History
Go Daddy was founded in 1997 as Jomax Technologies by Bob Parsons, who previously founded the software development company Parsons Technology, Inc. The company changed its name to Go Daddy in 1999 when a group of employees were brainstorming on a more memorable name than Jomax Technologies. Someone said "How about Big Daddy?" A quick check revealed that it was taken. Then Parsons said "How about Go Daddy?" The name was available, so he bought it.[5] CEO Bob Parsons states the company stuck with the name because it made people smile and people remember it.[6]

Go Daddy has grown to become the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the internet.[7] In 2001, soon after Network Solutions lost its monopoly, Go Daddy was approximately the same size as competitors Dotster and eNom.[8] In April 2005 it surpassed Network Solutions in market share in terms of total domain names registered. By 2009, Go Daddy had become 3.5 times the size of eNom and 30 times the size of Dotster.

In 2002, Go Daddy sued VeriSign for domain slamming[9] and again in 2003 over its Site Finder service.[10] This latter suit caused controversy over VeriSign's role as the sole maintainer of the .com and the .net top-level domains. VeriSign shut down Site Finder after receiving a letter from ICANN ordering it to comply with a request to disable the service.[11] In 2006, Go Daddy was sued by Web.com for patent infringement.[12][13]

In 2007 and 2008, the company lobbied in favor of legislation that would crack down on unscrupulous online pharmacies and child predators.[14][15]


[edit] Awards
In 2007, Go Daddy was named "Most Innovative Company" by the 2007 Arizona Corporate Excellence (ACE) awards. Go Daddy also ranked number 2 on the ACE "25 Fastest Growing" companies list.[16]

In 2009, Go Daddy was listed as the #1 Software Company and the "Best of the Best" technology company by Ranking Arizona USA.[17]

In 2009 Go Daddy was voted "Best Registrar" Domain Name Wire annual survey for the 4th consecutive year.[18][19]

Go Daddy won the 'Best Perks' category in AZCentral.com's 3rd Annual Readers' Choice Awards for 2009 and was listed among the "Best Places to Work in the Valley" for five consecutive years (2003–2008).[