Bob Parsons
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Bob (Robert) Parsons (born 1950) is the CEO and founder of domain registrar and web host Go Daddy, which also owns registrars Wild West Domains and Blue Razor Domains as well as the domain privacy company Domains by Proxy and the registration authority Starfield Technologies.
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[edit] Childhood
Parsons was born Baltimore, Maryland. Parsons also grew up in Baltimore Maryland, where he was not a particularly great student.<ref name="legalzoom">Sanders, Monica (2004). Rags to Riches: Bob Parsons, Founder of GoDaddy.com. LegalZoom. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref> The Draft loomed, and Parsons had no plans to go to college, so he followed many of his friends and enlisted in the Military so he could control the branch and military job he would have during his service.<ref name="dnjournal">Jackson, Ron (October 2004). "Underachiever to Overlord: Go Daddy's Bob Parsons Started Slow Then Built Two Business Empires". Domain Name Journal. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref>
[edit] Military Service
In 1968, Parsons joined the United States Marines in Baltimore where he enlisted prior to graduating from high school,<ref name="military">David, Andersen, Lameen Witter. "Former Marine, Go Daddy CEO Talks About His Rise to Success", Marine Corps News, 2006-02-17. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref> and was assigned to the 26th Marine Regiment, which was attached and operated as part of the U.S. 1st Marine Division. In 1969, he did a tour of duty in Vietnam serving as a rifleman in Quang Nam Province.<ref name="worthwhile">Draper, John (2005-12-07). "GoDaddy's Remarkable Daddy". Worthwhile 1 (6). Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref> In Vietnam, Parsons focus was simple, "My goal then became each and every day just to make it to mail call."<ref name="military" /><ref name="worthwhile" /> While walking second point during night ambush, Parsons tripped a wire the point man somehow stepped over, detonating an explosive. <ref name="dnjournal" /> As a result he was "medically evacuated from Hill 190."<ref name="military" /> After being wounded Parsons spent two months at the Naval hospital in Yokosuka Japan for recuperation. He then received orders back to his rifle company but on his way, through a fluke, was assigned to military intelligence as a courier of classified documents. He returned to Viet Nam several more times but always as a courier and never again in a combat role. As a result of his service and injury he earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and the Purple Heart.<ref name="dnjournal" />
[edit] Education
After discharge, Parsons returned home and took up work in a steel mill.<ref name="legalzoom" /> However, he soon took advantage of the education benefits he earned in the military and enrolled in the accounting program at the University of Baltimore.<ref name="dnjournal" /> Parsons credits his military service with providing him the focus to excel in his studies, "The Marine Corps taught me and gave me the sense of doing things right and more importantly I got confidence."<ref name="military" /> He graduated magna cum laude in accounting in 1975.<ref name="legalzoom" /> However, prior to graduation Parsons picked up a book on programming and began experimenting<ref name="military" /> with what would be his long-term career - software.
[edit] Parsons Technology
Parsons focused on his career, earned his CPA and worked for a equipment leasing company by day,<ref name="dnjournal" /> while programming by night.<ref name="craig">Rairdin, Craig (2005-04-27). How I Got Into this Mess. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref> In 1984, he founded Parsons Technology, and began selling MoneyCounts, a home accounting program, he initially sold for $99 per copy. By his third edition, Parsons was inspired by Borland's success selling Turbo Pascal for much less than the competition, and began charging $12 per copy. He also focused his efforts on direct sales rather than channel sales.<ref name="craig" /> In late 1987, Parsons was able to quit his job and focus completely on selling and programming Moneycounts.<ref name="craig" /> Parsons then branched into other markets when he partnered with Craig Rairdin to sell Quickverse, Rairdin's Bible searching program. Parsons and Rairdin employed the same low cost direct market model that Parsons had successfully pioneered with MoneyCounts.<ref name="worldnet">Strom, Ron (2005-02-09). GoDaddy.com chief: From Bible to breasts. WorldNetDaily.com. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref><ref name="patriot">Editor (2005-02-10). Creator of QuickVerse speaks about GoDaddy and Parsons. Red State Patriot. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref>
Eventually, Parsons Technology grew to be a 1,000 employee privately held company. The company focused on two main lines, the accounting line that grew out of MoneyCounts and included Personal Tax Edge (tax preparation software), It's Legal, State Tax Edge, and other titles. And the Church Division which sold Quickverse, Membership Plus, Family Origins, Christian Clip Art, and other related programs. On September 27 1994, Parsons completed the sale of Parsons Technology to Intuit for $67.3 million dollars.<ref name="sec1">Form:10-Q. SEC Edgar Filing Information (1996-06-12). Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref> Later, Intuit sold the software from the Church Division to Broderbund<ref name="sec2">Form:10-Q. SEC Edgar Filing Information (1997-06-13). Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref> and is now owned by FindEx.<ref name="sec3">Form:10KSB. SEC Edgar Filing Information (2001-04-16). Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref>
[edit] GoDaddy
In the agreement with Intuit, Parsons had agreed to take a year off from work, during which time he moved to Arizona. Sometime after the year had elapsed, in 1997, Parsons founded Go Daddy (briefly named Jomax Technologies).<ref>Interview with Bob Parsons, Go Daddy. Dot Journal. Retrieved on 2006-05-09.</ref>
[edit] Super Bowl commercial
During Super Bowl XXXIX, Go Daddy aired a commercial depicting an attractive and scantily-clad woman experiencing a "wardrobe malfunction", making light of the previous year's controversy. The ad was scheduled to run twice, but the second airing was pulled by FOX upon complaints by NFL officials. Go Daddy reached a settlement with Fox soon thereafter.<ref>Michael McCarthy. "Chest Ads built buzz, but also animosity", USA Today, 2005-05-01.</ref>
[edit] Guantanamo Bay Blog Controversy
In June 2005, Parsons generated controversy by saying that he did not believe the interrogation methods used by the United States at Guantanamo were inappropriate.<ref name="parsons1">Parsons, Bob (2005-06-19). Close Gitmo? No Way. Hot Points. Note: page has since been deleted.</ref><ref name="mccarthy">McCarthy, Jamie (2005-06-21). Why I'm No Longer a GoDaddy Customer. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref><ref name="mcevoy">McEvoy, Christopher Sean (2005-06-20). NoGoDaddy. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref> Following feedback in the comments section of the post, he retracted his statements, saying "After looking at the references ... and giving the matter some thought, I tend to agree and think that the there's a good argument for changing the way in which prisoners at Gitmo are interrogated."<ref name="tunesmith">Anonymous (Tunesmith) (2005-06-20). GoDaddy president retracts pro-torture blog posting. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref>
[edit] Radio show
Bob hosts a weekly radio show on the Internet and on satellite radio called Life Online with Bob Parsons.
[edit] References
<references/>
[edit] External links
- Bob Parsons — Profile on GoDaddy.com
- Hot Points — A blog by Go Daddy CEO and founder Bob Parsons
- Life Online with Bob Parsons — A radio show hosted by Go Daddy CEO and founder Bob Parsons
- Interview with Bob Parsons founder of GoDaddy.com
