Go Daddy
Encyclopedia
Go Daddy is an Internet domain registrar
and Web hosting company that also sells e-business related software and services. In 2010, it reached more than 45 million domain name
s under management. Go Daddy is currently the largest ICANN
-accredited registrar
in the world, and is four times the size of its closest competitor.
Go Daddy started advertising in the Super Bowl in 2005. Since then, the company expanded its marketing to include sports sponsorships.
Go Daddy filed for an IPO in 2006, but later canceled it, due to "market uncertainties".
In September 2010, Go Daddy put itself up for auction. Go Daddy called off the auction several weeks later, despite reports that bids exceeded the asking price of $1.5 billion to $2 billion. On June 24, 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that private-equity firms KKR and Silver Lake Partners
, along with a third investor, are nearing a deal to buy the company for between $2-2.5 billion. On July 1, 2011 Go Daddy confirmed that KKR and Silver Lake Partners
and Technology Crossover Ventures closed the deal. Although the purchase price was not officially announced it was reported to be $2.25 billion.
, who previously founded the software development company Parsons Technology, Inc. The company changed its name to Go Daddy in 1999 when a group of employees were brainstorming on a more memorable name than Jomax Technologies. Someone said, "How about Big Daddy?" A quick check revealed that the Internet domain of that name was taken. Then Parsons said, "How about Go Daddy?" The name was available, so he bought it. CEO Bob Parsons states the company stuck with the name because it made people smile and remember it.
Go Daddy has grown to become the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the Internet. In 2001, soon after Network Solutions
was no longer the only place to register a domain, Go Daddy was approximately the same size as competitors Dotster and eNom
. In April 2005, it surpassed Network Solutions in market share in terms of total domain name
s registered.
In 2002, Go Daddy sued VeriSign
for domain slamming and again in 2003 over its Site Finder
service. This latter suit caused controversy over VeriSign's role as the sole maintainer of the .com and the .net top-level domain
s. VeriSign shut down Site Finder after receiving a letter from ICANN
ordering it to comply with a request to disable the service. In 2006, Go Daddy was sued by Web.com
for patent infringement
.
In 2007 and 2008, the company lobbied in favor of legislation that would crack down on unscrupulous online pharmacies and child predators.
In March 2010, Go Daddy stopped registering .CN domains (China) due to the high amount of personal information that is required to register in that country. Some called it a public relations campaign, since it closely followed Google's revolt in China.
In 2009, Go Daddy was voted "Best Registrar" Domain Name Wire annual survey for the 4th consecutive year.
, in some sort of sexual-related theme. She has been referred to as "Miss GoDaddy.com" or "The Go Daddy Girl" by fans and on WWE television shows, where she also does the "Go Daddy Dance" (twirling her arms around her body while slowly turning) as part of her wrestling gimmick.
In 2006, Go Daddy began sponsoring IndyCar
driver Danica Patrick
, who subsequently joined the "Go Daddy Girl" lineup and began playing a prominent role in the company's commercials. In March 2009, Go Daddy announced professional poker player Vanessa Rousso
as the newest Go Daddy Girl. Vanessa competed in the Go Daddy sponsored NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship the same month, finishing second and making history by being the first woman to make it to the finals. Also in March 2009, Go Daddy added pro-golfer Anna Rawson
, bringing the Go Daddy Girl spokeswomen count to four. She is edgy, she is fun, she is hotter than firecrackers, she is very clever and everything we look for in a Go Daddy Girl, CEO Bob Parsons said of Rawson at a news conference in Phoenix. In August 2009, another Go Daddy Girl was announced. A Russian native, Marina Orlova
is an online linguist, explaining the origin of words on her HotforWords.com Web site. A New Yorker magazine blogger called her the sexiest philologist in the world.
In 2010, Go Daddy announced it is adding "America's Toughest Trainer" Jillian Michaels
as a Go Daddy Girl. Michaels joins race car driver Danica Patrick as a Go Daddy Girl, a move that CEO Bob Parsons said should attract new customers. Michaels is a well-known celebrity, famous for her role as a health and wellnes coach on NBC's hit show, "The Biggest Loser".
An order was placed with Orange County Choppers for a custom bike to raise contributions for charity and was revealed in Miami, Florida, and featured the models Candice and Danica. The episode was documented by the reality show American Chopper
episode number 82.
. "There's always the possibility that we might not be able to get an appropriately edgy advertisement approved," he said. "All things considered, there's a strong argument for staying on the sidelines this year and taking that Super Bowl advertising money and using it for other opportunities," he added. However, on January 28, 2008, during a telecast of World Wrestling Entertainment
's RAW
program on USA Network
in a reverse of field, it was disclosed by Go Daddy spokesperson (and WWE diva) Candice Michelle
that there will be an advertisement during the game, which featured a "behind the scenes" look into that ad. Once again, Go Daddy went through more than a dozen submissions before it was able to get a commercial approved by Fox, the same network that had pulled its Super Bowl XXXIX advertisement before its second scheduled airing. Go Daddy had hoped to broadcast a spot called "Exposure" featuring Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick
and animatronics beavers. But Fox deemed the spot too racy for prime time television and told Parsons it would not air it unless he removed the word "beaver". Parsons refused, and Go Daddy instead aired a completely different commercial, called "Spot On". The spot was essentially an "Ad to an Ad" and told viewers to go to the company's Web site to see "Exposure". "Spot On" aired in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLII, and the company quickly deemed it an enormous success. Go Daddy logged more than one million views of the "Exposure" advertisement before the game ended and reported 1.5 million visits to the GoDaddy.com Web site.
as being "cheesy"; in National Review
as "raunchy, 'Girls-Gone-Wild
' style"; and "just sad" by Barbara Lippert in Adweek
, who gave the advertisement a "D". However, Reprise Media, reviewing the success of Super Bowl advertising in getting potential customers online, listed the 2007 commercial as one of only eight "Touchdown"-worthy ads among the day's high-priced advertisers. IAG Research, which rated the effectiveness of likeability and memorability of the ads, ranked Go Daddy's spot as second for most-recalled.
