30 Awesome Things That You Probably Didn't Know About Bob Parsons

Bob Parsons, the founder of the GoDaddy group of companies, including domain name registrar GoDaddy.com, is currently serving on the company's board, though he stepped down from his position of Executive Chairman in June 2014. Here are a few important things to know about the American entrepreneur:

1.  He, along with his wife Renee Parsons, established the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation, which has awarded more than 96 charities and organizations worldwide, in the year 2012.
2.  Since the establishment of the foundation, the duo, through the foundation, has donated over $10 million on a yearly basis, making it among the state's 10 biggest givers.
3.  In the year 2010, he and his wife joined Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett's The Giving Pledge and agreed to donate half their wealth to charity.
4.  Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the foundation pledged $500 thousand for Hope for Haiti and a further $4 million towards relief efforts.
5.  Through their foundation, the couple have supported several veterans' organizations, mainly the Semper Fi Fund, with donations exceeding $8.5 million, mostly in the form of matching donations.
6.  In the year 2012, Parsons is reported to have donated $1 million to Restore Our Future, Mitt Romney's Super PAC.
7.  He even donated $1 million to 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee on December 8, 2016.
8.  In an episode of The Forward Podcast with Lance Armstrong, on January 9, 2017, he claimed his choice has always been Donald Trump among the 17 major candidates in the 2016 Republican Primary. He even mentioned that he had never voted for the ex-President Barack Obama.
9.  He was denounced by animal rights for tweeting a video in which he shoots and kills an elephant in Zimbabwe in the year 2011.
10.  In fact, following his tweet, NBC News claimed "It's definitely the kind of thing only a super rich CEO/founder of a privately-held company could get away with."
11.  His company GoDaddy was criticized as sexist for advertising practices between its first Super Bowl ad in 2005 through the company's IPO in 2014.
12.  He claimed that he asked the ad agency that he wanted a "really well-endowed, good-looking gal in a tight T-shirt, with the company's name right across her breasts." He reportedly used his blog to draw attention to ads that were rejected from television as too racy.
13.  He is said to have donated a $1.5 million grant to the Phoenix Children's Hospital in support of one of its community outreach programs.
14.  He also gave a gift of around $2 million to Circle the City, in order for the organization to launch a new primary healthcare center.
15.  Parsons is reported to have been involved with the Girl Scouts through the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program; $4 million in scholarship funds for theDream.us.
16.  He, through his foundation, is also known to have donated at least $10 million to the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, helping it open its new center.
17.  He launched the Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG), a high-end golf club manufacturing company in January 2015, which is expected to launch a full line of golf equipment including drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges, and putters.
18.  His YAM Properties is said to have purchased more than 675,000 square feet of commercial real estate in Arizona's Valley of the Sun region, since the year 2012.
19.  He purchased The Golf Club Scottsdale, a 292-acre members-only golf course, for $600,000 and undisclosed debt, and renamed it Scottsdale National Golf Club, in September 2013.
20.  The next year, he purchased undeveloped properties adjacent to his golf course including a 223-acre parcel for a reported $55 million, a 41-acre parcel for $5.4 million, and a smaller tract for $2.3 million.
21.  The same year, he announced plans to build a new clubhouse, nine-hole practice facility, and second 18-hole golf course on the property.
22.  He founded the Scottsdale, Arizona-based YAM Worldwide Inc., which includes YAM Capital, Martz Agency which was renamed as BIG YAM, The Parsons Agency, Sneaky Big Studios, and the YAMWOOD Foundry.
23.  Through the YAM Worldwide subsidiaries LZ Delta, L.L.C. and MS LZ Delta, L.L.C., Parsons operates Harley-Davidson and multi-brand motorcycle dealerships in Arizona, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
24.  In the year 2015, he opened the "world's largest Harley-Davidson dealership" - Harley-Davidson of Scottsdale - the two-story, 150,000 square-foot dealership that includes a lingerie boutique, tattoo and piercing parlor, arcade, movie theater, and wedding chapel.
25.  He is the founder and CEO of Scottsdale-based Spooky Fast Customs, which creates customized motorcycle designs and fabrications.
26.  He first founded Parsons Technology in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and began selling MoneyCounts, a home accounting program, in the year 1984.
27.  A decade later, he oversaw the sales of Parsons Technology, which grew to be a 1000-employee, privately held company, to Intuit, Inc. for $64 million.
28.  He was awarded with a honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the University of Baltimore on May 21, 2008.
29.  In the year 1997, he founded the Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company GoDaddy. He sold approximately 70 percent of GoDaddy to a private equity consortium led by KKR & Co. L.P. and Silver Lake in July 2011.
30.  He served as a rifleman in the Delta Company of the 1st Battalion, 26th Marines, during a tour of duty in Vietnam, in the Quảng Nam Province, in the year 1969. He wounded in action, medically evacuated, and spent two months at a naval hospital recovering from his wounds.
31.  Bob Parsons Net Worth: $2.5 Billion
32. Did you know: Godaddy recently launched a hugely successful website builder. It is one of many service innovations that they keep adding over time.