Have you ever wondered who pioneered the Internet land grab? In the mid-1980s, these leading-edge companies were the first to register .com addresses. But where are they now? Some are stronger than ever; some have been bought and sold; and others just host ads.
It was in March 1985 that the oldest domain was registered. The domain, www.symbolics.com, was owned by Symbolics, a now-defunct company that at the time was a leading software-development firm. Its domain was registered on March 15, 1985.
Back then, there were only five commercial domains, period: BNN.com, Think.com, MCC.com, DEC.com, and Symbolics.com. Now, almost 30 years later, there are more than
250 million domain names in existence.
Where are those first domains now? Let's take a look.