. In "Shower", Danica takes a shower with Simona Fusco Stratten as three college students control the women's maneuvers from a computer. "Baseball" is a spoof of the steroids scandal. While "Shower" won Go Daddy's online vote, "Baseball" was the most popular of the Super Bowl. Both helped increase domain registrations 110 percent above 2008 post Super Bowl levels. Go Daddy posted Internet-only versions of its commercials during the game. These are extended versions with more risque content.
markets for Google, offered an in-depth analysis of Super Bowl spots that aired during Sunday's championship game. He said the most successful were multichannel-oriented, driving viewers to Web sites and "focusing on conversion as never before." Go Daddy experienced significant Web traffic and a strong "hangover" effect of viewer interest in the days that followed due to a provocative "teaser" advertisement pointing to the Web, Goulding said.
The commercial features a mother who creates a Web site with Go Daddy in order to save time and still keep in touch with her family. In the thirty-second story, she posts her cherished family recipes on her Web site, even though she's not tech-savvy. The grand prize winner of the user-generated content contest is not only cleavage-free and smarm-free, it also celebrates an empowered woman of a certain age who uses Go Daddy to help her solve a family problem.
In 2009, for a third consecutive year, Go Daddy was the presenting sponsor of the Indianapolis 500
race broadcast on ABC. Go Daddy also debuted a new commercial called "Speeding" during the Indy 500. The commercial features Danica Patrick getting pulled over for speeding by a female cop wanting to be a "Go Daddy Girl". The advertisement teases to an edgier Web version that drove a 570% traffic increase to GoDaddy.com.
For the Las Vegas race in 2011, Go Daddy launched the Go Daddy IndyCar Challenge where the only participent, driver Dan Wheldon, would have won $2.5m each for himself and randomly selected fan, Ann Babenco, if he won the race, starting from last place. A 15 car pile up 12 laps into the race injured 4 drivers and killed Wheldon.
broadcasts, feature NASCAR Nationwide Series owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
, who designed and owns and occasionally drives the #5 JR Motorsports
Chevrolet
in the series. Go Daddy's sponsorship of the team includes five races in 2008 with Mark Martin
and Ron Fellows
(who won the NAPA Auto Parts 200
in the Go Daddy Chevrolet), sharing duties in the races with Earnhardt Jr. Junior designed the paint scheme for the car, which in true Earnhardt tradition is dominated by black with green and orange (the colors of Go Daddy). GoDaddy.com also has sponsored the Randy Moss Motorsports (aka Morgan-Dollar Motorsports) truck when Landon Cassill
drives it, both in the original #46 and later as #81, as Cassill is a Hendrick Motorsports Developmental Driver, which includes selected Nationwide Series races in Earnhardt's #5 car.
Go Daddy has also sponsored Brad Keselowski
in the #25 for Hendrick Motorsports
on a limited basis in the Sprint Cup series (owing to the "part-time rookie exemption" to a four-car limit). After a successful 2008 season, Go Daddy is expanding its 2009 NASCAR sponsorship with the JR Motorsports
organisation, sponsoring 20 Nationwide Series races as primary sponsor, split between the #5 and #88 teams. The #88 deal gave Keselowski a full 35-race NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsorship for 2009 split with Delphi
and Unilever
. Go Daddy will also be the primary sponsor for seven races in the Sprint Cup Series with Keselowski driving. GoDaddy.com signed a one-year deal with Darlington Raceway
to sponsor the 53rd Annual Rebel 500, the fifth-oldest race on the Sprint Cup circuit. Keselowski got his third Nationwide victory at Dover - his first in the #88 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. In the same season, Keselowski scored a second Nationwide victory in the #88 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
at the first ever NASCAR
race at Iowa Speedway
And then at Michigan.
For 2010, the Hendrick/Go Daddy association will continue;Danica Patrick
will drive a 12 race schedule in the #7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, and Mark Martin's #5 team will now have Go Daddy as its primary sponsor for the majority of the season.
, child abuse
, disabled children, teenage homelessness, Parkinson's research, breast cancer, and animal shelters. Major recipients of Go Daddy contributions over the past several years include the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Phoenix Children's Hospital, the Arizona Humane Society, the Phoenix Zoo, Chrysalis, HomeBase Youth Services, and the Salvation Army. Go Daddy's employees have also participated in a series of events to raise money for charitable causes. In 2009 Go Daddy donated $50,000 to the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA in Arizona when the organization requested only $1,000. Go Daddy also participated in the 11th Annual Arizona Humane Society Pet Telethon as the title sponsor. The company matched online contributions and donated a check for $100,000. In December 2009 at Go Daddy's annual Holiday Party, CEO Bob Parsons and Danica Patrick announced that Go Daddy would be donating $500,000 to the Phoenix-based UMOM New Day Center to fund the Danica Patrick Go Daddy.com Domestic Violence Center. In November 2008, more than 700 Go Daddy employees participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes in Tempe, AZ. Other Go Daddy employee efforts have included the annual Toys for Tots drive, as well as donations to St. Mary's Food Bank during the holiday season. In April 2006, the company donated $10,000 to the OpenSSH
development program, which is managed by OpenBSD
. They have also donated $10,000 in March 2006 to Perverted-Justice.com in which volunteers pose online as minors to find child predators and report them to law enforcement.
