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| Bob Parsons of Go Daddy |
January 3, 2012
In late December, domain registrar
Go Daddy spat on the notion of the open society by announcing support
for the widely-denounced Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Technology firms
and human rights activists quickly cried foul, revealing that the
“copyright-enforcing” bill, with its overly broad definitions, was less
about stopping piracy and more about restricting the flow of information
to citizens. The firm caved to public pressure and withdrew support
for the bill, which the US House Judiciary Committee will be voting on
soon. The furore caused many Web sites (including AlterNet) to decide to
pull their registrations from Go Daddy. And it shined a light on the
notorious Go Daddy founder, cheekily and rather fondly profiled just days ago in the New York Times Magazine.
I refer to the Big Daddy himself, Bob Parsons.
Recently, Parsons sold 65 percent of Go Daddy to a private group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (well-known GOP supporters)
for $2.25 billion – a move that will expand Go Daddy’s resources,
products and global growth. Parsons will now step down as CEO, but
states that his job "will pretty much continue as it has been" with a
focus on the company's marketing strategy.
Parsons
is one part P.T. Barnum and one part Howard Stern, so vulgar he makes
Donald Trump seem refined by comparison. He first achieved notoriety
with his Hooters approach to the erstwhile boring business of selling
domain names. He threw taste to the wind and hired a porn actress as the
first “Go Daddy Girl,” running ads featuring her "wardrobe malfunction"
during the Super Bowl. Feminists howled; Parsons crowed. His business
went gangbusters. READ MORE
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