A law firm representing billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced it has called off orders on nearly 400 web addresses tied to the media mogul and former New York City mayor.
The tabloid newsmagazine amNew York reported Monday that the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher had registered hundreds of domain names on behalf of Bloomberg under the .nyc web suffix. According to the website Domain Name Wire, several of the addresses seems to have been registered in an attempt to protect Bloomberg’s assets — but dozens of others bordered on the humorous and absurd.
Along with officialmikebloomberg.nyc and bloombergfamilyfoundation.nyc, Domain Name Wire noted that the law firm registered several off-beat addresses, including BloombergBlows.nyc, GetALifeMike.nyc and MikeBloombergIsADweeb.nyc.
Read more: Mayor Bloomberg’s Mixed Legacy
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the ex-mayor told the website Business Insider that the law firm had purchased the domain names as part of an “overly-aggressive” strategy to protect the billionaire’s reputation. Bloomberg has since ordered all addresses that are not “straight-forward” to be released back to the public, the spokesperson said.
Last year, New York became one of the first cities in the world to land its own vanity web suffix. The .nyc suffix is available to New York residents and businesses, with priority for intellectual property holders. Web addresses that end in .nyc sell for between $9 and $30.
Matthew Keys is a contributing journalist for TheBlot Magazine.
