Less than a year after acquiring Register.com for $135 million, Web.com apears to have inked the deal to acquire Network Solutions for $560.9 million in cash and stock. (The company is set to pay $405 million in cash plus stock, pending shareholder and regulatory approval.)

In a press release David Brown, Chairman and CEO of Web.com stated "This transaction represents a unique opportunity to dramatically expand our scale, add further momentum to Web.com's already improving top line growth, and further expand our market share as the nationally recognized go-to provider of online marketing solutions specifically tailored to small and medium-sized businesses".

“Our integration strategy will be similar to our successful acquisition of Register.com, and we will be in a strong position to cross-sell and up-sell our services to Network Solutions' approximately two million retail customers and hundreds of thousands of wholesale customers. We believe this combination will provide significant long-term shareholder value as we grow our business, capitalize on synergies, improve our margins and generate substantial cash flow to invest greater resources in growth and branding initiatives."Brown continued. 

"The acquisition of Network Solutions immediately delivers enormous scale to Web.com and better enables us to capitalize on the significant shift from traditional marketing channels to online marketing as mass adoption by SMBs continues. Small and mid-sized businesses are increasingly looking to leverage the growing adoption of online local search, social media and mobile devices to grow, and they need cost-and time-efficient help. No other company has the combination of products, services and experience to help small and medium businesses as effectively as Web.com. Our combined organization will have far greater resources to market our end-to-end suite of solutions, in addition to using the power of a national brand for the first time in our history," Mr. Brown continued. 

Anton Levy of private-equity firm Great Atlantic, the primary holder of Network Solutions, will join the Web.com board.