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GMO Internet Group

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GMO Internet Group is a Japanese company group whose registrar A company that registers domain names for customers with the registry. Full definition Onamae.com is accredited by ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers The nonprofit that coordinates the global DNS and gTLD policy. Full definition as GMO Internet Group, Inc. (IANA registrar ID The unique number that identifies an ICANN-accredited registrar. Full definition 49); other accredited GMO entities include those behind the Z.com and Taku brands. Its registry The central database and system of a top-level domain, or loosely the organization that runs it. Full definition business, GMO Registry, operates gTLD generic top-level domain A top-level domain not tied to a country, run under ICANN contracts. Full definition such as .shop and .tokyo and provides back-end services for dozens of brand and geoTLD A generic top-level domain named after a city or region. Full definition.

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Industry roles and organizations

Updated on 5 min read

GMO Internet Group is a Japanese internet group that appears in the domain system in two ways. Companies in the group run registrars, which sell domain name A readable internet name made of labels separated by dots. Full definition to the public, including under the brand Onamae.com. Its registry company, GMO Registry, runs a few top-level domains (TLD top-level domain The last part of a domain name, after the final dot. Full definition), such as .shop and .tokyo, and provides the technical systems for dozens of others.

What GMO Internet Group is

The parent company is GMO Internet Group, Inc., which says it was established on 24 May 1991 and has its head office in Shibuya, Tokyo. As of October 2026, it is listed on the Prime market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange under code 9449.

The company was called GMO Internet, Inc. until September 2022, when it took its current name. In January 2025 it became a holding company: its internet infrastructure business, including domains, was transferred to a subsidiary, GMO AD Partners Inc., which was renamed GMO Internet, Inc. The same name has therefore belonged to two different companies.

In ICANN’s list of accredited registrars, the group’s main accreditation is held by “GMO Internet Group, Inc. d/b/a Onamae.com”, with IANA ID 49 and Japan as its country. “d/b/a” means “doing business as”: Onamae.com is the brand. As of October 2026 the record still carries the parent’s name, although the domain business now sits with GMO Internet, Inc.

Its role as a registrar

As of October 2026, IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority The functions that coordinate the root zone, IP addresses and protocol numbers. Full definition’s registry of registrar IDs and ICANN’s list show five accredited registrars whose names include GMO:

  • GMO Internet Group, Inc. d/b/a Onamae.com, ID 49, Japan.
  • GMO Domain International, Inc., ID 645, Japan. Its website in ICANN’s list is z.com/sg/, which links it to Z.com, a brand the group uses for internet infrastructure businesses in several Asian countries. It uses the same RDAP Registration Data Access Protocol The modern protocol for looking up domain registration data, replacing WHOIS. Full definition server as Onamae.com.
  • GMO Brand Security Inc., ID 1434, Japan, named GMO Brights Consulting until May 2022. The group describes its business as brand consulting, domain registration Obtaining the right to use a domain name for a set period. Full definition and management, trademark support and support for .brand A top-level domain that a company runs for its own trademark. Full definition.
  • GMO Domain Registry GmbH dba Taku, ID 4893, Germany. Taku is its brand; the company’s legal notice gives its seat as Frankfurt am Main. Its IANA record was created on 17 September 2026.
  • Gmo-Z.Com Runsystem Joint Stock Company, ID 3837, Viet Nam, with an IANA record dated 22 February 2019. The parent lists it among its group companies, in the Z.com business.

A group of accreditations controlled by one company is called a registrar family A group of ICANN registrar accreditations controlled by one company. Full definition. The parent’s list of group companies names GMO Brand Security and the Vietnamese company; ICANN’s records do not show control.

Its role as a registry operator

A registry operator The organization that holds the contract or mandate for a TLD and sets its rules. Full definition holds the contract with ICANN for a TLD and keeps the official list of names in it. As of October 2026, ICANN’s Registry Agreement The contract between ICANN and a gTLD registry operator. Full definition records show two GMO companies in this role:

  • GMO Registry, Inc. operates .nagoya (agreement dated 24 October 2013), .tokyo (13 November 2013), .yokohama (12 December 2013) and .shop (8 April 2016).
  • GMO Internet, Inc. operates .gmo and .ggee (both 9 January 2014). The records do not say which of the two companies with that name they now refer to.

