Register.com
Encyclopedia
Register.com was founded as a provider of Internet services by brothers Richard and Peter Forman and Dan Levine in 1994. In 1999, the company officially changed its name to Register.com.
On April 21, 1999, ICANN
announced Register.com was one of the first five testbed registrars for the competitive Shared Registry System. On June 7, the company began operations under this name as a paid registrar in the .com, .net and .org domains. It was the first of the five testbed registrars to come online.
In 2000, Register.com issued an IPO and began trading on the NASDAQ
under ticker symbol RCOM. By 2004 the company was managing over three million domain names and was listed by VeriSign
as one of the top domain name registrars in the world.
In 2005 Register.com developed a strategy and dedicated itself to focusing on small business and providing online services to serve that segment of the market. However in November of the same year Register.com was acquired by Vector Capital Corporation. Much of the Register.com staff spent a significant amount of time working on the acquisition with the unfortunate result that many of the strategic initiatives underway were placed on hold while a new management team was organized by Vector Capital Management. Prior to acquisition, the company completed a significant strategic initiative and received recognition for “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience” when it became the first Online Services Industry organization to receive the J.D. Power and Associates
Call Center Certification. Register.com received this recognition again in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
With Vector's acquisition of Register.com, the company went private once again and stopped publicly trading on NASDAQ. Vector Capital, while searching for a full time CEO brought in David Moore as an interim CEO. The CEO search was expected to last three months. In reality the process to find a new CEO took approximately one year. During David Moore's tenure the company successfully focused on cost reduction through better business practices.
In November, 2006 Larry Kutscher joined Register.com as Chief Executive Officer. Kutscher came to Register.com from Dun & Bradstreet where he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Small Business Group. Under Kutscher’s leadership, Register.com continued the existing strategy of focusing on the needs of small business owners and entrepreneurs.
The company employs about 400 people in the US, Canada and the UK. Register.com is headquartered in New York City with satellite offices in Baltimore, Maryland and London, England. Register.com’s Sales and Service center operates in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; over 300 of Register.com’s employees are at this center. Since mid 2007 Register.com had also added an office in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Register.com's Halifax office employs almost 40 staff and is rapidly expanding.
Register.com is one of the largest registration companies and has received positive reviews and awards for its products and customer service. The company currently has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
On April 1, 2009, Register.com suffered a major DDoS attack, downing thousands of web sites. The FBI and The Department of Homeland Security were engaged to assist. Services were restored through counter-measures and minimized the disruption; some services were unavailable for 3 days. Twitter
was used to update customers on the status throughout the attack.
In January 2010, the Chinese search engine Baidu
sued Register.com for gross negligence after an employee allegedly allowed a third party to access to Baidu's account despite them failing to pass basic security verification, allowing their website to be hijacked
by the Iranian Cyber Army.
in June 2010, the company entered negotiations to be privately sold to Web.com
. Web.com has agreed to acquire Register.com for a price of $135 million, which will be financed with approximately $20 million in existing cash, proceeds from a new $110 million term loan and a $5 million seller note.
On April 21, 1999, 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...
announced Register.com was one of the first five testbed registrars for the competitive Shared Registry System. On June 7, the company began operations under this name as a paid registrar in the .com, .net and .org domains. It was the first of the five testbed registrars to come online.
In 2000, Register.com issued an IPO and began trading on the NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
under ticker symbol RCOM. By 2004 the company was managing over three million domain names and was listed by 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...
as one of the top domain name registrars in the world.
In 2005 Register.com developed a strategy and dedicated itself to focusing on small business and providing online services to serve that segment of the market. However in November of the same year Register.com was acquired by Vector Capital Corporation. Much of the Register.com staff spent a significant amount of time working on the acquisition with the unfortunate result that many of the strategic initiatives underway were placed on hold while a new management team was organized by Vector Capital Management. Prior to acquisition, the company completed a significant strategic initiative and received recognition for “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience” when it became the first Online Services Industry organization to receive the J.D. Power and Associates
J.D. Power and Associates
J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm founded in 1968 by James David Power III. The firm conducts surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality, and buyer behavior for industries ranging from cars to marketing and advertising firms. The firm is best known for...
Call Center Certification. Register.com received this recognition again in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
With Vector's acquisition of Register.com, the company went private once again and stopped publicly trading on NASDAQ. Vector Capital, while searching for a full time CEO brought in David Moore as an interim CEO. The CEO search was expected to last three months. In reality the process to find a new CEO took approximately one year. During David Moore's tenure the company successfully focused on cost reduction through better business practices.
In November, 2006 Larry Kutscher joined Register.com as Chief Executive Officer. Kutscher came to Register.com from Dun & Bradstreet where he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Small Business Group. Under Kutscher’s leadership, Register.com continued the existing strategy of focusing on the needs of small business owners and entrepreneurs.
The company employs about 400 people in the US, Canada and the UK. Register.com is headquartered in New York City with satellite offices in Baltimore, Maryland and London, England. Register.com’s Sales and Service center operates in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; over 300 of Register.com’s employees are at this center. Since mid 2007 Register.com had also added an office in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Register.com's Halifax office employs almost 40 staff and is rapidly expanding.
Register.com is one of the largest registration companies and has received positive reviews and awards for its products and customer service. The company currently has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
On April 1, 2009, Register.com suffered a major DDoS attack, downing thousands of web sites. The FBI and The Department of Homeland Security were engaged to assist. Services were restored through counter-measures and minimized the disruption; some services were unavailable for 3 days. Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
was used to update customers on the status throughout the attack.
In January 2010, the Chinese search engine Baidu
Baidu
Baidu, Inc. , simply known as Baidu and incorporated on January 18, 2000, is a Chinese web services company headquartered in the Baidu Campus in Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China....
sued Register.com for gross negligence after an employee allegedly allowed a third party to access to Baidu's account despite them failing to pass basic security verification, allowing their website to be hijacked
Domain hijacking
Domain hijacking or domain theft is the act of changing the registration of a domain name without the permission of its original registrant....
by the Iranian Cyber Army.
in June 2010, the company entered negotiations to be privately sold to 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...
. Web.com has agreed to acquire Register.com for a price of $135 million, which will be financed with approximately $20 million in existing cash, proceeds from a new $110 million term loan and a $5 million seller note.