Bottle Domains parent now in liquidation

Nicholas Bolton's company Australian Style Services, the parent company of embattled domain company Bottle Domains, has entered into liquidation according to a report released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in early February.

Screenshot of Bottledomains.com.au (Credit: Colin Ho/ZDNet.com.au)

"Notice is hereby given that at a meeting of the abovename [sic] company held on 4 February 2010, the following special resolution was passed: that as the company is unable to pay its debts as and when they fall due, the company be wound up voluntarily," said the report.

Accounting firm Rodgers Reidy will be handling the liquidation. According to a Business Day article, Bottle Domains had "debts exceeding $635,000, including a $385,000 tax bill and $250,000 of superannuation that has not been paid to staff".

Australia's domain regulator auDA had taken away Bottle Domains' accreditation as a domain provider following reports of a security breach that compromised customer credit card details. Bottle had challenged the registrar's decision, but the Supreme Court ruled it was correct. Bottle was due to appeal in February.

At time of publication Bottle Domain's website was still up and running fielding an announcement that it had merged with its sister company, Domain Central. It invited its customers to transfer their accounts to Domain Central.

In January, Bottle Domains accidentally sent its customers an email stating that they would transfer their accounts to another company named "Bottle" also owned by Nicholas Bolton. auDA had reversed this decision stating that the company did not have customer permission.