Skip to content
Business
Link copied to clipboard

DuckDuckGo acquires “Duck.com” from Google

DuckDuckGo complained in July that Google-owned Duck.com and redirected the link to Google search. That “consistently confuses DuckDuckGo users,” the company said at the time.

A screenshot of DuckDuckGo's website.
A screenshot of DuckDuckGo's website.Read moreDuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo, a Paoli-based internet search site, has acquired the domain “Duck.com” from rival Google.

The privacy-centric search engine complained in July that Google owned Duck.com and redirected the link to Google search. That “consistently confuses DuckDuckGo users,” the company said at the time.

Duck.com now redirects to DuckDuckGo.com.

DuckDuckGo chief executive Gabriel Weinberg would not say whether his company paid for the domain.

“All we can say at this time is that we’re pleased Google has chosen to transfer ownership of Duck.com to DuckDuckGo,” he wrote in an email. “Having Duck.com will make it easier for people to use DuckDuckGo.”

Google obtained the Duck.com domain in 2010 when the web giant acquired the successor of The Duck Corp., a Google spokesperson said in July.

After DuckDuckGo grumbled about Google’s ownership of Duck.com, Google stopped redirecting the link to its own search site. Instead, it allowed users to clink links to DuckDuckGo, the Wikipedia page for ducks, or “Ducks.com,” which redirects to Bass Pro Shops.