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GoDaddy Inc. is an American publicly traded Internet domain registrar and
web hosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing we ...
company headquartered in
Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...
, and incorporated in
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
. , GoDaddy has more than 21 million customers and over 6,600 employees worldwide. The company is known for its advertising on TV and in the newspapers. It has been involved in several controversies related to unethical business practices and censorship.


History

GoDaddy was founded in 1997 in Phoenix, Arizona, by entrepreneur Bob Parsons. Prior to founding GoDaddy, Parsons had sold his financial software services company Parsons Technology to
Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparation application ...
for $65 million in 1994. He came out of his retirement in 1997 to launch Jomax Technologies (named after a road in Phoenix Arizona) which became GoDaddy Group Inc. GoDaddy received a strategic investment, in 2011, from private equity funds, KKR, Silver Lake, and
Technology Crossover Ventures TCMI, Inc. better known by the name TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures) is an American investment firm based in Menlo Park, California. The firm mainly invests in public and private growth-stage companies in the technology industry. Background ...
. The company headquarters was located in
Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...
up until April 2021, when then moved to
Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...
.


Company name

In 1999, a group of employees at Jomax Technologies were brainstorming and decided to change the company name. One employee said, "How about Big Daddy?" However, the domain name had already been purchased, so Parsons replied, "How about Go Daddy?" The name was available, so he bought it. Parsons said that the company stuck with the name because it made people smile and remember it. The company changed its name branding from "Jomax Technologies" to "GoDaddy" in February 2006. GoDaddy's original logo featured a cartoon-styled man with messy hair wearing sunglasses. In January 2020, GoDaddy unveiled a new logo with a simple, sans-serif type accompanied by a heart-shaped design that spells out "GO".


Company growth

In 2001, soon after Network Solutions was no longer the only place to register a domain, GoDaddy was approximately the same size as competitors Dotster and
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. As of May 2016, it manages over 15 million domai ...
. In April 2005, GoDaddy became the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the Internet. , GoDaddy is the world's largest web host by market share, with over 62 million registered domains. In March 2018,
Amazon Web Services Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. These cloud computing web services provide d ...
(AWS) announced that GoDaddy was migrating the vast majority of its infrastructure to AWS as part of a multi-year transition.


Acquisitions and mergers


Infrastructure

In 2013, GoDaddy was reported as the largest ICANN-accredited
registrar A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to: Education * Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records * Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...
in the world, at the size of four times their closest competitor. They also have a facility in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
. The website PeeringDB records that GoDaddy maintains two autonomous systems. They allow services to be accessed across the global
internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. AS-26496, the main autonomous system, is reachable from six cities at from nine public & private
peering In computer networking, peering is a voluntary interconnection of administratively separate Internet networks for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the "down-stream" users of each network. Peering is settlement-free, also known as "bill-and ...
facilities.


Controversies


Suspension of Seclists.org and purchase of No Daddy

On January 24, 2007, GoDaddy deactivated the domain of computer security site Seclists.org, taking 250,000 pages of security content offline. The shutdown resulted from a complaint from MySpace to GoDaddy 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 websites. Seclists.org administrator Gordon Lyon, who goes by the handle "Fyodor", provided logs to CNET showing GoDaddy de-activated the domain 52 seconds after leaving him a voicemail and he had to go to great lengths to get the site reactivated. GoDaddy general counsel Christine Jones stated that GoDaddy'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, LLC () is an American cloud hosting provider that focuses on providing Linux powered virtual machines to support a wide range of applications. It was acquired by Akamai Technologies on March 21, 2022. Back in 2003, at the time of its la ...
. The suspension of seclists.org led Lyon to create NoDaddy.com, a consumer activist website where dissatisfied GoDaddy customers and
whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
s from GoDaddy's staff share their experiences. On July 12, 2011, an article in ''
The Register ''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information te ...
'' reported that, shortly after Bob Parsons' sale of GoDaddy, the company purchased gripe site No Daddy. The site had returned a top 5 result on
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
for a search for GoDaddy.


China domains

In March 2010, GoDaddy stopped registering
.cn .cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China introduced on 28 November 1990. Domain name administration in mainland China is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information. The registr ...
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. GoDaddy's top lawyer Christine Jones told Congress, "We were having to contact Chinese users to ask for their personal information and begrudgingly give it to Chinese authorities. We decided we didn't want to become an agent of the Chinese government." GoDaddy resumed registering .cn domain names in February 2016 as part of its push into the Asia market.


