Who owns your website?
Some of the best-known website builders and web hosts are owned by private equity firms. Here's who owns what, with a source for every deal.
The short answer
- Squarespace is owned by Permira, a private equity firm, since October 2024.
- Bluehost, HostGator, Network Solutions, and Web.com belong to Newfold Digital, owned by Clearlake Capital and Siris Capital.
- cPanel and Plesk, the control panels most web hosts run on, belong to WebPros, owned by CVC Capital Partners.
- WP Engine is owned by Silver Lake, and Liquid Web by One Equity Partners.
- Wix, GoDaddy, and Shopify are public companies. Webflow and Framer are backed by venture investors.
Owned by private equity
Checked October 27, 2026. Each deal links its source below the table.
| Builder | Brands you'd know | Owner | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace | Squarespace, Acuity Scheduling, Squarespace Domains (which took over Google Domains) | Private equity firm Permira, which took it private in October 2024 for about $7.2B | October 2024 |
| Newfold Digital | Bluehost, HostGator, Network Solutions, Web.com, Register.com | Private equity firms Clearlake Capital and Siris Capital | 2021 (Web.com under Siris since 2018) |
| WebPros | cPanel, Plesk, WHMCS, Sitejet, SolusVM | Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, with Oakley Capital as a minority owner | 2019 (Oakley bought cPanel in 2018) |
| WP Engine | WP Engine, Flywheel, Local | Private equity firm Silver Lake | 2018 |
| Liquid Web | Liquid Web, Nexcess | Private equity firm One Equity Partners | 2023 (Madison Dearborn from 2015) |
| Constant Contact | Constant Contact (email marketing and a website builder) | Private equity firm Clearlake Capital | 2021 (Siris sold its half in 2024) |
- Squarespace: Permira completes Squarespace acquisition
- Newfold Digital: Clearlake completes acquisition of Endurance · Newfold raises $100M from existing investors
- WebPros: cPanel ownership history
- WP Engine: LWN on WP Engine and Silver Lake
- Liquid Web: One Equity Partners acquires Liquid Web
- Constant Contact: Clearlake and Siris spin out Constant Contact
Why it matters who owns your host
A private equity firm usually buys a company with a mix of its own money and debt, then plans to sell it within a few years for more than it paid. That doesn't make the product worse on its own. It does mean prices, plans, and support are set with that sale in mind.
Two dated examples. In 2019, the year after it was bought, cPanel moved from one price per server to a price per account, and it has raised prices most years since (timeline). In December 2025, Newfold raised $100 million from its owners and pushed some of its debt out to 2029 (report).
How to check who owns yours
- Scroll to the footer or open the terms page. The legal name of the company you pay is listed there.
- Search that name with the word “acquired” to see who bought it and when.
- Look up the buyer. A private equity firm's own site lists the companies it owns, under “portfolio”.
Not owned by private equity
Checked October 27, 2026. Public companies answer to shareholders; venture-backed ones to their investors.
| Builder | Brands you'd know | Ownership |
|---|---|---|
| Wix | Wix, Wix Studio | Public company |
| GoDaddy | Public company | |
| Shopify | Public company | |
| IONOS | Public company | |
| Commerce.com | BigCommerce | Public company |
| Block | Square Online, Weebly | Public company |
| Lightspeed | Ecwid | Public company |
| Google Sites | Public company | |
| Webflow | Venture-backed | |
| Framer | Venture-backed | |
| Durable | Venture-backed | |
| Amboras | Venture-backed | |
| Automattic | WordPress.com, WooCommerce | Venture-backed |
| Odoo | Founder-controlled | |
| Zoho | Zoho Sites | Founder-controlled |
| Carrd | Founder-controlled | |
| PageHub | Founder-controlled |
Moving your site
PageHub is independent and run by its founder. You can import your current site from WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, or a folder of HTML, keep your domain, and export your files whenever you like. For side-by-side picks, see free website builders on your own domain and every comparison.
How we checked
Each private equity deal comes from the buyer's or company's announcement, or from news coverage of it, checked October 27, 2026. Companies change hands, so we recheck this page every few months. If something here is out of date, email will@pagehub.dev.
Questions about who owns your website
What people ask when they find out their host was bought.
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