GoDaddy is a privately owned, Internet-based company that provides a variety of services including domain name registration, web hosting and e-business software sales. The company, which is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, was founded by Bob Parsons. Parsons previously owned a financial services software company, which he sold in the mid-1990s upon retirement. He came out of retirement in 1997 to form Jomax Technologies, the predecessor to GoDaddy.
Since it’s inception, GoDaddy has risen to become the largest domain registrar in the world, with tens of million of domains registered to its clients. The company ranks as the world’s largest ICANN-accredited registrar; it’s approximately four times larger than its nearest competition. Recent corporate acquisitions include Outright, Locu, Afternic, and Media Temple.
GoDaddy has redefined Internet hosting services, and it has been the recipient of numerous industry awards and accolades. Among these awards are the 2001 Arizona BBB award for Business Ethics and the 2011 SC Magazine award for Best Security Team. In 2011, it ranked number four in the Phoenix Business Magazine list of “Best Places to Work in the Valley” and it made the 2012 Forbes list of “Best 100 Companies to Work For.”
Known for its sometimes controversial commercials and interesting spokespersons, GoDaddy also sponsors a number of charitable causes in support of domestic violence and child abuse awareness, and sports events, including NASCAR and the Super Bowl. In 2013, the company shifted its advertising strategy to focus more on small to medium sized business owners (SMB). Reflecting this change, its commercials and advertising materials shifted from “sexy” to smart.
When I went to log-in to my GoDaddy account this morning, it seemed like the site was loading slowly. When I was finally able to log in to my account to look at some auctions, the site seemed fine. It took a bit of time for the bid screen to load, but it was working. I then visited My Domains page, and I encountered this error:
In June of this year, Voice.com sold for $30 million. It is the largest publicly reported domain name sale of all time. When the deal was announced in a press release now found on the SEC website, MicroStrategy mentioned that the deal was brokered by GoDaddy. This was confirmed by GoDaddy Aftermarket VP Paul Nicks. I am now able to report who actually brokered the domain name at GoDaddy.
Vice published a story about a guy who tricked his friends into thinking he was arrested. To pull off the prank, he registered a domain name that was similar to the local news website, and he made his site look nearly identical to the news website. The prank went viral, and he was threatened with litigation related to the domain name registration and usage.
Have a look at this story and see how ICANN’s 60 day transfer lock on this new GoDaddy domain name registration caused quite a bit of fear for this prankster:
In the end, it looks like the news station decided to file a UDRP to take control of the domain name, and it prevailed in this 2016 proceeding.
According to an email sent to NameCheap customers with domain names listed for sale via Afternic, NameCheap is now a part of the Afternic DLS Fast Transfer network. NameCheap has been an Afternic partner for approximately ten years, but customers were not eligible to have their domain names sold via Fast Transfer. This enhanced partnership should take away some of the friction that occurs when selling a NameCheap-registered domain name via Afternic.
Here is the email that was sent to NameCheap customers with Afternic listings explaining the change:
Radix shared an infographic that offers an overview about the premium domain names the company sold in the first half of 2019. Radix operates a portfolio of nine new gTLD domain extensions, which includes .Online, .Tech, .Site, .Host, and others. In its infographic, the company highlighted some information about the domain names that were sold along with where the domain names were sold. I believe this report only includes “premium” domain names that were retained by the registry for resale.
It looks like Arizona State University Athletics Department let the SunDevils.com domain name expire. Arizona State University (ASU) athletics teams are known as the Sun Devils. As a result of the expiry, the domain name is now in auction at GoDaddy Auctions. The current high bid is $5,100, and it looks like there are six bidders participating in the auction. The auction ends in one week.