Super Bowl XLIX Puppy Ad

On January 27, 2015 GoDaddy released its Super Bowl ad on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. Called "Journey Home", the commercial featured a
Retriever A retriever is a type of gun dog that retrieves game for a hunter. Generally gun dogs are divided into three major classifications: retrievers, flushing spaniels, and pointing breeds. Retrievers were bred primarily to retrieve birds or other ...
puppy named Buddy who was bounced out of the back of a truck. After making a journey home his owners are relieved because they just sold him on a website they built with GoDaddy. GoDaddy claims the ad was supposed to be funny and an attempt to make fun of all the puppies shown in Super Bowl ads. Most notably,
Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrela ...
's famous Super Bowl ad also featured a Retriever puppy. The ad found very few fans from the online community. Animal advocates took to social media calling the ad disgusting, callous and that the commercial advocated
puppy mill A puppy mill, also known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility characterized by quick breeding and poor conditions. Although no standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists, a definition was established in ''Avenson v. ...
s. An online petition collected 42,000 signatures. GoDaddy's CEO, Blake Irving, wrote a blog entry later that day promising that the commercial would not air during the Super Bowl. He wrote on his blog "At the end of the day, our purpose at GoDaddy is to help small businesses around the world build a successful online presence. We hoped our ad would increase awareness of that cause. However, we underestimated the emotional response. And we heard that loud and clear." He goes on to say that Buddy was purchased from a reputable breeder and is part of the GoDaddy family as Chief Companion Officer.


Namecheap rivalry

On December 11, 2011, rival domain name registrar
Namecheap Namecheap is an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar providing domain name registration and web hosting based in Phoenix, Arizona, US. Namecheap is a budget hosting provider with 11 million registered users and 10 million domains. History Name ...
claimed that GoDaddy was in violation of ICANN rules by providing incomplete information in order to hinder the protest moves of domain names from GoDaddy to Namecheap, an accusation which GoDaddy denied, claiming that it was following its standard business practice to prevent
WHOIS WHOIS (pronounced as the phrase "who is") 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 autonomou ...
abuse. GoDaddy still maintains the strict policy of 60 days lock in inter registrar domain transfers, if there was a change in registrant information. Many other registrars are giving an option for their customers to opt out from this 60 days lock as per the ICANN Policy which states: "The Registrar must impose a 60-day inter-registrar transfer lock following a Change of Registrant, provided, however, that the Registrar may allow the Registered Name Holder to opt out of the 60-day inter-registrar transfer lock prior to any Change of Registrant request". At this time GoDaddy does allow customers who update their domain contact information to opt-out of the 60 day lock upon verification.


Backing of SOPA and resultant boycott

On December 22, 2011, a thread was started on the social news website
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
, discussing the identity of supporters of the United States
Stop Online Piracy Act The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a controversial proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on O ...
(SOPA), which included GoDaddy. GoDaddy subsequently released additional statements supporting SOPA. A boycott and transfer of domains were proposed. This quickly spread across the Internet, gained support, and was followed by a proposed Boycott GoDaddy day on December 29, 2011. One strong supporter of this action was Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh, who threatened that the organization would remove over 1,000 domains from GoDaddy if they continued their support of SOPA. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales also announced that all Wikipedia domains would be moved away from GoDaddy as their position on SOPA was "unacceptable". After a brief campaign on Reddit,
imgur Imgur ( , stylized as imgur) is an American online image sharing and image hosting service with a focus on social gossip that was founded by Alan Schaaf in 2009. The service has hosted viral images and meme, particularly those posted on Reddit ...
owner Alan Schaaf transferred his domain from GoDaddy. GoDaddy pulled its support for SOPA on December 23, releasing a statement saying "GoDaddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it." Later that day, CEO Warren Adelman could not commit to changing GoDaddy's position on the record in Congress when asked, but said "I'll take that back to our legislative guys, but I agree that's an important step." When pressed, he said "We're going to step back and let others take leadership roles." He felt that the public statement removing their support would be sufficient for now, though further steps would be considered. Further outrage was due to the fact that many Internet sites and domain registrars would be subject to shutdowns under SOPA, but GoDaddy is in a narrow class of exempted businesses that would have immunity, where many other domain operators would not. By December 24, 2011, GoDaddy had lost 37,000 domains as a result of the boycott. GoDaddy gained a net 20,748 domains.


COVID-19 fake employee bonus

In December 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
and the associated
economic crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...
, the company tricked employees into thinking they had earned a bonus of $650, instead they were told they had failed a phishing test and were required to do social engineering training. After significant media criticism, the company apologised to its staff but did not offer actual bonuses.


Deplatforming clients in protest

On January 11, 2021, the company deplatformed the web forum AR15.com following the U.S. Capitol attack. GoDaddy told ''
Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...
'' that the action was due to the site's failure to moderate content "that both promoted and encouraged violence." The
National Shooting Sports Foundation The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is an American national trade association for the firearms industry that is based in Newtown, Connecticut. Formed in 1961, the organization has more than 8,000 members: firearms manufacturers, distrib ...
, in a message from its president, condemned what it called the " de-platforming of gun sites" as a "dark harbinger" for discussion of controversial issues and an "indiscriminate silencing of opinion and debate."