. The game was previously known as the GMAC Bowl
. The game currently matches teams from the Sun Belt Conference
and the Mid-American Conference
, and will through 2013.
to Go Daddy regarding 56,000 user names and passwords posted a week earlier to the full-disclosure mailing list and archived on the Seclists.org site as well as many other Web sites. Seclists.org administrator Gordon Lyon, who goes by the handle "Fyodor", provided logs to CNET News.com showing Go Daddy de-activated the domain 52 seconds after leaving him a voicemail, and he had to go to great lengths to get the site reactivated. Go Daddy general counsel Christine Jones stated that Go Daddy's terms of service "reserves the right to terminate your access to the services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever." The site seclists.org is now hosted with Linode
. The suspension of seclists.org led Lyon to create NoDaddy.com, a consumer activist
web site where dissatisfied Go Daddy customers and whistleblower
s from Go Daddy's staff share their experiences. The No Daddy domain has since been sold to Go Daddy.
database for the domain FamilyAlbum.com. Go Daddy wrote a letter to the owner of FamilyAlbum.com saying, "Whenever we receive a complaint, we are required by ICANN regulations to initiate an investigation as to whether the contact data displaying in the WHOIS database is valid data or not... On 12/19/2006 we sent a notice to you at the admin/tech contact email address and the account email address informing you of invalid data in breach of the domain registration agreement and advising you to update the information or risk cancellation of the domain. The contact information was not updated within the specified period of time and we canceled the domain." The editor of "Domain Name Wire" said that since domain names are valuable it was reasonable to expect that the registrar would try to contact the domain owner by phone or postal mail. On February 28, 2007, Go Daddy offered to get the domain name back for the previous owner if he would indemnify Go Daddy from legal action by the new registrant. Go Daddy stated that the new owner paid $18.99 for the domain, the price of a backorder, not a regular registration. On November 2, 2007, Domain Name Wire reported that it appears that Go Daddy no longer cancels domains for invalid WHOIS. The editor on Domain Name Wire received a message from a reader who is trying to acquire a domain with obviously false WHOIS information. The message from Go Daddy said, "The domain has been suspended due to invalid WHOIS. The domain will remain in suspension through expiration, including the registry's redemption period, unless the owner updates the contact information before that time."
-type site where people would comment on their interactions with law enforcement officers. Some reports said there have been complaints from police. A Go Daddy spokeperson said, "Basically, he was paying for compact car, when he really needed a semi-truck." The registrar for the name, Name.com
, continued to allow the DNS to resolve, and is now hosted at Lunarpages. Go Daddy stated the reason for shutting down the Web site had nothing to do with censorship or complaints but that the site was receiving too many simultaneous connections. In 2006 Go Daddy locked access to the Irish Web site RateYourSolicitor.com after the Irish high court issued an order to remove offensive material about a barrister from the site.
complained when a video of Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons
shooting and killing an elephant at night in Zimbabwe
was made by Parsons and posted on his personal blog. In response, Parsons stated "The tribal authorities request that I and others like me, patrol the fields before and during the harvest". PETA said they would be closing their account with Go Daddy.
reported that gripe site No Daddy was purchased by Go Daddy shortly after Bob Parsons
' sale of the company. The Site had returned a top 5 result on Google
for a search for Go Daddy.
from visiting websites, forcing some search engines to exclude domains hosted with Go Daddy. This policy has an impact on search engine ranking for various Go Daddy customer who have multiple domains with different registrars. GoDaddy has refused to comment on the policy or the perception that their servers can not handle the load or they are giving preference to their platinum level customers. It has also interfered with projects that collect Internet statistics.
On August 16, after the policy was introduced, it appears that GoDaddy blocked recursive DNS servers in China, preventing Chinese visitors from reaching websites using Go Daddy DNS hosting.
to manage an initial stock offering that could raise more than $100 million and value the company at several times that amount. On May 12, 2006, Go Daddy filed an S-1 registration statement prior to an initial public offering. On August 8, 2006, Bob Parsons
, CEO of Go Daddy, announced that he had withdrawn the company's IPO filing.
Domain name registrar
A domain name registrar is an organization or commercial entity, accredited by both ICANN and generic top-level domain registry to sell gTLDs and/or by a country code top-level domain registry to sell ccTLDs; to manage the reservation of Internet domain names in accordance with the guidelines of...
and Web hosting company that also sells e-business related software and services. In 2010, it reached more than 45 million domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
s under management. Go Daddy is currently the largest ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
-accredited registrar
Domain name registrar
A domain name registrar is an organization or commercial entity, accredited by both ICANN and generic top-level domain registry to sell gTLDs and/or by a country code top-level domain registry to sell ccTLDs; to manage the reservation of Internet domain names in accordance with the guidelines of...
in the world, and is four times the size of its closest competitor.
Go Daddy started advertising in the Super Bowl in 2005. Since then, the company expanded its marketing to include sports sponsorships.
Go Daddy filed for an IPO in 2006, but later canceled it, due to "market uncertainties".
