A Bit Of Alphabet Foolery: abc.wtf Redirects To Bing
- by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, August 11, 2015
Is Microsoft behind the antics that redirect
the URL abc.wtf to bing.com? The play on Google's decision to form a holding company for its ventures and call it Alphabet apparently struck a chord.
The domain name abc.wtf, which redirects search visitors to bing.com, is a play on the domain name -- abc.xyz -- set-up Google's new company, Alphabet.
It's not exactly clear if Microsoft is behind the foolery, or if the URL will remain an active redirect to bing.com. The registration was updated on August 10, 2015, and expires in 2016.
Search Marketing Daily reached out to Jeff Davidoff, CMO at Donuts, the domain registrar that owns .wtf, to gain some clarity. He said the identity of the registrant is private.
One thing is certain -- the registrant for the URL abc.wtf points to an address in New Zealand -- a medical building at Suite 3686, 24b Moorefield Road in Johnsonville, Wellington, according to the Whosis Record. While the location could simply house another entity associated with the URL, the IP location points to Redmond, Wash., Microsoft Corporation.Introducing Alphabet on Monday, cofounder Larry Page wrote in a blog post explaining that he will step in as CEO of the new company, with Sergey Brin as president. The new structure puts Sundar Pichai at the helm of Google as CEO, and Ruth Porat becomes chief financial officer.
