.obi

Overview

• .obi is a brand gTLD delegated under ICANN's New gTLD Program.
• It serves as an exclusive namespace for the OBI brand, a major international DIY (Do It Yourself) retailer.
• OBI is described by the applicant as one of the leading global DIY brands, with strong market positions in Germany and Europe.

History

• Applied-for as part of ICANN's New gTLD Program.
• Manager: OBI Group Holding GmbH.
• Back-end registry services provided by Verisign.
• The .obi string was delegated to the DNS root zone on 23 September 2015.

Usage and Audience

• Intended as an exclusive namespace for the OBI brand.
• Typical registrants/users:
  • OBI Group companies
  • Franchise partners
  • Possibly a limited number of contractors (subject to OBI policies)
• Organizational scope and footprint cited in the application:
  • 143 affiliated companies
  • 579 stores throughout Europe
  • More than 40,500 employees
  • 343 stores in Germany
  • Presence in Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine

Registration Rules

• Registration is restricted: only OBI shall be eligible to register second-level domains in the .obi namespace.
• Rights to use registered domain names are to be granted by OBI to group companies, franchise partners and possibly a limited number of contractors, subject to policies and conditions set by OBI.

SEO and Brand Impact

• .obi is positioned as a controlled, brand-specific gTLD intended to provide an exclusive, branded namespace for OBI and its affiliates.
• As a brand TLD, it is designed primarily for brand control and consistent brand presence rather than general public registrations.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       OBI

organisation: OBI Group Holding SE & Co. KGaA
address:      Albert-Einstein-Strasse 7-9
address:      Wermelskirchen 42949
address:      Germany

contact:      administrative
name:         Project & Process Manager
organisation: OBI Group Holding SE & Co. KGaA
address:      Albert-Einstein-Strasse 7-9
address:      Wermelskirchen 42949
address:      Germany
phone:        +442070151717
e-mail:       ngtld-obi@cscglobal.com

contact:      technical
name:         Senior Director, DNS Infrastructure Group
organisation: Identity Digital Inc.
address:      10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address:      Bellevue WA 98004
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1.425.298.2200
fax-no:       +1.425.671.0020
e-mail:       tldtech@donuts.email

nserver:      A0.NIC.OBI 2a01:8840:6e:0:0:0:0:17 65.22.112.17
nserver:      A2.NIC.OBI 2a01:8840:71:0:0:0:0:17 65.22.115.17
nserver:      B0.NIC.OBI 2a01:8840:6f:0:0:0:0:17 65.22.113.17
nserver:      C0.NIC.OBI 2a01:8840:70:0:0:0:0:17 65.22.114.17
ds-rdata:     26464 8 2 540d7e7cb6f111d9ea048e3801806a4814b6c1dd229f3a2414aae8facce3cb13

whois:        whois.nic.obi

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: 

created:      2015-09-03
changed:      2023-08-11
source:       IANA