Bluehost

Matt Heaton first conceived Bluehost in 1996. However, he first created two other web hosts, 50megs.com and 0catch.com, before finally settling on Bluehost in 2003.{{cite web|last1=Heaton|first1=Matt|title=Genesis of Bluehost.com...|url=http://www.mattheaton.com/?p=3|access-date=July 13, 2016|archive-date=September 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917194024/http://www.mattheaton.com/?p=3|url-status=dead}}

In 2009, Bluehost introduced a new feature called CPU throttling. CPU throttling (at Bluehost and similar hosting services) refers to the process of reducing a user's CPU usage whenever the particular user is pulling "too much" server resources at one time. At that particular time, Bluehost would freeze (or drastically reduce) client sites' CPU usage substantially. This effectively shut down clients' websites hosted on the Bluehost server for several hours throughout the day.

In 2010, Bluehost was acquired by Endurance International Group. In June 2011, company founder Matt Heaton announced on his blog that he was stepping down as CEO to focus on the company hosting platform's design and technical structure, while COO Dan Handy took over as CEO.{{cite web|last1=Heaton|first1=Matt|title=It's been a blast!!! Now its time to move on...|url=http://www.mattheaton.com/?m=201106|website=MattHeaton.com|access-date=August 6, 2014|date=June 12, 2011|archive-date=July 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702083917/http://www.mattheaton.com/?m=201106|url-status=dead}}

In 2013, Bluehost introduced VPS and dedicated server hosting.{{cite web|title=Introducing Next-Gen VPS and Dedicated Hosting|url=https://www.bluehost.com/blog/bluehost/introducing-next-gen-vps-and-dedicated-hosting-2255|publisher=Bluehost.com|access-date=November 3, 2013}}

In January 2015, Endurance International Group appointed Mike Olson as CEO of Bluehost, while Dan Handy moved to enterprise-wide mobile development for small businesses.{{cite web|url=https://www.hostingjournalist.com/web-hosting/endurance-appoints-mike-olson-as-new-ceo-of-web-hosting-brand-bluehost/ |title=Endurance Appoints Mike Olson as New CEO of Web Hosting Brand Bluehost |publisher=Hosting Journalist |date= January 28, 2015}}

In January 2017, the company announced that it would lay off 440 Bluehost employees at Utah, in an effort to consolidate its business to improve customer support.{{Cite web|url=https://venturebeat.com/2017/01/25/bluehost-owner-endurance-is-laying-off-440-people-in-utah/|title=Bluehost owner Endurance is laying off 440 people in Utah|last=Novet|first=Jordon|date=January 25, 2017|website=VentureBeat|access-date=August 21, 2018}}

In 2021 the parent company Endurance International Group, merged with Web.com forming a new company, Newfold Digital, hence Bluehost became a subsidiary of Newfold Digital.{{cite web |date=February 11, 2021 |title=Web.com merges with competitor, becoming Newfold Digital |url=https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/web-com-merges-with-competitor-becoming-newfold-digital |access-date= |website=jaxdailyrecord.com; Jacksonville Daily Record}}

In July 2023, Bluehost launched WonderSuite product which offer an AI-powered site-building guide.{{Cite web |date=2023-07-14 |title=Bluehost Launches WonderSuite Product with AI-Powered Site-Building Guide |url=https://wptavern.com/bluehost-launches-wondersuite-product-with-ai-powered-site-building-guide |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=WP Tavern |language=en-US}}

During Oracle’s Q2 2025 earnings call on March 10, 2025, Chairman Larry Ellison announced that Newfold Digital, the parent company of Bluehost and HostGator, is transitioning to Oracle Cloud alongside several other companies to enhance security and performance.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-24 |title=Newfold Digital (Bluehost, Web.com, HostGator) is Moving to Oracle Cloud |url=https://hostdean.com/news/newfold-digital-bluehost-web-com-hostgator-moving-oracle-cloud/ |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=HostDean |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=published |first=Wayne Williams |date=2025-03-16 |title=Oracle scores major win as it recruits web hosting company behind HostGator and Bluehost |url=https://www.techradar.com/pro/bluehost-owner-is-moving-to-oracle-cloud-so-could-thousands-of-websites-be-about-to-migrate |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=TechRadar |language=en}} In May of 2025, Bluehost launched their VPS and Dedicated servers on Oracle Cloud.

In March 2009, Bluehost appeared in a Newsweek article that condemned the hosting company for censoring the web pages of some of their customers, who were believed to be citizens of countries that the United States government had listed as rogue states.{{cite web|last=Morozov|first=Evgeny|title=U.S. Web Firms Practice Self-Censorship|url=https://www.newsweek.com/us-web-firms-practice-self-censorship-76329|work=News Week|access-date=November 22, 2013|date=March 6, 2007}}

In February 2011, Bluehost, citing its terms-of-service ‘hate or violence’ clause, took down a religious website that they were hosting on its servers after receiving thousands of complaints when that website posted comments blaming gays and lesbians for an earthquake in New Zealand.{{Cite news |url=http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/web-host-bluehost-pulls-anti-gay-website-following-complaints |title=Web Host BlueHost Pulls Anti-Gay Website Following Complaints |date=February 28, 2011 |access-date=October 26, 2011 |first=Justin |last=Lee |newspaper=Web Host Industry Review|publisher=iNET Interactive }}

In March 2015, Bluehost was hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. Also hacked were Justhost, Hostgator, Hostmonster and Fastdomain, all owned by Endurance International Group. SEA claimed that these services were hosting terrorist websites.{{Cite news |url=http://thehackernews.com/2015/03/website-hosting-services.html |title=5 Biggest Hosting Companies hacked by Syrian Electronic Army |date=March 20, 2015 |access-date=April 1, 2015 |first=Swati |last=Khandelwal |newspaper=The Hackers News}}{{cite tweet |author= SyrianElectronicArmy |user= Official_SEA16|number= 582370947119722497 |date= March 30, 2015 |title= Endurance Group(Bluehost, Justhost, Hostgator, Hostmonster) was hacked by #SEA for hosting terrorists websites. }} Syrian Electronic Army posted screenshots of the attack on Twitter.{{cite tweet |author= SyrianElectronicArmy |user= Official_SEA16|number= 582380059375181825 |date= March 30, 2015 |title= Next time... we will change the DNS. #SEA cc @Bluehost }}

In January 2019, the magazine WebsitePlanet uncovered client-side vulnerability in some of the largest hosting companies in the world: Bluehost, DreamHost, HostGator, iPage and OVH.{{Cite web|url=https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/report-popular-hosting-hacked/|title=Report: We Tested 5 Popular Web Hosting Companies & All Were Easily Hacked|date=January 15, 2019|website=Website Planet|access-date=May 20, 2019}} The company patched the flaw within 48 hours.{{cite web |last=Kan |first=Michael |title=Researcher finds serious bugs in top web hosting services |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/researcher-finds-serious-bugs-in-top-web-hosting-services |website=PCMag |date=January 15, 2019 |access-date=2025-06-06}}

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