Texas Heartbeat Act

In September 2021 the company cancelled a contract with the
pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respon ...
group Texas Right to Life who were running a website encouraging whistleblowing of those who were breaking the '' Texas Heartbeat Act''. Owned by the Texas Right to Life group, the website was used as a platform for the public to submit tips on suspected pregnancy terminations in Texas. In a statement to Ars Technica, Texas Right to Life Director of Media and Communication Kimberlyn Schwartz noted that, "We will not be silenced. If anti-Lifers want to take our website down, we'll put it back up."


Marketing


GoDaddy advocates

In March 2009, GoDaddy added pro-golfer Anna Rawson. In August 2009, Russian native Marina Orlova also became an advocate. In 2010, GoDaddy added personal trainer Jillian Michaels as a GoDaddy advocate. Michaels is known for her role as a coach on NBC's show, "The Biggest Loser". In 2013,
Jean-Claude Van Damme Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian actor, martial artist, filmmaker, and fight choreographer. Born and raised in Brussels, Belgium, at the ag ...
starred in a series of GoDaddy commercials where he is seen doing the
splits A split (commonly referred to as splits or the splits) is a physical position in which the legs are in line with each other and extended in opposite directions. Splits are commonly performed in various athletic activities, including dance, figu ...
while playing musical instruments before he appears upside down in front of the business owner and whispers, "It's Go Time."


Sports sponsorships

GoDaddy started advertising in the Super Bowl in 2005. Since then, the company has expanded its marketing to include sports sponsorships. Also, GoDaddy was co-sponsor for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 that was hosted in England and Wales.


Super Bowl advertisements

GoDaddy's 2007 Super Bowl XLI advertisement was criticized in the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as being "cheesy"; in ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'' as "raunchy, ' Girls-Gone-Wild' style"; and "just sad" by Barbara Lippert in ''
Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...
'', who gave the advertisement a "D" grade. The 2008 Super Bowl XLII GoDaddy advertisement received a negative response from the press. ''Adweeks Barbara Lippert described it as 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." Lippert also said, "it will probably produce a Pavlovian response in getting actual viewers in their own living rooms to do the same." In 2009, GoDaddy purchased spots for two different commercials featuring GoDaddy Girl and IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick for
Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...
. 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 GoDaddy'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. GoDaddy posted Internet-only versions of its commercials during the game, which were extended versions containing more risque content. "Baseball" was the most watched Super Bowl commercial according to TiVo, Inc. According to Comscore, GoDaddy ranked first in advertiser Web site follow-through. Rob Goulding, head of business-to-business 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". GoDaddy 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. GoDaddy also advertised during the 2010
Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...
, purchasing two spots. The commercials "Spa" and "News" starred GoDaddy Girl and racecar driver Danica Patrick. In "Spa," Patrick is getting a lavish massage when the masseuse breaks into a spontaneous GoDaddy Girl audition. In "News", anchors conduct a 'gotcha' interview with GoDaddy Girl Danica Patrick about commercials known for being too hot for television. According to Akamai, there was a large spike in Internet traffic late in the fourth quarter of the game. This spike was tied to GoDaddy's "News" advertisement airing. CEO Bob Parsons said GoDaddy received "a tremendous surge in Web traffic, sustained the spike, converted new customers and shot overall sales off the chart". In 2013, GoDaddy moved away from salacious advertising practices in an attempt to improve its brand image. In 2016, GoDaddy did not advertise during the Super Bowl for the first time in over a decade, but returned in 2017 with their "The Internet Wants You" campaign.


IndyCar

In 2009 and 2010, GoDaddy advertised during the
Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
. For the Las Vegas
race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
in 2011, GoDaddy created a promotion wherein driver
Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011, and was co-winner ...
would have won $2.5m each for himself and fan Ann Babenco if he won the race, starting from last place. A 15-car pileup, 11 laps into the race, injured four drivers and killed Wheldon.New Jersey On-Line â€
IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon's death hits home with High Bridge family
October 16, 2011


