GoDaddy.com, the leading registration company for Internet addresses, has agreed to take over and manage more than 850,000 domain names belonging to customers of troubled rival RegisterFly. The deal (details were not disclosed), reached with the support of the Internet's key oversight agency (ICANN), means that customers of RegisterFly could once again renew names, or transfer them elsewhere if they do not want to stay with GoDaddy. Those names had been in limbo following financial and operational troubles at RegisterFly.
"For the past few months, they were pretty much in the dark and there was a lot of frustration there. All that is a thing of the past," said GoDaddy Chief Executive Bob Parsons. Parsons said GoDaddy isn't buying RegisterFly, so any lawsuits and other previous disputes remain with RegisterFly. The deal calls for RegisterFly to give GoDaddy its customer databases. Transfers of names will be automatic, and GoDaddy will notify existing RegisterFly customers about the switch and set up a Web page and telephone hotline. GoDaddy expects to start running those names within a week and will hence start to make money off them. "If it wasn't for that, our interest in doing the deal would be diminished quite a bit. It is going to take a certain degree of efforts on our part. We're going to have to answer any questions customers have and resolve any issues," said Parsons.
News source: MSNBC
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