There are few words in the English language more authoritative and compelling than empower. As a society, the idea of empowerment is prevalent right now, and there’s little surprise that the .com equivalent, Empower.com, has just been acquired by an end-user.
Originally registered in 1994, Empower.com was previously owned by software company Empower Geographics Inc., where it was used to host the company’s website.
In 2016, Empower.com was put up for sale by the company. It seems that it has taken over five years for Empower Geographics Inc. to find a suitable buyer for its domain.
Empower.com has now moved from GoDaddy to corporate registrar CSC, signifying that the domain name has been sold.
The domain name is now in the possession of Empower Retirement LLC, a retirement plan provider with more than 12 million customers, according to its existing website hosted at Empower-Retirement.com.
This is no ordinary acquisition, though. Empower Retirement LLC filed a cybersquatting lawsuit against the owner of Empower.com in July 2021.
According to DomainInvesting.com, Empower Retirement LLC “tried to acquire Empower.com, but the domain registrant’s ‘multi-million dollar purchase price’ was deemed too high in the opinion of the plaintiff.” The company subsequently filed a lawsuit.
Now that the domain name has moved into the possession of Empower Retirement LLC, and a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice has been jointly filed by both parties in the lawsuit.
Thanks to Jamie Zoch for initially sharing this with me.
Updated on December 23rd with additional information about the domain name’s legal history.