NASCAR

GoDaddy sponsored
Brad Keselowski Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...
in the #25 for Hendrick Motorsports on a limited basis in the
Sprint Cup series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...
(owing to the "part-time rookie exemption" to a four-car limit). After a successful 2008 season, GoDaddy 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 Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...
. GoDaddy will also be the primary sponsor for seven races in the
Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...
with Keselowski driving. GoDaddy.com signed a one-year deal with
Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in 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." It is ...
to sponsor the 53rd Annual
Rebel 500 The Goodyear 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. A race was held in May at the track in 1952, however the event did not become a regular one on the NASCAR schedule until 1957, as a race in th ...
, 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 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
race at
Iowa Speedway Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretc ...
and then at Michigan. For 2010, the Hendrick/GoDaddy association continued; Danica Patrick drove a 12 race schedule in the #7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, while GoDaddy.com was also the primary sponsor for
Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series s ...
in the #5
Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in ...
for most of the 2010 and 2011 seasons. In 2012, Danica Patrick moved from the IndyCar Racing Series to race full-time in the
NASCAR Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
in the #7 and part-time in the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
in the #10 for Stewart Haas Racing where GoDaddy.com was the primary sponsor for the full season on both cars. After finishing 10th in the Nationwide Series standings with one pole award in 2012, Patrick moved to full-time in the Sprint Cup Series in 2013 where GoDaddy sponsored her full season schedule. Patrick rewarded GoDaddy for their sponsorship by winning the pole for the 2013 Daytona 500, becoming the first woman to do so. GoDaddy chose not to continue its sponsorship of NASCAR in 2016, intending to shift sponsorship to avenues with greater international reach. However, GoDaddy is trying to retain Patrick on a personal service contract.


GoDaddy Bowl

For the 2010 though 2015 college football seasons, GoDaddy was the sponsor of the GoDaddy Bowl, a postseason
bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...
played in Mobile, Alabama, which was previously branded as the GMAC Bowl before GMAC took TARP funding in 2009. The game matched teams from the Sun Belt Conference and the
Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...
. The bowl was renamed the Dollar General Bowl after the variety store chain Dollar General took over sponsorship in 2016.


Philanthropy

In 2009, GoDaddy donated $50,000 to the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA in Arizona, despite the organization requesting only $1,000. In December 2009, at GoDaddy's annual Holiday Party, Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons and Danica Patrick announced that GoDaddy would be donating $500,000 to the Phoenix-based UMOM New Day Center to fund the Danica Patrick GoDaddy.com Domestic Violence Center. An order was placed with
Orange County Choppers Orange County Choppers (OCC) is an American motorcycle manufacturer and lifestyle brand company based in the town of Newburgh, located in Orange County, New York, that was founded in 1999 by Paul Teutul Sr. The company was featured on '' Amer ...
for a custom motorcycle to raise contributions for charity. This was documented by the reality show ''
American Chopper ''American Chopper'' is an American reality television series that airs on Discovery Channel, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. The series centers on Paul Teutul Sr. (frequently called ''Senior''), and his son Paul Teutul Jr. (also kno ...
''.Discovery channel: American chopper episode 82


IPO and private equity

On April 12, 2006, Marketwatch reported that GoDaddy.com, Inc., had hired
Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...
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, GoDaddy filed an S-1 registration statement prior to an initial public offering. On August 8, 2006, Bob Parsons, announced that he had withdrawn the company's IPO filing due to "market uncertainties". In September 2010, GoDaddy put itself up for auction. GoDaddy 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 ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported that private-equity firms KKR and Silver Lake Partners, along with a third investor, were nearing a deal to buy the company for between $2–2.5 billion. On July 1, 2011, GoDaddy confirmed that KKR, Silver Lake Partners, and Technology Crossover Ventures had closed the deal. Although the purchase price was not officially announced it was reported to be $2.25 billion, for 65% of the company. , Bob Parsons stepped down as CEO into the role of Executive Chairman. In March 2012, a class action lawsuit was filed against GoDaddy regarding private registration charges for services it advertises as free. In June 2014, GoDaddy once again filed a $100 million IPO with the
Security and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
. The filing gave an inside look into GoDaddy's finances and showed that the company has not made a profit since 2009 and since 2012 has experienced a total loss of $531 million. Along with the IPO announcement, GoDaddy's founder Bob Parsons announced he is stepping down as Executive Chairman though he will remain on the board. CEO Blake Irving, joined GoDaddy on January 6, 2013 and served as chief executive officer before retiring on December 31, 2017. On April 1, 2015, GoDaddy had a successful IPO on the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
, with the stock soaring 30% on the first day of trading. Scott W. Wagner (and former GoDaddy Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer) was appointed chief executive officer on December 31, 2017. The newly appointed CEO Aman Bhutani has replaced the former CEO Scott W. Wagner and had assumed the charge of his duties from September 4, 2019.


See also

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Domains by Proxy Domains by Proxy (DBP) is an Internet company started by the founder of GoDaddy, Bob Parsons. Domains by Proxy offers domain privacy services through partner domain registrars such as GoDaddy and Wild West Domains. Subscribers list Domains by ...
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Move Your Domain Day Move Your Domain Day is an annual observance encouraging owners of domain names to transfer their domain registration away from registrars that supported the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). It was first held on 29 December 2011, the idea coming ...
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Website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...
* Domain * Hosting *
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...


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* {{Authority control Certificate authorities Companies based in Tempe, Arizona Internet properties established in 1997 1997 establishments in Maryland Domain name registrars Web hosting Silver Lake (investment firm) companies Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2015 initial public offerings GoDaddy