GO DADDY SOLD TO KKR AND SILVER LAKE

The Go Daddy Group, the controversial giant of Internet address registration companies, said Friday that it would sell itself to a group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Silver Lake.

While the company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, the buyers are paying about $2.25 billion, according to people briefed on the matter.

In Go Daddy, the investor group — which also includes Technology Crossover Ventures as a minority partner — will buy the biggest domain name registrar in the world. The company manages more than 48 million domain names and has nearly 9.4 million customers.

When Go Daddy sought to go public in 2006, the company reported $139.8 million in revenue and conceded that it had consecutive annual losses. Since then, however, it has built up its business significantly: It reported $1.1 billion in sales for its most recent fiscal year.