In September 2010, Go Daddy put itself up for auction. Go Daddy called off the auction several weeks later, despite reports that bids exceeded the asking price of $1.5 billion to $2 billion. On June 24, 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that private-equity firms KKR and Silver Lake Partners
Silver Lake Partners
Silver Lake is a US-based private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in technology, technology-enabled and related industries...
, along with a third investor, are nearing a deal to buy the company for between $2-2.5 billion. On July 1, 2011 Go Daddy confirmed that KKR and Silver Lake Partners
Silver Lake Partners
Silver Lake is a US-based private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in technology, technology-enabled and related industries...
and Technology Crossover Ventures closed the deal. Although the purchase price was not officially announced it was reported to be $2.25 billion.
History
Go Daddy was founded in 1997 as Jomax Technologies by Bob ParsonsBob Parsons
Bob Parsons is an American entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of The Go Daddy Group, Inc., a family of companies comprising three ICANN-accredited domain name registrars, including flagship registrar GoDaddy.com, reseller registrar Wild West Domains and Blue Razor Domains...
, who previously founded the software development company Parsons Technology, Inc. The company changed its name to Go Daddy in 1999 when a group of employees were brainstorming on a more memorable name than Jomax Technologies. Someone said, "How about Big Daddy?" A quick check revealed that the Internet domain of that name was taken. Then Parsons said, "How about Go Daddy?" The name was available, so he bought it. CEO Bob Parsons states the company stuck with the name because it made people smile and remember it.
Go Daddy has grown to become the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the Internet. In 2001, soon after Network Solutions
Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names.-History:...
was no longer the only place to register a domain, Go Daddy was approximately the same size as competitors Dotster and eNom
ENom
eNom, Inc. is a domain name registrar and Web hosting company that also sells other products closely tied to domain names, such as SSL certificates, e-mail services, and Website building software...
. In April 2005, it surpassed Network Solutions in market share in terms of total domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
s registered.
In 2002, Go Daddy sued VeriSign
VeriSign
Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Dulles, Virginia that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains and the .cc and .tv country-code...
for domain slamming and again in 2003 over its Site Finder
Site Finder
Site Finder was a wildcard DNS record for all .com and .net unregistered domain names, run by .com and .net top-level domain operator VeriSign between 15 September 2003 and 4 October 2003.-Site Finder:...
service. This latter suit caused controversy over VeriSign's role as the sole maintainer of the .com and the .net top-level domain
Top-level domain
A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a...
s. VeriSign shut down Site Finder after receiving a letter from ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
ordering it to comply with a request to disable the service. In 2006, Go Daddy was sued by Web.com
Web.com
Web.com, Inc , formerly Interland , was a provider of websites and web services to small businesses and consumers, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Web.com's services included do-it-yourself and professional website design, web hosting, e-commerce, web marketing, and e-mail...
for patent infringement
Patent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or...
.
In 2007 and 2008, the company lobbied in favor of legislation that would crack down on unscrupulous online pharmacies and child predators.
In March 2010, Go Daddy stopped registering .CN domains (China) due to the high amount of personal information that is required to register in that country. Some called it a public relations campaign, since it closely followed Google's revolt in China.
Awards
In 2010, Go Daddy ranked as one of three finalists in the BBB of Great Arizona Business Ethics Awards. BBB's Board of Directors and Foundation established the BBB Business Ethics Awards to recognize those firms whose business practices and related activities exemplify the BBB's mission and principles and to ensure the marketplace remains fair and honorable.In 2009, Go Daddy was voted "Best Registrar" Domain Name Wire annual survey for the 4th consecutive year.
Marketing
CEO Bob Parsons refers to the marketing as "GoDaddy-esque" which he describes as "fun, edgy, and a bit inappropriate". Most of Go Daddy's early television ads starred former WWE Diva Candice MichelleCandice Michelle
Candice Michelle Beckman-Ehrlich better known as Candice Michelle or just Candice, is an American model, actress, and professional wrestler best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment....
, in some sort of sexual-related theme. She has been referred to as "Miss GoDaddy.com" or "The Go Daddy Girl" by fans and on WWE television shows, where she also does the "Go Daddy Dance" (twirling her arms around her body while slowly turning) as part of her wrestling gimmick.
In 2006, Go Daddy began sponsoring IndyCar
IndyCar Series
The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...
driver Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick is an American auto racing driver, model and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing, being the only woman to win in the IndyCar Series as well as holding the highest finish by a woman at the Indianapolis 500 of 3rd...
, who subsequently joined the "Go Daddy Girl" lineup and began playing a prominent role in the company's commercials. In March 2009, Go Daddy announced professional poker player Vanessa Rousso
Vanessa Rousso
Vanessa Ashley Rousso is a French American law student at the University of Miami and a professional poker player. She is also known by her Pokerstars online screen name Lady Maverick. Born in , Rousso has dual citizenships with the United States and France. Rousso is a member of Team PokerStars,...
as the newest Go Daddy Girl. Vanessa competed in the Go Daddy sponsored NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship the same month, finishing second and making history by being the first woman to make it to the finals. Also in March 2009, Go Daddy added pro-golfer Anna Rawson
Anna Rawson
Anna Rawson is an Australian professional golfer and model. She currently plays on the LPGA Tour.-Amateur and modeling career:...
