I love to see visionaries succeed .. as the dust from web 1.0 settles down and we enter a more mature market of web 2.0 – lets take a minute to revisit this email – which I first read a few years ago in the dark days of the dot com bust.
It makes funny reading – but not sure what the author is doing – but Jeff Bezos is still laughing his usual trademark laugh – all the way to the bank
Enjoy! But let’s not forget that critics are dime a dozen – and a group of critics never accomplished anything in themselves ..
Network Solutions, Inc
505 Huntmar Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20170
April 1, 2000
Mr. Jeff Bezos
President and Chief Executive Officer
Amazon.com, inc.
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
Application for Renewel of amazon.com domain name
Dear Mr. Bezos:
We recently received your application for renewal of the “amazon.com” domain name for your company, Amazon.com, inc. Unfortunately, we must reject your application, and assign you an alternate domain name instead; for the reasons outlined below.
As you are no doubt aware, the .com top-level domain is intended for use by for-profit corporations. Many such corporations are registered with Network Solutions, and this policy is unchanged.
However, it has come to our attention, as evidenced by recent SEC filings on behalf of Amazon.com, inc., that your company has yet to turn a profit. As such, Amazon.com, inc. no longer qualifies for a domain name in the .”com” hierarchy. However, based on your financial performance, you do qualify for membership in the .”org” domain; which is intended for non-profit organizations. Unless there are any objections from you or your representative, Network Solutions will assign Amazon.com, inc. the new domain name “amazon.com.org.” (We would have assigned the shorter “amazon.org” domain, but that domain is currently assigned
to a website for the San Fransisco lesbian community.)
To be frank; we were gravely concerned about the amount of money that amazon.com, inc. has been losing. We were seriously considering assigning a name in the .”gov” domain based on the current rate that your corporation is losing money. However, as Amazon.com, inc. is a publicly-traded corporation, and policy reserves the .gov domain for organizations that are in fact governmental agencies, it was determined felt that this would not be appropriate.
This change in your domain name registration only affects your Internet domain name as assigned by Network Solutions; and no way impairs your right to continue to do business under the trademark of “Amazon.com.” If and when Amazon.com, inc. becomes a profitable enterprise; we will be happy to reconsider granting you once again the domain name “amazon.com,” assuming it is still available.
This change shall take effect within the next thirty (30) days, at which point the “amazon.com” name will be decomissioned. You have until then to notify customers and business partners. Effective immediately, and for the length of the thirty-day transition period; both names wlll be registered to Amazon.com, inc.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact
our customer service department.
Sincerely,
Jim Rutt
Chief Executive Officer
Network Solutions, Inc.
Source: http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/00/Aug/bezos.html
I am an IT student and i just love visiting your web site during my eCommerce lesson. Your are just a source of inspiration into my life and education. If i had a wish then i would wish to be working with you. Thank you and God Bless you. Keep on inspiring many.
thanks Jameine! rgds Ajit