Posted October 17, 2018

Web.com Group Inc. (Nasdaq: WEB) shareholders agreed Wednesday to sell the Jacksonville-based web services and marketing company to an affiliate of Siris Capital Group LLC for $2.24 billion, or $28 per share. After being traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market since 2005, Web.com will now be a wholly owned subsidiary.

Shareholders approved the sale by a vote of almost 40 million to about 10,000. However, shareholders rejected the proposed merger-related compensation of Web.com’s named executive officers by a margin of about 4 million votes, with more than 90 million abstained votes.

Web.com tentatively agreed to a $2 billion acquisition by Siris in June, but a bidding war with an undisclosed interested buyer in the final days of Web.com's open bid period drove the final price up another $240 million in August. Web.com's board unanimously recommended shareholders approve the acquisition in a proxy statement that one shareholder claimed in a lawsuit withheld material facts and misled shareholders; Web.com later updated the proxy statement to include a number of the allegedly withheld facts without admitting guilt.

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