, bringing the Go Daddy Girl spokeswomen count to four. She is edgy, she is fun, she is hotter than firecrackers, she is very clever and everything we look for in a Go Daddy Girl, CEO Bob Parsons said of Rawson at a news conference in Phoenix. In August 2009, another Go Daddy Girl was announced. A Russian native, Marina Orlova
Marina Orlova
Marina Vladimirovna Orlova is a Russian philologist who has become an Internet celebrity, hosting a popular channel on YouTube, HotForWords, and a corresponding website...
is an online linguist, explaining the origin of words on her HotforWords.com Web site. A New Yorker magazine blogger called her the sexiest philologist in the world.
In 2010, Go Daddy announced it is adding "America's Toughest Trainer" Jillian Michaels
Jillian Michaels (personal trainer)
Jillian Michaels is a celebrity personal trainer, reality show personality, direct-response television pitchwoman, and entrepreneur from Los Angeles, California...
as a Go Daddy Girl. Michaels joins race car driver Danica Patrick as a Go Daddy Girl, a move that CEO Bob Parsons said should attract new customers. Michaels is a well-known celebrity, famous for her role as a health and wellnes coach on NBC's hit show, "The Biggest Loser".
An order was placed with Orange County Choppers for a custom bike to raise contributions for charity and was revealed in Miami, Florida, and featured the models Candice and Danica. The episode was documented by the reality show American Chopper
American Chopper
American Chopper is a reality television series that airs on Discovery Channel, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. The series centers on Paul Teutul, Sr. and his son Paul Teutul, Jr. , who manufacture custom motorcycles. Orange County Choppers is in Newburgh, New York...
episode number 82.
Development
On August 13, 2007, Bob Parsons announced that Go Daddy may be sitting out Super Bowl XLIISuper Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
. "There's always the possibility that we might not be able to get an appropriately edgy advertisement approved," he said. "All things considered, there's a strong argument for staying on the sidelines this year and taking that Super Bowl advertising money and using it for other opportunities," he added. However, on January 28, 2008, during a telecast of World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
's RAW
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
program on USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
in a reverse of field, it was disclosed by Go Daddy spokesperson (and WWE diva) Candice Michelle
Candice Michelle
Candice Michelle Beckman-Ehrlich better known as Candice Michelle or just Candice, is an American model, actress, and professional wrestler best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment....
that there will be an advertisement during the game, which featured a "behind the scenes" look into that ad. Once again, Go Daddy went through more than a dozen submissions before it was able to get a commercial approved by Fox, the same network that had pulled its Super Bowl XXXIX advertisement before its second scheduled airing. Go Daddy had hoped to broadcast a spot called "Exposure" featuring Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick is an American auto racing driver, model and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing, being the only woman to win in the IndyCar Series as well as holding the highest finish by a woman at the Indianapolis 500 of 3rd...
and animatronics beavers. But Fox deemed the spot too racy for prime time television and told Parsons it would not air it unless he removed the word "beaver". Parsons refused, and Go Daddy instead aired a completely different commercial, called "Spot On". The spot was essentially an "Ad to an Ad" and told viewers to go to the company's Web site to see "Exposure". "Spot On" aired in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLII, and the company quickly deemed it an enormous success. Go Daddy logged more than one million views of the "Exposure" advertisement before the game ended and reported 1.5 million visits to the GoDaddy.com Web site.
Reactions
The 2008 Go Daddy advertisement has been both maligned and praised. Ad Week's Barbara Lippert described it a "poorly produced scene in a living room where people are gathered to watch the Super Bowl. As we watch them watch, a guy at his computer in the corner of the room drags the crowd over to GoDaddy.com to view the banned ad instead." But Lippert, like others, also acknowledges the shrewdness of the public relations strategy, saying "it will probably produce a Pavlovian response in getting actual viewers in their own living rooms to do the same." Go Daddy's Super Bowl XLI advertisement was criticized in The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as being "cheesy"; in National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
as "raunchy, 'Girls-Gone-Wild
Girls Gone Wild
The Girls Gone Wild franchise, created by Joe Francis, is a video series by the production company Mantra Films, Inc., which is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.-Content:...
' style"; and "just sad" by Barbara Lippert in Adweek
Adweek
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....
, who gave the advertisement a "D". However, Reprise Media, reviewing the success of Super Bowl advertising in getting potential customers online, listed the 2007 commercial as one of only eight "Touchdown"-worthy ads among the day's high-priced advertisers. IAG Research, which rated the effectiveness of likeability and memorability of the ads, ranked Go Daddy's spot as second for most-recalled.
Development
Go Daddy purchased two Super Bowl spots for different commercials, both of which NBC approved. The commercials featured Go Daddy Girl and IndyCar Series driver Danica PatrickDanica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick is an American auto racing driver, model and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing, being the only woman to win in the IndyCar Series as well as holding the highest finish by a woman at the Indianapolis 500 of 3rd...
. In "Shower", Danica takes a shower with Simona Fusco Stratten as three college students control the women's maneuvers from a computer. "Baseball" is a spoof of the steroids scandal. While "Shower" won Go Daddy's online vote, "Baseball" was the most popular of the Super Bowl. Both helped increase domain registrations 110 percent above 2008 post Super Bowl levels. Go Daddy posted Internet-only versions of its commercials during the game. These are extended versions with more risque content.
Reactions
"Baseball" was the most watched Super Bowl commercial according to TiVo, Inc. According to comScore, Go Daddy ranked first in advertiser Web site follow-through. Rob Goulding, head of business-to-businessBusiness-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
markets for Google, offered an in-depth analysis of Super Bowl spots that aired during Sunday's championship game. He said the most successful were multichannel-oriented, driving viewers to Web sites and "focusing on conversion as never before." Go Daddy experienced significant Web traffic and a strong "hangover" effect of viewer interest in the days that followed due to a provocative "teaser" advertisement pointing to the Web, Goulding said.