GMO Registry says it was established on 28 July 2009 and names GMO Internet Group, Inc. as its principal shareholder. IANA’s Root Zone Database lists the same six TLDs with these companies as TLD manager. .tokyo, .nagoya and .yokohama are city names, the kind of TLD known as a geoTLD; .shop is a generic word. .gmo carries the group’s own name, but ICANN records its agreement as a standard one (“Base, Non-Sponsored”), not one with Specification 13 The Registry Agreement section that gives brand TLDs their special status and terms. Full definition, the terms used for brand TLDs.

Its role as a back-end provider

A back-end provider A company that runs a TLD's technical systems for the registry operator. Full definition runs the technical systems of a TLD for the operator that holds the contract. As of October 2026, the root zone The top of the DNS, listing every TLD and its name servers. Full definition file delegates 46 TLDs to name server A server that holds a domain's DNS records and answers lookups. Full definition under gmoregistry.net, and IANA’s RDAP bootstrap The IANA lists that tell RDAP clients which server holds the data for a TLD. Full definition list gives all 46 the same RDAP server, rdap.gmoregistry.net. None of the 46 is a ccTLD country code top-level domain A top-level domain for a country or territory, usually two letters long. Full definition, although GMO Registry says it also provides back-end services for Indonesia’s .id; IANA’s record for .id names another technical contact.

Most of these TLDs are Japanese corporate names, such as .toyota, .canon, .sony and .panasonic; a few are not Japanese, such as .hyundai and .kia. Only six of the 46 are operated by GMO companies. The others are held by other organizations:

  • .toyota is a brand TLD under Specification 13, operated by Toyota Motor Corporation (agreement dated 23 April 2015). Toyota holds the contract; its name servers are GMO Registry’s.
  • .okinawa and .ryukyu are operated by BRregistry, Inc., and .kyoto by an academic institution, Kyoto Jyoho Gakuen. IANA lists GMO Registry as administrative and technical contact for .okinawa, and GMO Registry says it was contracted in April 2012 for the back end of .okinawa and .ryukyu.

History

  • 24 May 1991: establishment of the parent, by its own account.
  • 28 July 2009: GMO Registry established.
  • 24 October 2013: Registry Agreement for .nagoya, the earliest GMO agreement in ICANN’s records.
  • 9 January 2014: agreements for .gmo and .ggee. Documents dated 24 November 2014 and 1 October 2015 assign the .gmo agreement to GMO Internet PTE. LTD. and back again, a registry agreement assignment between two companies with the GMO name.
  • 8 April 2016: agreement for .shop, delegated on 5 May 2016.
  • September 2022: GMO Internet, Inc. renamed GMO Internet Group, Inc.
  • January 2025: holding-company structure; the domain business moves to the new GMO Internet, Inc.
  • 17 September 2026: IANA record created for GMO Domain Registry GmbH dba Taku.

What it offers in domains

Group companies register domain names for the public as ICANN-accredited registrars, under brands that include Onamae.com, Z.com and Taku. Through GMO Registry, the group runs TLDs as registry operator or as back-end provider.

  • GMO Internet Group, Inc. is the listed parent and the name on accreditation ID 49.
  • GMO Internet, Inc. is, since January 2025, the subsidiary running the domain business; the name appears as operator of .gmo and .ggee.
  • GMO Registry, Inc. is the registry operator of four TLDs and the back end for many more.
  • Onamae.com, Z.com and Taku are registrar brands on separate accreditations.

A worked example

This lookup is hypothetical: example.com is not registered through Onamae.com. A registry’s record identifies the sponsoring registrar by its IANA ID. If that ID were 49, IANA’s registry would show “GMO Internet Group, Inc. d/b/a Onamae.com”, with RDAP served from rdap.gmo-onamae.com. For a name under .shop, the data would come from rdap.gmoregistry.net.

Sources

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