.com

The domain com is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Created in the first group of Internet domains in March of 1985, it is short for commercial, as it was originally intended for subdomains for commercial organizations. Later, the domain opened for general purposes. The domain was originally administered by the United States Department of Defense, but is today operated by Verisign, and remains under ultimate jurisdiction of U.S. law. The .com domain is more commonly used than the more specific .us by American businesses and enterprises. Verisign registrations in the .com domain are processed via registrars accredited by ICANN. The registry accepts internationalized domain names. The domain was one of the original TLDs of the Internet when the Domain Name System was implemented in January 1985, the others being edu, gov, mil, net, org, and int. It has grown into the largest top-level domain, and has lent its name to the dot-com bubble, the era of the late 1990s during which excessive speculation in Internet-related concepts and companies led to rapid growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.