GoDaddy 2024 Sustainability Report: Responsible Governance & Operations | Honest & Ethical Conduct

Originally published in GoDaddy's 2024 Sustainability Report

Honest & Ethical Conduct

Transparency, integrity, and trust are thecornerstones of how we do business.

We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards, ensuring our actions reflect professionalism and transparency. By continually evolving our practices, we stay ahead in a fast-changing regulatory world, always striving to do what’s right.

Business Ethics

We implement the following policies and procedures to guide our business conduct:

• Code of Business Conduct & Ethics (Code): Our Code serves as a guiding framework for employees, officers, and directors, outlining the principles and responsibilities underpinning our ethical practices.
   
• Human Rights: In 2024, we published a Human Rights Policy and updated our Anti-Slavery Policy strengthening our approach to combatting modern slavery.
   
• Ethics Helpline: Our Ethics Helpline remains a trusted resource for reporting violations of company policies, our Code, or the law.
   
• Whistleblower Protections: Our Speak Up Policy underscores our dedication to protecting whistleblowers, ensuring everyone feels safe to report concerns without fear of retaliation.

87/100: Through our annual GoDaddy Voice Survey, we achieved an average score of 87 out of 100 on the question, “If I encounter an unethical situation, I feel comfortable reporting issues regarding ethics and compliance."

Education & Training

We are dedicated to ensuring our workforce is well-equipped to uphold our ethical standards through comprehensive trainings. As a part of their onboarding process, new GoDaddy employees complete trainings which enforce awareness of and compliance with the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. These include foundational topics such as anti-harassment and anti-discrimination; data protection and security awareness; and social engineering alongside targeted training on anti-trust, anti-bribery, and anti-corruption for specific roles. Annual refresher trainings are also required for select topics.

When vendors and contractors begin working with us, we require them to complete ethics trainings on our Code, data protection, security awareness, and other topics, where relevant. Refresher trainings on select topics may also be required annually.

Corporate Governance

Strong corporate governance is the foundation of our business strategy, generating long-term value and maintaining the trust of our stakeholders. Our Board provides oversight on the long-term strategic, financial, and organizational goals of the company. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines reflect the Board’s commitment to a system of governance which enhances corporate responsibility and accountability, and assist the Board in implementing effective corporate governance practices. For more information on the responsibilities of our Board and its committees, please review our Corporate Governance Guidelines, committee charters, and Proxy Statement on our Investor Relations Financials page and Governance page.

In 2024, our Board appointed Graham Smith as a new independent director, effective June 26, 2024. For more information on our Board, refer to our 2025 Proxy Statement.

Risk Management

Our Board is responsible for overseeing GoDaddy’s enterprise-wide risks, the formation of our long-term strategic, financial, and organizational goals, and the plans designed to achieve such goals. The Board and its committees also oversee strategic, legal, regulatory, financial, management, and operational risks. For more details on the responsibilities of the Board and its committees, refer to the Sustainability Governance section or the committee charters on our Investor Relations Governance page.

With oversight from our Audit Committee, the Assurance, Risk, and Compliance (ARC) Team leads our enterprise risk management program. The ARC Team is responsible for identifying key risks that could impact the Company's strategy, operations, or compliance. The ARC Team assists our Leadership Team in defining metrics to monitor such risks and respond proactively, helping the business navigate risks while staying focused on strategic execution and innovation.

Government & Policy Engagement

Our Corporate and Government Affairs Team serves as an advocate for our customers and small businesses, championing their interests in key legislative, public policy, and regulatory arenas. By engaging with policymakers, lawmakers, and other stakeholders, the team highlights GoDaddy’s role in the industry and our support for a fair and open digital ecosystem.

As both a Registry and a Registrar, we actively participate in Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) working groups and community leadership bodies. These engagements shape the policies governing and managing the Domain Name System, impacting our products, services, and how they are utilized by our customers. The team also ensures fair and transparent resolution of complaints and information requests from ICANN and third parties, covering a wide range of domain name-related issues.

As a part of our commitment to honest and ethical conduct, the Corporate and Government Affairs Team detailed GoDaddy’s standards for political contributions, activities, and lobbying by our directors, officers, and employees in a publicly available policy.

ENGAGING WITH REGULATORS TO PROTECT OUR CUSTOMERS

GoDaddy actively engages with institutions and standards bodies to share the potential impact decisions have on our customers’ registration experience, data protection, and overall online presence. Our engagement is important to our customers and our business as proposed legislation can at times result in unnecessary domain name suspensions, confusing customer communications, and increased exposure to phishing and other online threats involving personal data. GoDaddy also works through ICANN and Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition), and in collaboration with other industry associations representing internet infrastructure companies, to engage on matters important to protecting registrants and promoting a secure and predictable online environment.

To learn more, read our 2024 Sustainability Report.

About This Report

This GoDaddy 2024 Sustainability Report details our progress toward our corporate sustainability goals, strategies, and initiatives in support of our overarching corporate mission and values. Unless otherwise noted, this report reflects our corporate sustainability performance across our global operations covering the fiscal year period from January 1 to December 31, 2024. To demonstrate our commitment to transparent communication regarding our sustainability progress, we routinely share updates through our website and our annual Sustainability Report. We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback on this report by contacting [email protected].

This report references the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, includes select Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) metrics for the Internet Media and Services sector, and the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). We also disclose our contributions and progress toward priority UN SDGs. For additional information on how we align with these frameworks and key indicators demonstrating our sustainability performance, please refer to the Frameworks & Metrics section.