Best entity to hold a blog?

[Jill]

I'm planning on putting up a new blog (finally) and would like your opinion on what is probably a simple question. Hope it hasn't been posted elsewhere, but I couldn't find it.

The content of the blog may be considered somewhat controversial by some, and I would like to protect myself from the litigation-happy among us. Would that be an LLC?


Note: I will be only stating facts as such, and will be denoting my opinion as such. But if someone is trying to silence a naysayer, it oftentimes doesn't matter. I've seen many instances where the mere threat of litigation was enough to intimidate folks into stifling their message.

 

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[Jonleehacker]

I know nothing of the law, especially US law, but I took at look at probably the most controversial blog on the web Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors Hollywood gossip blog from Perez Hilton who is sued, slandered and threaten regularly, and the domain name is registered to an individual:

Mario Lavandeira

On the other hand, when I setup my internet business, I consulted a particularly paranoid business CPA and he had me setup a corporation and then made that corporation 100% owned by a parent corporation. Kinda like wearing 3 condoms, probably overkill, but whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

[Yankees338]

I know nothing of the law, especially US law, but I took at look at probably the most controversial blog on the web Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors Hollywood gossip blog from Perez Hilton who is sued, slandered and threaten regularly, and the domain name is registered to an individual:

Mario Lavandeira

On the other hand, when I setup my internet business, I consulted a particularly paranoid business CPA and he had me setup a corporation and then made that corporation 100% owned by a parent corporation. Kinda like wearing 3 condoms, probably overkill, but whatever helps you sleep at night.

Actually, according to our health teacher, that's counter-productive. Bad example!

Just playin'...the example made me laugh!

 

[servicefly]

If you have a holding corporation (s-type accounting) for yourself and/or family, you could start it as a DBA of the corporation and then have it converted to an LLC or corp after it starts to profit.

At least it can give you a couple of layers of protection depending where your company is formed. To be honest, company structure has more to do with future goals rather than immediate results. Also, as a warning, I lost my last company because I didn't have enough time to LLC the DBA before the President committed his fraud and stole funds. It sunk my entire ship.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I'm not a lawyer, but a CORP (S or C) and/or a LLC should add 1 layer of protection. I like Jon's idea of having multiple layers. Just don't do it as a simple proprietor.

 

[Jill]

Thanx all. We are incorporated. All of our domains are registered as "Private". But that doesn't hold much water when someone wants to sue you. I was just trying to figure out whether or not I should waste the time/$ to set up an LLC under my corp to "own" the domain. Strange new world, isn't it?

But from what I've been reading lately, some folks in the political arena are getting awfully sensitive (and litigious) IRT claims, statements, opinions about their belief systems.

 

[mtnman]

It has been my understanding, and my upcoming structure (this will be verified by a cyber attorney) will be each company (domain) will be held as it's own LLC, and my pool of sub companies will be held by a Holding LLC, if not two.

Another thing I've been thinking is grouping by industry/niche. That way, if something goes down via liability, I'll still have another set of companies up and running.

I'm starting out with entities for each minor/major business, and will eventually tie them all together and release myself from ownership of the individual entities.

 

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