When I think about companies that might advocate for domain name investing, Verizon is not one of the first few dozen that would pop into my head. In fact, Verizon has been fairly aggressive towards cybersquatters over the years. Obviously domain investing and cybersquatting are not one and the same, but I do think there is a fair amount of overlap, particularly with newer domain investors who don’t really know the laws about cybersquatting.
This morning, I was doing a bit of research on Google related to domain investing and the companies who are advertising, and I came across an article on Verizon’s website about domain investing: It’s Not Too Late To Start Domain Investing. To say that I was surprised there is an article about domain investing on Verizon’s website would be an understatement.
The article is under Verizon’s “Small Business Essentials” section. In reading the article, it offers good advice to people looking to start investing in domain names. Given Verizon’s history with cybersquatters, I am a bit surprised it didn’t give any sort of warning about staying away from trademarks or brand names, but the article was not super in-depth.
I think the closing of the article gives away its purpose – promotion of Yahoo Domains:
“Are you ready to become a domainer? Registering domains is a simple process with Yahoo Domains! We also offer a free business website and personalized business email address, which will help advertise your registered domains. Get started today!”
I am not sure of the current relationship between Verizon and Yahoo, although Yahoo was at least once owned by Verizon. The article appears to have been published on Verizon.com one year ago, according to a note under the cover image.
In any case, it was quite surprising to me to see an article advocating for domain name investing on Verizon.com.
