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GoDaddy

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.

GoDaddy to Host “Buying Expired Domains” Hangout

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I regularly participate in expired domain name auctions. I spend the most time on NameJet, but I also participate in auctions on GoDaddy, SnapNames, and DropCatch.com. If you are interested in learning more about buying expired domain names or about the domain name lifecycle and expiration process, GoDaddy will be hosting a Google Hangout to share more information.

GoDaddy’s Joe Styler is one of the organizers of the Hangout as well as a participant, and I asked him to share what is going to be covered in the Hangout. Here is a list of the topics that they expect to cover:

GoDaddy’s Joe Styler Issues Phishing Warning

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I am sure it is exciting for some sellers to learn that their domain names were sold on one of the popular domain name sales marketplaces. According to GoDaddy’s Joe Styler, there is a phishing email making the rounds that tries to confuse the recipient into thinking their domain name was sold via GoDaddy.

Joe shared the following warning this morning  on NamePros:

GoDaddy Takes Leading Role to Help Close Gender Pay Gap

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It’s pretty amazing to think that in this day and age there is still a major difference between levels of compensation for men and women. In a news release this afternoon, GoDaddy announced that the company “has joined the federal ‘Fair Pay Pledge’ aimed at closing the gender pay gap between men and women in the United States.”

Appropriately, the announcement of GoDaddy’s participation was made during The United State of Women Summit, which was held today in Washington, DC. Illustrating how important this event is, United States President Barack had a leading speaking role. In fact, it was President Obama who mentioned that there are 28 American companies who are taking a lead role in the Fair Pay Pledge, and GoDaddy is one of those companies.

It’s awesome to see GoDaddy being a leader in this effort. Not too long ago, the company was thought of as sexist by many, due to its provocative Super Bowl commercials and advertising campaigns that featured scantily clad women. Although these campaigns brought considerable awareness to the company, I am sure it did no favors in their recruitment efforts.

Things have been changing. GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving wrote an article in Fortune entitled “Why women are so turned off by the tech industry,” and he discussed what he was doing as CEO to change the perception of GoDaddy and increase the amount of women working at the company. Paul Nicks also wrote an article about women in the domain industry.

I have been a customer of GoDaddy for a long time. I am glad to see that the company is using its considerable clout to increase the number of women in the tech space. It is also great to see that the company joined the Fair Pay Pledge as well. There are many smart, capable women who work within the domain name space, and I hope GoDaddy’s efforts help them and others succeed.

Here’s the press release GoDaddy shared:

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, has joined the federal ‘Fair Pay Pledge’ aimed at closing the gender pay gap between men and women in the United States.

The announcement was made today during The United State of Women Summit in Washington, D.C., where President Barack Obama talked about the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship, and how critical gender pay equity is. “This is the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do,” President Obama said. “Today, we can announce 28 of America’s leading businesses are committed to closing the gender pay gap.”

GoDaddy, one of those 28 companies committing to work toward salary parity with women and men in like roles, is vowing to continue its work for equal pay by joining the federal pledge and publishing its own Fair Pay pledge, as well. GoDaddy has long been committed to equal pay, and started releasing specific gender-based salary data and encouraging other companies to reveal theirs during last year’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference.

“Ensuring equal pay for men and women is the right thing to do, and it’s also good business. We know that diverse teams build better products, and for our diverse customer base, it makes a positive difference,” said GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving, who has championed gender parity in engineering roles over his long career. “Equal pay isn’t a reality across our industry, and there’s much more work to do. At GoDaddy we’ve been working deliberately to understand our salaries and promotion trajectory by gender, and close gaps when we find them. We also know transparency is critical to achieving parity and we continue to invite other companies to join us by sharing their data publicly.”

The GoDaddy findings from the 2014 internal salary audit revealed that, on average, for every dollar a man makes at GoDaddy, a woman is paid roughly one cent more. Women specifically in technical roles at GoDaddy, though, make approximately 99 cents on the dollar. In the management ranks, women are paid an estimated 96 centson the dollar.

Nationally overall, however, the gender pay gap persists. Despite passage of the Federal Equal Pay Act of 1963, which requires equal pay for equal work, women working full-time earn only 79 percent of men’s wages, according to federal statistics.

As part of the White House initiative announced today, participating companies commit to conduct an internal review of their pay structure, review hiring and promotions to remove any obstacles for women and include pay equity into their diversity strategies.

“We are taking these steps, in addition to all the work we’ve done to date, to help close the national wage gap and ensure fundamental fairness for all workers and are ecstatic so many other companies are joining this important effort,” said GoDaddy Chief People Officer Auguste Goldman.

Earlier this year, GoDaddy was recognized as one of the FORTUNE magazine’s top 100 “Best Companies to Work For.” Employment opportunities range from technical, to consultative customer support, to legal, accounting, marketing, and more.

GoDaddy is now serving 53 markets, in 29 languages and 44 currencies. GoDaddy employs approximately 5,000 people and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., with facilities across other locations, including Washington State, Massachusetts, Iowa and California in the U.S., as well as Asia, Brazil, India, Canada, Mexico, U.K.,Australia and The Netherlands, internationally.

To find out about career opportunities, visit www.GoDaddy.com/Careers.

Read more about the gender wage gap in an updated report released by the White House Council of Economic Advisors, available here.

Diamond.com in Auction at GoDaddy

Diamond.com is up for auction at GoDaddy.com. The domain name has a minimum bid of $1,000,000, and I am told the reserve price for this auction is higher than the minimum bid.

In 2006, Diamond.com was sold for $7.5 million. It is regularly listed among the top public domain name sales of all time. According to GoDaddy’s Joe Styler, “It has had a successful online business attached to it for many years.” It looks like the business is still operational, so I am not sure why the company decided to sell the asset.

According to an article on TheDomains.com last year, GoDaddy has been brokering the domain name for at least a year now. It appears that this is the first time it has gone into an auction format like this. I was told that if the domain name sells at auction, it would be the largest public sale in the history of GoDaddy Auctions.

One thing is for sure

Doobie Brothers Acquire DoobieBrothers.com

The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band that was most popular in the 1970s and 1980s. A few of their best known hits include Listen to the Music, Takin’ It To The Streets, and What A Fool Believes.

The band has used the less desireable DoobieBros.com domain name for its website for many years, and it looks like they got a major upgrade. According to DomainTools, it looks like the Doobie Brothers were able to acquire the exact match DoobieBrothers.com domain name from NameFind (via Afternic / GoDaddy) for an undisclosed sale price. DoobieBrothers.com now forwards to the band’s website.

My guess is the cost wasn’t too high since the Doobie Brothers are a well known band and avoiding a dispute is probably more important than trying to maximize the value of a deal for this particular domain name. It is a bit surprising that it took so long for them to get the domain name though.

DoobieBrothers.com appears to have come from the

GoDaddy Hiring Afternic Sales Executive

If you’re looking for a corporate job in the domain name space, GoDaddy is hiring a Sales Executive to work on the Afternic team. The position will be based in the Cambridge, Massachusetts office. The job opportunity was posted on LinkedIn on May 5th.

Although the job listing says “Knowledge of the Domain Aftermarket is a plus,” it is not a requirement. However, one of the main responsibilities that this job entails is to “Become an expert in internet marketing and develop a passion for the domain industry.” The company is looking for someone who has strong sales experience for this position.

One interesting tidbit in the job listing is that it shares how many domain names the company’s domain name brokers / sales executives sale each day:

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