PALM BEACH, FL - Richard Lau, it’s a name many in the domain industry will be familiar with, as he was a Co-Founder of NamesCon, the domain industries “main event” so to speak, now owned by GoDaddy.com through its acquisition of World Hosting Days. Richard is also known for his long-term support of WaterSchool, a global nonprofit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. It was a staple at NamesCon events – at least that is where … [Read more...]
Profiteering? ICANN’s “Terrible Blunder” Expected to Cost Non-Profits Dearly
PALM BEACH, FL – On November 13, 2019, news began circling that Public Interest Registry (PIR), the Reston, Virginia-based not-for-profit created to manage the “.org” top-level domain name had been acquired by a private equity management firm called Ethos Capital. Since then, the ICA, Internet Commerce Association, a non-profit organization representing domain owners, delivered a letter to ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, calling on the … [Read more...]
Premium GEO Domain Name Shakeup with High Number of Sales and Offerings
WEST PALM BEACH - If you ever wanted to get yourself a nice flashy city, state or regional exact match GEO domain, right now seems like a good time to take notice of your surroundings. GEO, or geographic domain names are web addresses which are exact match spellings of specific places. "Premium" GEO domains would be considered either entire countries, states or major cities (ending in a .com), and there are a growing number of premium geographic domain names which are … [Read more...]
My Single Long Tail, Exact Match Domain Name Grab at NamesCon Global 2019
NEW YORK, NY – This year I purchased just one Internet domain name at NamesCon, and although a little long in length, I feel it’s a good match and good domain name that reflects exactly what my business does, so this name I acquired as an “end user”. I also purchased it at a very good price – Just $800 measly dollars; for that little I couldn't see not grabbing it. The domain name is InternetMarketingServices.com, which reflects exactly what my newer spin-off business … [Read more...]
Domain Name Biz Uniregistry Scores on Domain Name “DomainNames.com”
NEW YORK - A few weeks ago at NamesCon Global 2019 one of the industry’s best domain names, in my opinion, was acquired by Uniregistry, the brainchild of founder Frank Schilling, who operates the company from its Cayman Islands headquarters. As many in the domain industry were, Schilling was in attendance and won the highest bid on DomainNames.com for $370,000, one of the largest sales in the live auction. The remainder of domains which were not sold at the live event, … [Read more...]
SHERPA: “Wow, So This Is, Really, Maybe, It Would Be Fair to Say, The Biggest Auction The Domain Industry Has Ever Seen?”
NEW YORK, NY - I took the time to watch another Domain Sherpa show today - this one called "Domain Handcapping" since it was related to the upcoming NamesCon show next week from January 26, to January 30, 2019 - including “the main event” – the live auction which is held once a year. I’m very much looking forward to attending this year and I will certainly sit in on it and maybe even purchase something, so I wanted to hear what Monte Cahn and Drew Rosener had to say about … [Read more...]
Did DuckDuckGo Just Acquire Premium Domain “Duck.com” from Google?
NEW YORK, NY – Popular privacy search engine DuckDuckGo.com, might just be quacking all the way to the bank with its latest [potential] acquisition, Duck.com, according to name server and domain registrar details pointed out by domain industry website DotWeekly.com. It is important to note that this is just speculation at this time, but knowing that the privacy based search provider has been eyeing the domain for some time, specifically saying that it creates confusion … [Read more...]
Attorney Suggests UDRP Process as “Clear Cut”, “Quick” and “Relatively Inexpensive”
NEW YORK, NY – If you’ve been keeping a watchful eye on UDRP cases lately, you’ve likely noticed some real over-reaching land grabs in action, especially those based on three character acronyms, and like me, have been watching is disappointment. I’ve always said that one of the greatest challenges in the domain space in coming years will be growing regulation and corporate theft by those who seek to own the assets of others; assets they did not have foresight to acquire … [Read more...]
California.com Puts GEO Domains Back on the Map with “Mid-Seven Figure” Sale
NEW YORK, NY – According to Industry news site DNW.com, and a press release, the Iconic US State Name, California.com has been acquired, along with a group of related domain names, in the mid seven figure range. Not bad for a parked domain name. What is truly amazing about this sale, and near-every business broker will spin their head around about, is that the sale is for an asset by itself, a possible business at a great address, with NO BUILT IN REVENUE OR … [Read more...]
Three Letter Blockbuster Domain Sale, ICE.com Trades Hands for $3.5 Million
NEW YORK, NY - According to a press release, the three letter Internet domain name ICE.com has been sold via a private, confidential transaction in the amount of $3.5 million. The sale is expected to be the largest publicly disclosed domain name sold in 2018. The sale was handled by two domain and Internet business brokerage firms Brannan’s and Grit Brokerage and the purchase price and value was defined in a statement as a long-term benefit at the cost of a single … [Read more...]
Donuts Acquisition of BudURL Makes Good Use of New Top Level Domain Names
NEW YORK, NY – Donuts Inc, the company behind hundreds of new domain name extensions has acquired a link shortening service formally known as BudURL, and rebranded it as BL.INK. The service had been around for ten years and was founded by Andy Meadows. The acquisition took place sometime in 2017 according to a company press release, yet Donuts had been operating it in “stealth mode” quietly building in key features which will enhance the services ability to customize URLs … [Read more...]
In Wake of France Domain Theft, Geo .COM Name Space Owners Question Future?
NEW YORK - If you had not yet heard, the mega GEO domain “France.com” was recently ‘acquired’ by the European Country of France. Acquired can be a tricky word as the domain asset was, in this case, acquired through what I call an ‘unprecedented theft’ while readers commented that this event is likely the ‘biggest story in domaining during the last 20 years’, and I tend to agree; surprising there isn’t more Internet chatter on the subject. Coincidently, I’ve also noticed some … [Read more...]
Call for Donuts to Release Proof of Original “Record Breaking” gTLD Sale in Late 2017
NEW YORK – With another ‘out of the ordinary’ new Generic Domain Name sale publicly announced by Donuts Inc. for Vacation.Rentals (reportedly acquired for $500,300.00 in an all-cash deal) this becomes their second earth-shattering alternative-dot transaction in the last twelve months of which many will agree, appears to be sent straight from the heavens above. In fact, all of their employees should vacate the Kirkland, Washington premises immediately and purchase lottery … [Read more...]
Does the Domain Industry Suffer From Own Versions of Trumpted “Fake News” Stories?
NEW YORK, NY – You may have heard the news that a tremendous transaction recently took place. According to TNT Names, Donuts recently sold www.home.loans for $500,000.00. Wow, I missed the boat for sure. I just let Find.cars drop, crash and burn and lost $10,000.00 to count my chips and walk-away. I probably could have sold it for half-a-million dollars in CASH, or could I? What a mistake that was. Or was it? Considering the fact that this deal reflects the largest … [Read more...]
Category Killer Domain Shoes.com Acquired in $9M Transaction by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
NEW YORK, NY - According to domain name industry news publication DNJournal.com, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., owned subsidiary ShoeBuy, has acquired the Internet domain name Shoes.com in a $9,000,000.00 transaction which included the domain name from a bankruptcy of now defunct operator “Shoes.com Technologies”. A spokesperson for ShoeBuy told Footwear News that the move was part of the company’s larger digital goals. We plan to maximize Shoes.com as the gold standard of category … [Read more...]