Go Daddy Assumes 850,000 Domains

Embattled registrar RegisterFly will transfer 850,000 domain names to GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain registrar under an agreement brokered by ICANN, the parties announced today. The move will be welcome news to domain owners who have been unable to manage their names since RegisterFly collapsed into financial and management turmoil in February.

"We worked with ICANN to effect a migration of the RegisterFly domains to GoDaddy.com and help those customers left in limbo,” said GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “It’s what many RegisterFly customers asked us to do. After they are moved over to GoDaddy.com, all RegisterFly customers will once again be able to manage and renew their domain names with confidence and will also enjoy the world-class support we provide all our customers. We expect the move to be completed over the next week."

"The RegisterFly situation has been extremely difficult -- first and foremost for registrants, as well as for the entire registry and registrar community," said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN's President and CEO. "The GoDaddy.com agreement is the best possible solution for RegisterFly customers since it’s a direct and automatic transfer to a competent and experienced customer service oriented organization."

Go Daddy says it now manages more than 20 million domain names, and more than 4 million customers using its domain name registration, Web site hosting, SSL certificates and related products.

RegisterFly's web site management system stopped working properly in February during a business dispute between company founder Kevin Medina and business partner John Naruzewicz, who claimed that he owned 50 percent of RegisterFly and said the company's board had fired Medina. At the direction of "new CEO" Naruzewicz, the company filed a lawsuit accusing Medina of mismanagement and misuse of company funds. Medina denied all charges, saying he remained the sole owner of RegisterFly. A Newark, N.J. court agreed, awarding sole control of the company to Medina.

The resolution of RegisterFly's ownership issues didn't resolve its operational problems. ICANN stripped RegisterFly of its accreditation, but had to resort to court action to force Medina to accept a transfer to another registrar. On Friday United States District Court Judge Manuel L. Real issued a permanent injunction against RegisterFly, clearing the way for today's transfer.