Tokyo, Japan, July 12, 2005 - (JCN Newswire) - GMO Internet Inc. (GMO) (TSE: 9449), the largest and most diversified online services provider in Japan, has agreed to acquire Solis Corporation (http://www.solis.jp/), operating under the brand name, "Japan Registry" (http://www.japanregistry.com), a leading ICANN-accredited domain registrar and the leading distributor of Japanese domain names worldwide, in the form of a share swap valued at 1.125 billion yen.
GMO is Japan's leader in the online infrastructure services business, providing a full suite of solutions to its clients ranging from web hosting to online security to credit card payment processes. The company's mission is to develop online infrastructure services in a range of complementary service areas with the goal of creating synergies across its businesses. As part of their "Media Group Strategy", GMO is actively assembling Best-of-Breed providers to create a diversified set of solutions for all elements of online and e-commerce infrastructure services.
Solis Corporation fits extremely well within this synergistic philosophy. Solis Corporation is Best-of-Breed in its areas of focus, bringing clear leadership in both the international domain marketplace as well as brand management services for Japanese corporations. It maintains a comprehensive international partnership network that includes many of the largest Internet infrastructure providers around the world, as well as a strong network of tens of thousands of Japanese partners and end-customers. Meanwhile, Solis' corporate brand management services practice specializes in providing full-service brand-management and intellectual property advisory services to leading Japanese corporations.
A spokesperson for GMO commented, "We are very excited with the opportunity to welcome the Solis team to our company and are confident that they fit very well within the framework of GMO's Media Group Strategy. Solis's strengths, including its superior international partnership network, and its corporate brand management practice fill crucial gaps within GMO's existing business network. Adding their activities to our offerings will not only provide us with a leadership position in the international domain distribution market, but will allow us to build a business in the very high value-add area of Corporate Brand Management. We will also be able to add Solis' extensive domestic customer base to our own to significantly increase our market reach."
Solis' President and Founder, Darshaun Nadeau, said that the acquisition will be a great benefit to Solis' clients. "It will allow us to dedicate far greater resources to our current offerings as well as to leverage the full breadth of GMO's Media Group Strategy to all of our partners. With the strength of GMO's full team behind us, we will have increased capacity to improve our services and to satisfy our partners and clients."
About Solis Corporation (Japan Registry)
Tokyo-based Solis Corporation (dba Japan Registry) is a leading ICANN-accredited and .JP Registry-accredited domain name registrar. It is one of the leading distributors of domain names to leading ISPs, hosting companies and corporations within Japan and the leading distributor of .JP and .CO.JP domains to leading ICANN-accredited registrars and other leading Internet infrastructure providers worldwide. Solis also provides a range of complementary services to its clients such as dynamic DNS, SSL digital certificates, and URL forwarding.
About GMO Internet, Inc.
Tokyo-based GMO Internet Inc. is Japan's only corporate group that is a one-stop provider of all of the services needed for Internet business, including access, domain, server rental, website creation, and Internet advertising media services. These services are provided based on GMO's strategic policy, which is to "Become Japan's Internet Division."
GMO is growing rapidly and consistently. Its 2004 consolidated revenues were 23.56 billion yen, up over 50% from the previous year, and its consolidated net profit was 2.56 billion yen, up over 145% from the previous year. GMO now has over 2,000 employees working in 21 business subsidiaries with over 60 different brands cooperating together within its Media Group Strategy.
Contact:
GMO Internet Inc.
Mr. Hiroshi Ootani, Ms. Yukiko Sonoshita
Email: pr@gmo.jp
Tel: +81-3-5456-2695
Fax: +81-3-3780-2611
http://www.gmo.jp/en/
Solis Corporation
Steve Karnas
COO and Representative Director
Email: skarnas@solis.jp
http://www.solis.jp/
http://www.japanregistry.com