IndyCar
In 2010, Go Daddy was again the presenting sponsor for the live race broadcast and the primary sponsor for IndyCar driver Danica Patrick. And, for the first time ever, Go Daddy broadcast user-generated commercials as part of its advertising strategy. The top three winners of Go Daddy's "Create Your Own Commercial" contest had their ads air during the race broadcast. Creators of the first place advertisement "Go Momma" received $100,000 in cash.The commercial features a mother who creates a Web site with Go Daddy in order to save time and still keep in touch with her family. In the thirty-second story, she posts her cherished family recipes on her Web site, even though she's not tech-savvy. The grand prize winner of the user-generated content contest is not only cleavage-free and smarm-free, it also celebrates an empowered woman of a certain age who uses Go Daddy to help her solve a family problem.
In 2009, for a third consecutive year, Go Daddy was the presenting sponsor of the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
race broadcast on ABC. Go Daddy also debuted a new commercial called "Speeding" during the Indy 500. The commercial features Danica Patrick getting pulled over for speeding by a female cop wanting to be a "Go Daddy Girl". The advertisement teases to an edgier Web version that drove a 570% traffic increase to GoDaddy.com.
For the Las Vegas race in 2011, Go Daddy launched the Go Daddy IndyCar Challenge where the only participent, driver Dan Wheldon, would have won $2.5m each for himself and randomly selected fan, Ann Babenco, if he won the race, starting from last place. A 15 car pile up 12 laps into the race injured 4 drivers and killed Wheldon.
Development
In September 2009, Go Daddy announced it would be returning advertisers in the 2010 Super Bowl, purchasing two spots. The commercials "Spa" and "News" starred Go Daddy Girl and racecar driver Danica Patrick. In "Spa," Patrick is getting a lavish massage when the masseuse breaks into a spontaneous Go Daddy Girl audition. The second advertisement called "News" has news anchors conducting a 'gotcha' interview with Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick about commercials known for being too hot for television.Reactions
According to Akamai, there was a large spike in Internet traffic late in the fourth quarter of the game. This spike was tied to Go Daddy's "News" advertisement airing. CEO Bob Parsons said Go Daddy had "a tremendous surge in Web traffic, sustained the spike, converted new customers and shot overall sales off the chart."NASCAR and JR Motorsports
A fourth spokesman, with commercials which are not sexually suggestive, has appeared in ads starting in 2008. These advertisements, which air in NASCARNASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
broadcasts, feature NASCAR Nationwide Series owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
* NOTE: References to "Earnhardt", "he", and "him" refer to the subject of this article, unless otherwise specified. References to his father will include "Sr."...
, who designed and owns and occasionally drives the #5 JR Motorsports
JR Motorsports
JR Motorsports is a NASCAR team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, co-owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller, cousin and former crew chief Tony Eury, Jr., and the owner of his Cup ride Rick Hendrick. It currently fields the No...
Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
in the series. Go Daddy's sponsorship of the team includes five races in 2008 with Mark Martin
Mark Martin (NASCAR)
Mark Anthony Martin is an American stock car driver currently competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. As of 2012, Martin will drive for Michael Waltrip Racing, moving on from successful organizations such as Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing. He has the second most wins in the NASCAR...
and Ron Fellows
Ron Fellows
Ron Fellows is an accomplished Canadian SCCA Trans-Am, IMSA, and American Le Mans Series driver, and a NASCAR Road course ringer.-Early career:...
(who won the NAPA Auto Parts 200
NAPA Auto Parts 200
The NAPA Auto Parts 200 Presented by Dodge is a NASCAR Nationwide Series race that takes place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada since 2007. It takes place in August, replacing the Champ Car World Series and Atlantic Championship Grand Prix of Montreal...
in the Go Daddy Chevrolet), sharing duties in the races with Earnhardt Jr. Junior designed the paint scheme for the car, which in true Earnhardt tradition is dominated by black with green and orange (the colors of Go Daddy). GoDaddy.com also has sponsored the Randy Moss Motorsports (aka Morgan-Dollar Motorsports) truck when Landon Cassill
Landon Cassill
Landon Douglas Cassill is a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. He is a test driver for Hendrick Motorsports. He currently drives the #51 Chevrolet Impala for Phoenix Racing in the Sprint Cup Series....
drives it, both in the original #46 and later as #81, as Cassill is a Hendrick Motorsports Developmental Driver, which includes selected Nationwide Series races in Earnhardt's #5 car.
