GoDaddy beats on earnings but misses on revenue as Airo passes $100m run rate

The domain and hosting group's GAAP profit topped forecasts by $0.19 a share, while the Financial Times reports Gen Digital has made an early approach to buy it.

GoDaddy's third quarter was won on the bottom line and not the top. GAAP earnings of $2.08 a share beat expectations by $0.19, but revenue of $1.34 billion fell just short of the $1.35 billion forecast, so the growth the company needs to show is still a promise rather than a result.

The promise is Airo, the product that carries GoDaddy's agentic strategy. Chief executive Aman Bhutani said its annualised bookings run rate passed $100 million this quarter and has begun to add incrementally to bookings growth. That is a number investors can now track. It is also management's own account, and the next set of bookings figures will show whether the run rate is building fast enough to make up for a top line that is lagging.

The pattern is common this season. ADP, Dow and Northrop Grumman all beat on profit and missed on revenue, with ADP at $5.49 billion against $5.53 billion expected and Northrop at $11.12 billion against $11.25 billion. Bausch + Lomb is the better yardstick: it also missed on revenue, at $1.38 billion against $1.40 billion, but raised its 2026 forecasts, and a raised outlook counts for more than a quarter that beat.

GoDaddy's shares have a second thing to weigh. The Financial Times reported that Gen Digital has made a takeover approach for GoDaddy, with talks at an early stage and no price or terms disclosed.