United Domains

Type:	Privately Held
Industry:	Internet, Registrar
Founded:	Starnberg, 2000
Founder(s):	Markus Eggensperger Alexander Helm Johann Hermann Florian Huber Nikolai Tiedemann
Headquarters:	Gautinger Str. 10, 82319 Starnberg
Country:	Germany
Products:	newdomains Conference
Employees:	80
Website:	united-domains.de
Blog:	united-domains Blog
Facebook:	united-domains Facebook
LinkedIn:	united-domains LinkedIn
Twitter:	@uniteddomains
Key People
Maximilian Burianek, CEO Markus Eggensperger, COO

united-domains is a Germany-based domain name registrar with its headquarter in Starnberg, near Munich. The company was founded in 2000 and it was subsidiary of Lycos Europe from 2004 till 2008. Since 2009 it became part of United Internet.

History

united-domains was founded in August 2000 by a young team of software developers, marketing and legal experts. Markus Eggensperger, Alexander Helm, Johann Hermann, Florian Huber and Nikolai Tiedemann are the founders of the company.

In 2003, united-domains opened a subsidiary, dopoly GmbH, to focus on reseller customers. Since 2011 it operates under the name of united-domains Reselling GmbH.

In 2004, Lycos Europe took over united-domains for an non-disclosed amount of money.

In 2009, united-domains was purchased by United Internet AG for 34 million Euro.

In 2010, namecheck.com was officially launched.

In 2011, united-domains opened a subsidiary, United Domains Inc, in Cambridge, MA to address the US market. In the same year united-domains started to collect non-binding pre-registrations for new gTLDs, and held the newdomains conference for the first time.

In 2013, united-domains held the newdomains conference for the second and last time.

In 2014, united-domains became the market leader in the European market for new gTLDs. This changed over time with others pushing more into this market.

In 2015, united-domains celebrated its 15th anniversary.

In 2016, united-domains won an Award for the best customer care service in Germany.

In 2017, united-domains won the Readers' Choice Hosting Award in Gold.

In 2018, Alexander Helm took over from long-term CEO Florian Huber. united-domains won the Readers' Choice Hosting Award in Platin. Tobias Sattler was appointed as a new board member.

Board

Board Members: Markus Eggensperger and Maximilian Burianek

Products & Services

united-domains is an ICANN accredited registrar and supports more than 700 TLDs. Besides that it also offers web hosting and email services.

Industry Participation

united-domains was a silver sponsor at ICANN Silicon Valley and ICANN Singapore.

united-domains has also sponsored the .nxt conference on new gTLDs and hosted its own conference on new gTLDs in September, 2011, the newdomains conference. Afilias was the top sponsor of the event, which was held in Munich, Germany, and timed to coincide with that city's famous Oktoberfest celebrations. In 2013 they hosted the conference again .

Business

united-domains Network includes:

• united-domains AG http://www.united-domains.de
• United Domains Inc http://www.uniteddomains.com
• united-domains Reselling http://www.ud-reselling.com
• namecheck.com http://www.namecheck.com
• domain-recht.de http://www.domain-recht.de

Controversy

Starting March, 2011, united-domains has also started the pre-registration of the new TLDs such as .sfo, .berlin, .nyc, .web, .eco, .shop, .gay, .med, .xxx, .hotel, .film, .music, which seem likely to be introduced by ICANN in 2012. This was generally received as misleading and unethical, given that no new TLDs had been applied for, accepted, or delegated yet. However, its "sale" of such domains is not complete, given that they are not charging or taking credit card information at this point. It seems it is a strategy mainly built around preparing and attracting customers, though some registrars in the industry see it as foul-play that confuses customers.

In January, 2012, an unknown perpetrator registered over 500 accounts with united-domains' US domain registration system. The person used emails from representatives of registrars in direct competition with united-domains and also individuals active in ICANN's GAC. The prank was identified after each individual was sent a welcome message from the US registrar's system.