Go Daddy has also sponsored Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski
Bradley Robert Keselowski is an American auto racing driver currently competing in the #2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger in the Sprint Cup Series and the #22 Discount Tire Company/Ruby Tuesday Dodge Challenger in the Nationwide Series for Penske Racing...
in the #25 for Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports , originally named All Star Racing, is a current American auto racing team created in 1984 by Rick Hendrick. The team currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Chevrolet Impalas...
on a limited basis in the Sprint Cup series (owing to the "part-time rookie exemption" to a four-car limit). After a successful 2008 season, Go Daddy is expanding its 2009 NASCAR sponsorship with the JR Motorsports
JR Motorsports
JR Motorsports is a NASCAR team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, co-owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller, cousin and former crew chief Tony Eury, Jr., and the owner of his Cup ride Rick Hendrick. It currently fields the No...
organisation, sponsoring 20 Nationwide Series races as primary sponsor, split between the #5 and #88 teams. The #88 deal gave Keselowski a full 35-race NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsorship for 2009 split with Delphi
Delphi
Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god...
and Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
. Go Daddy will also be the primary sponsor for seven races in the Sprint Cup Series with Keselowski driving. GoDaddy.com signed a one-year deal with Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed the "Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition"...
to sponsor the 53rd Annual Rebel 500, the fifth-oldest race on the Sprint Cup circuit. Keselowski got his third Nationwide victory at Dover - his first in the #88 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. In the same season, Keselowski scored a second Nationwide victory in the #88 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
at the first ever NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
race at Iowa Speedway
Iowa Speedway
Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. The track was designed with influence from Rusty Wallace and patterned after Richmond International Raceway, a short track where Wallace was very successful...
And then at Michigan.
For 2010, the Hendrick/Go Daddy association will continue;Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick is an American auto racing driver, model and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing, being the only woman to win in the IndyCar Series as well as holding the highest finish by a woman at the Indianapolis 500 of 3rd...
will drive a 12 race schedule in the #7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, and Mark Martin's #5 team will now have Go Daddy as its primary sponsor for the majority of the season.
Philanthropy
In the last few years, Go Daddy has made many donations to local, regional, national, and international charities, including those that focus on domestic violenceDomestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, disabled children, teenage homelessness, Parkinson's research, breast cancer, and animal shelters. Major recipients of Go Daddy contributions over the past several years include the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Phoenix Children's Hospital, the Arizona Humane Society, the Phoenix Zoo, Chrysalis, HomeBase Youth Services, and the Salvation Army. Go Daddy's employees have also participated in a series of events to raise money for charitable causes. In 2009 Go Daddy donated $50,000 to the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA in Arizona when the organization requested only $1,000. Go Daddy also participated in the 11th Annual Arizona Humane Society Pet Telethon as the title sponsor. The company matched online contributions and donated a check for $100,000. In December 2009 at Go Daddy's annual Holiday Party, CEO Bob Parsons and Danica Patrick announced that Go Daddy would be donating $500,000 to the Phoenix-based UMOM New Day Center to fund the Danica Patrick Go Daddy.com Domestic Violence Center. In November 2008, more than 700 Go Daddy employees participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes in Tempe, AZ. Other Go Daddy employee efforts have included the annual Toys for Tots drive, as well as donations to St. Mary's Food Bank during the holiday season. In April 2006, the company donated $10,000 to the OpenSSH
OpenSSH
OpenSSH is a set of computer programs providing encrypted communication sessions over a computer network using the SSH protocol...
development program, which is managed by OpenBSD
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD by project leader Theo de Raadt in late 1995...
. They have also donated $10,000 in March 2006 to Perverted-Justice.com in which volunteers pose online as minors to find child predators and report them to law enforcement.
GoDaddy.com Bowl
Starting in 2010, Go Daddy is the sponsor of the GoDaddy.com Bowl, a post season college football bowl game played in Mobile, AlabamaMobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
. The game was previously known as the GMAC Bowl
GMAC Bowl
The GoDaddy.com Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played annually at Ladd Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama since 1999. It currently matches teams from the Sun Belt Conference and the Mid-American Conference, and...
. The game currently matches teams from the Sun Belt Conference
Sun Belt Conference
The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of Division I football competition . The Sun Belt has member institutions...
and the Mid-American Conference
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...
, and will through 2013.
Suspension of Seclists.org
On January 24, 2007, Go Daddy deactivated the domain of computer security site, Seclists.org, taking 250,000 pages of security content offline. The shutdown resulted from a complaint from MySpaceMySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
to Go Daddy regarding 56,000 user names and passwords posted a week earlier to the full-disclosure mailing list and archived on the Seclists.org site as well as many other Web sites. Seclists.org administrator Gordon Lyon, who goes by the handle "Fyodor", provided logs to CNET News.com showing Go Daddy de-activated the domain 52 seconds after leaving him a voicemail, and he had to go to great lengths to get the site reactivated. Go Daddy general counsel Christine Jones stated that Go Daddy's terms of service "reserves the right to terminate your access to the services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever." The site seclists.org is now hosted with Linode
Linode
Linode is a web application hosting and cloud computing provider based in Galloway Township, New Jersey. Linode allows system administrators and software developers to rent virtual servers on which to run their own computer applications...
. The suspension of seclists.org led Lyon to create NoDaddy.com, a consumer activist
Consumer activism
Consumer activism is activism undertaken on behalf of consumers, to assert consumer rights.-Objectives and tactics:Goals include making goods and services available to consumers safer, better quality, environmentally friendly, and more readily available....
web site where dissatisfied Go Daddy customers and whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
s from Go Daddy's staff share their experiences. The No Daddy domain has since been sold to Go Daddy.
