Register.com

Register.com
Type of site
Subsidiary of Web.com
Founded1994 (1994)
HeadquartersJacksonville, FL, US
Key peopleLarry Kutscher, CEO and President
IndustryDomain name registrar
ProductsWeb services
ParentWeb.com
URLwww.register.com

Register.com is a domain name registrar.

History

The company was founded as Forman Interactive Corp by brothers Peter Forman, his brother-in-law, Dan B. Levine, and his brother, Richard Forman in 1994 as a provider of website creation software.[1]

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. Under the leadership of CTO Rob Gardos, it became the first of the five testbed registrars to come online. It was initially selling 3,000 to 4,000 domain names per day.[2]

In March 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.[3] The stock price peaked at $116 per share; 1 year later the stock traded at $5 per share.[1]

In September 2000, the company acquired Afternic.com for $48.6 million in cash and stock.[4]

In 2003, Richard D. Forman resigned from his positions as president and chief executive officer.[5]

In November 2005, Register.com was acquired by Vector Capital for $200 million.[6]

In 2005, it became the first online services company to receive the J.D. Power Call Center Certification.[7] Register.com received this recognition again in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Vector Capital brought in David Moore, a principal at the private equity firm Sonostar, as an interim CEO.[8]

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.[9]

in June 2010, Web.com acquired the company for $135 million.[10]

Controversies And Consumer Issues

Denial-of-service attack (2009)

On April 1, 2009, Register.com suffered a major DDoS attack, downing thousands of web sites. Customers were not able to access the website or receive email for 3 days.[11][12]

Hijacking of Baidu website (2010)

In January 2010, the Chinese search engine Baidu sued Register.com for gross negligence after an employee allegedly allowed a third party access to Baidu's account despite them failing to pass basic security verification, allowing for a Domain hijacking of the Baidu website by the Iranian Cyber Army.[13]

Massive E-mail Failure July 30, 2020 Leaving Customers Without E-mail Access: Customers Not Notified

On July 29, 2020, or the early morning of July 30, 2020, Register.com reportedly experienced system-wide e-mail failure, reportedly leaving all of its customers without e-mail after the companies' technicians' reportedly found a bug. The company website posted no information and a company audio message only stated that "some customers" "may" be having trouble accessing their e-mail. . . One representative told a customer the "bug" caused the technicians to have to shut down all the servers. What really happened continues to be a mystery. As of July 31, 2020, customers were still unable to access e-mail, despite company assurances, bringing business transactions over e-mail for potentially thousands to a halt, and causing potentially massive business losses for some customers. This newest massive failure was just the latest of several, according to earlier reports. [14]

See also

References
  1. Angwin, Julia (July 16, 2001). "The Money Maker". The Wall Street Journal.
  2. Weber, Thomas E. (April 1, 1999). "Register.Com Aims to Market Internet Addresses to Everyone". The Wall Street Journal.
  3. "Register.com, UTStarcom Rise in Busy Day for IPOs". The Wall Street Journal. March 3, 2000.
  4. "Register.com to Buy Afternic.com For $48.6 Million in Cash and Stock". The Wall Street Journal. September 15, 2000.
  5. "Register.com CEO Resigns". The Wall Street Journal. June 24, 2003.
  6. "Vector Capital Completes $200 Million Take-Private Buyout of Register.com; Private Equity Firm to Help Register.com Expand Online Services Offered to Small Businesses" (Press release). Business Wire. November 7, 2005.
  7. "Register.com First in Online Services Industry to Receive J.D. Power and Associates Call Center Certification" (Press release). Business Wire. June 21, 2005.
  8. Savitz, Eric J. (August 15, 2005). "Bidding for Register.com". The Wall Street Journal.
  9. Fung, Amanda (November 1, 2006). "Register.com names chief executive". Crain Communications.
  10. "Web.com Announces Agreement to Acquire Register.com" (Press release). Web.com. June 17, 2010.
  11. "Web Sites Disrupted By Attack on Register.com". The Washington Post. April 7, 2009.
  12. CALORE, MICHAEL (April 3, 2009). "Register.com Victimized by DDoS Attack". Wired.
  13. Back, Aaron (January 19, 2010). "Baidu Sues Register.com, Alleges Negligence in Hacking Attack". The Wall Street Journal.
  14. (Karen Winner attorney and investigative journalist interview July 30, 2020 with Register.com rep at the company's Pennsylvania location.first=KAREN | last=WINNER | work=attorneywinner.com 252 W. 37th St. New York,NY | date=July 31, 2020}}
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