Between his business, Internet radio show and guest appearances, it’s difficult to figure out what exactly motivates GoDaddy’s CEO Bob Parsons.
It isn’t the continued stability of the Internet, for which his domain name company depends, that’s for sure. Faced with a choice of pumping up GoDaddy’s margins or ensuring the companies that operate the core infrastructure have the means to continually invest to keep it stable and secure, he votes for his margins everytime.
And it can’t be his customers or Internet users, as he sometimes claims. If it was, he wouldn’t have pocketed the $1.3 million windfall GoDaddy got when prices for .net names went down last year. GoDaddy didn’t pass on that financial windfall to his customers, he pocketed the cash. Heck, that’s almost enough to pay for a Super Bowl ad!...
Which gets us, perhaps, to what he’s really about. He likes running Super Bowl ads, which he has done the last two years, and then getting interviewed by folks like Howard Stern. Maybe that’s why he now has his own radio show, he fancies himself a personality.
Maybe he wants the “Bob Parsons Show” on the WB.
But maybe those Super Bowl ads weren’t such a good idea after all. In 2005 his ad featured a curvy woman in a tight shirt making fun of Congress. Now his lobbyists are begging Capitol Hill to protect his margins – potentially at the expense of Internet stability. (BTW, they have some work to do over at the FTC, too, as reported here last month, Commissioner Jon Liebowitz recently took a direct swipe at GoDaddy and suggested that if the company spent as much money on ensuring that its customers' WHOIS information was accurate as it does on Super Bowl ads, then the US government would be a lot more effective at fighting spammers and other online criminals).
Bob Parsons can use his millions to make Super Bowl ads all he likes. But he shouldn’t be allowed to jeopardize the future of the Internet to do so.
www.nodaddy.com and more horror stories here
http://domainnamewire.com/2008/12/03/standard-tactics-llc-how-godaddy-profits-from-expired-domains/
Posted by: Dirtdaddy | December 05, 2008 at 03:13 PM
This was wonderful. I saw him, heard him, and knew him after reading this. Well done, and congratulations on the EP.
Posted by: bar chairs | June 23, 2011 at 06:05 PM
I'm very touched by this, Sharon. The picture of your mom and dad is a beautiful one that will keep him forever young in your mind. I can imagine your wearing his red sweater and feeling a different kind of connection to him in its embracing warmth.
Posted by: hydraulic jack | June 23, 2011 at 06:07 PM
well told, and though he was no outdoorsman, his code of honesty and respect shines in every sentence.
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Wonderful to see your great hockey story from Minnesota, the 11th Canadian province and the land of pond hockey.
Posted by: dress bag | June 23, 2011 at 06:13 PM
This was just terrific - real bits of human emotion woven into fan appreciation and your trademark brand of humor. I am very happy to see this on the cover.
Posted by: dust mask | June 23, 2011 at 06:15 PM
Just goes to show that however well you think you might know someone, there are depths, angles and aspects that can surprise you. Nicely written piece Mary.
Posted by: Medical mask | June 23, 2011 at 06:18 PM
Excellent tour, thanks very much! I feel the Keith Haring show would keep me enthralled for the day, and I would never get to the other galleries.
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Read for the pure Joy of it, and it's not any work. I guess if I felt like that I wouldn't have read it either. Interesting but everyone has different tastes. I enjoyed it.
Posted by: china crystal | June 23, 2011 at 06:22 PM
How sweet. You two should take one last fun road trip together before he goes to the great highway in the sky.
Posted by: folding umbrella | June 23, 2011 at 06:24 PM
Thank you all for your really nice comments on this.
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carpal tunnel due to arthritis doesn't hold to turnout days ago, and for many days I walked all the sentence with a cane in my left wing paw.
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