Deletion of FamilyAlbum.com
On December 19, 2006, Go Daddy received a third party complaint of invalid domain contact information in the WHOISWHOIS
WHOIS is a query and response protocol that is widely used for querying databases that store the registered users or assignees of an Internet resource, such as a domain name, an IP address block, or an autonomous system, but is also used for a wider range of other information. The protocol stores...
database for the domain FamilyAlbum.com. Go Daddy wrote a letter to the owner of FamilyAlbum.com saying, "Whenever we receive a complaint, we are required by ICANN regulations to initiate an investigation as to whether the contact data displaying in the WHOIS database is valid data or not... On 12/19/2006 we sent a notice to you at the admin/tech contact email address and the account email address informing you of invalid data in breach of the domain registration agreement and advising you to update the information or risk cancellation of the domain. The contact information was not updated within the specified period of time and we canceled the domain." The editor of "Domain Name Wire" said that since domain names are valuable it was reasonable to expect that the registrar would try to contact the domain owner by phone or postal mail. On February 28, 2007, Go Daddy offered to get the domain name back for the previous owner if he would indemnify Go Daddy from legal action by the new registrant. Go Daddy stated that the new owner paid $18.99 for the domain, the price of a backorder, not a regular registration. On November 2, 2007, Domain Name Wire reported that it appears that Go Daddy no longer cancels domains for invalid WHOIS. The editor on Domain Name Wire received a message from a reader who is trying to acquire a domain with obviously false WHOIS information. The message from Go Daddy said, "The domain has been suspended due to invalid WHOIS. The domain will remain in suspension through expiration, including the registry's redemption period, unless the owner updates the contact information before that time."
Shutdown of RateMyCop.com
On March 11, 2008, Go Daddy shut down RateMyCop.com — a RateMyProfessorsRateMyProfessors.com
RateMyProfessors.com is a review site, founded in May 1999 by John Swapceinski, a software engineer from Menlo Park, California, which allows college and university students to assign ratings to professors and campuses of American, Canadian, and United Kingdom institutions. The site was originally...
-type site where people would comment on their interactions with law enforcement officers. Some reports said there have been complaints from police. A Go Daddy spokeperson said, "Basically, he was paying for compact car, when he really needed a semi-truck." The registrar for the name, Name.com
Name.com
Name.com is an ICANN accredited domain name registrar and web hosting company.-History:Name.com was founded in 2003, by Bill Mushkin, who previously founded the computer software company, Mushkin Inc. in 1994. Mushkin bought the company Spot Domain LLC in 2002...
, continued to allow the DNS to resolve, and is now hosted at Lunarpages. Go Daddy stated the reason for shutting down the Web site had nothing to do with censorship or complaints but that the site was receiving too many simultaneous connections. In 2006 Go Daddy locked access to the Irish Web site RateYourSolicitor.com after the Irish high court issued an order to remove offensive material about a barrister from the site.
Animal rights
In 2011, animal rights groups including PETAPeta
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...
complained when a video of Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons
Bob Parsons
Bob Parsons is an American entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of The Go Daddy Group, Inc., a family of companies comprising three ICANN-accredited domain name registrars, including flagship registrar GoDaddy.com, reseller registrar Wild West Domains and Blue Razor Domains...
shooting and killing an elephant at night in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
was made by Parsons and posted on his personal blog. In response, Parsons stated "The tribal authorities request that I and others like me, patrol the fields before and during the harvest". PETA said they would be closing their account with Go Daddy.
Domain Buy Practices
Customers visiting Go Daddy's site to register a domain that has already been claimed may be directed to Go Daddy's Domain Buy Service. The Domain Buy service does not mean that a domain has been purchased; only that Go Daddy will serve as broker for the domain. In effect, Go Daddy Domain Buy customers are paying only to receive a price. Go Daddy has faced criticism that this practice may be misleading to some.Go Daddy buys No Daddy
On July 12, 2011, an article in the The RegisterThe Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
reported that gripe site No Daddy was purchased by Go Daddy shortly after Bob Parsons
Bob Parsons
Bob Parsons is an American entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of The Go Daddy Group, Inc., a family of companies comprising three ICANN-accredited domain name registrars, including flagship registrar GoDaddy.com, reseller registrar Wild West Domains and Blue Razor Domains...
' sale of the company. The Site had returned a top 5 result on Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
for a search for Go Daddy.
Implementation of Selective DNS Blackout policy
In July, 2011, Go Daddy introduced a policy of blocking DNS queries from some outside DNS servers, in order to prevent other DNS queries from being too slow. Among other things, this prevents some botsBots
Bots may refer to:* BOTS!!, a massively multiplayer online game distributed by Acclaim Games* Bots , open source EDI translator * Bots , a Dutch language folk rock group* British overseas territories...
from visiting websites, forcing some search engines to exclude domains hosted with Go Daddy. This policy has an impact on search engine ranking for various Go Daddy customer who have multiple domains with different registrars. GoDaddy has refused to comment on the policy or the perception that their servers can not handle the load or they are giving preference to their platinum level customers. It has also interfered with projects that collect Internet statistics.
On August 16, after the policy was introduced, it appears that GoDaddy blocked recursive DNS servers in China, preventing Chinese visitors from reaching websites using Go Daddy DNS hosting.
Canceled IPO
On April 12, 2006, Marketwatch reported that GoDaddy.com, Inc., had hired Lehman BrothersLehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
to manage an initial stock offering that could raise more than $100 million and value the company at several times that amount. On May 12, 2006, Go Daddy filed an S-1 registration statement prior to an initial public offering. On August 8, 2006, Bob Parsons
Bob Parsons
Bob Parsons is an American entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of The Go Daddy Group, Inc., a family of companies comprising three ICANN-accredited domain name registrars, including flagship registrar GoDaddy.com, reseller registrar Wild West Domains and Blue Razor Domains...
, CEO of Go Daddy, announced that he had withdrawn the company's IPO filing.
External links
- Go Daddy official web site
- Go Daddy Founder and CEO Bob Parsons' personal blog