2.6 pp |
| Diluted EPS | $1.74 | $1.51 | +$0.23 | — | — |
Risks
The filing materially expands AI risk, including agentic AI systems that operate with greater autonomy, unintended or unauthorized actions, regulatory scrutiny, IP infringement, and reputational harm. MD&A also highlights Airo and agentic AI innovations and notes monetization trends could be affected as AI is incorporated into solutions.
AI-powered tools, social media, apps, and alternative systems may reduce demand for domain names, websites, hosting, and email. The filing states that if customers increasingly rely on third-party AI platforms or closed ecosystems, demand for website building, hosting, domain names, or related services could decline or pricing pressure could increase.
Competition is expected to intensify, including from niche point solutions and broader providers, and competitors may develop AI products that are similar, superior, or more cost-effective. Failure to translate AI adoption into productivity, customer experience, or innovation could cause the company to lag competitors.
The company relies on Microsoft as a critical provider of email and productivity tools through Microsoft 365, and email offerings are a core component of many customers' operations. Termination or adverse changes to that relationship could require customer transitions, cause service disruptions, increase costs, or lead to loss of customers.
A substantial portion of cloud infrastructure is provisioned through AWS, which hosts several products and the integrated platform. AWS may terminate the agreement for cause, suspend services, or experience outages or capacity constraints, any of which could interrupt platform availability and harm revenue.
The company has experienced social engineering attacks and unauthorized access to certain systems, and risks include insider threats and third-party LLM or AI system providers. An actual or perceived incident could cause data loss, business disruption, litigation, regulatory investigations, and substantial costs, while insurance carries significant deductibles.
GoDaddy Payments exposes the company to regulatory, fraud, chargeback, and risk management risks, and as larger sellers use the services, exposure to material losses from a single seller or a small number of sellers increases. Payment card network fines or processor holdbacks could reduce liquidity or restrict payment processing.
International revenue represented approximately 33% of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025, and growth depends in part on international markets. Risks include tariffs, trade disputes, geopolitical conflicts, regulatory compliance, foreign currency, and pressure to lower prices in emerging markets.
Domain registration and maintenance are subject to varying registry and jurisdictional requirements, including the EU's NIS2 Directive that requires verification procedures for accurate domain name registration data. Failure to comply could result in significant expenses, liability, regulatory action, or negative publicity.
Future performance depends on senior management and key employees, and competition for technical and engineering talent is intense. U.S. immigration limits, including H-1B visa availability, and declines in the company's stock price could impair recruiting and retention.
General macro-economic and geopolitical conditions, including higher interest rates, inflation, recession, tariffs, and warfare, could reduce customer spending or renewals. Although the business has not yet been materially negatively impacted, uncertainty remains.
A prior material weakness in income taxes for the year ended December 31, 2023 was remediated, but there is no assurance that future material weaknesses will not be identified. A future material weakness could lead to investigations, stockholder lawsuits, restatements, or loss of NYSE listing.
Marketing and advertising expenses were $375.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, an increase of 5.1%, and the company needs to continuously optimize and diversify campaigns. If marketing efforts fail to generate traffic, new customers, or renewals, business and operating results could be adversely affected.
Customer care is critical to retention and expansion, and approximately 9% of total bookings for the year ended December 31, 2025 were generated by GoDaddy Guides. A portion of GoDaddy Guides is engaged through third parties, and failure or misconduct could harm reputation, renewal rates, and cross-sell ability.
The company has taken significant actions to support profitable growth, including cost optimization and restructuring, and may recognize costs earlier than benefits. If benefits are delayed or lower than expected, operating results may be adversely affected.
SaaS KPIs
All quarters →Total bookings
Free cash flow
Total customers at period end
NEBITDA margin
Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR)
Normalized EBITDA (NEBITDA)
Segment EBITDA - A&C
Segment EBITDA - Core
Segment EBITDA margin - A&C
Segment EBITDA margin - Core
Summary, forecast, risks and KPIs are extracted from GoDaddy Inc.'s SEC filings for Q4 FY2025 (10-Q / 10-K and the 8-K earnings release); GAAP figures in the summary are checked against the reported XBRL data. They can contain errors; the filings are authoritative. Processed Oct 1, 2026.