This afternoon on Twitter, George Kirikos uncovered the sale of Arnold.com in a document found on the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) website. The domain name was acquired in April of 2013, and the price seems very affordable at $27,500.
https://t.co/kmqzFtUZb2 domain name was acquired for a mere $27,500 in 2013, see section 9(c) of https://t.co/3iGNb2cZ3A pic.twitter.com/DDxcMJ2dhH
— George Kirikos (@GeorgeKirikos) February 12, 2017
Here’s the relevant section of the endorsement licensing and co-branding agreement involving Arnold Schwarzenegger that George found on the SEC website:
“The AS Parties shall also have the right to purchase from MusclePharm the Arnold.com domain name for a purchase price equal to MusclePharm’s actual cost in acquiring such domain name (in the amount of Twenty Seven Thousand Five Hundred ($27,500) plus interest accruing at an annual rate of five percent (5%) from April 27, 2013 the date of acquisition of such domain name through the date of the sale of such domain name.”
According to the DomainTools Whois History Tool, prior to its 2013 sale, the domain name had been owned by a Wisconsin company called Arnold Consulting, Inc.
In looking at the DNJournal sale report from 2013, this sale would not have ranked in the top 100 public .com domain name sales of the year. It probably would have ranked pretty highly during the week that it sold, but it was not one of the largest sales of the year. I imagine that NameBio will add this sale to its database.
A couple of years ago, I wrote about a Fortune magazine article discussing how first name .com domain names were becoming trendy. Arnold.com selling for $27,500 seems like a great deal. In addition to Arnold Schwarzenegger, there are quite a few brands and people named Arnold. There is a bread company named Arnold as well as a major marking and advertising company with that name.
What a steal.
It was a “fair” price, a little light for sure but fair. It would not have been easy to see $50k-$100K from end users, that is a much tougher road. The seller could have passed that up and never seen more. He could have re invested that $27k and made more than $100k by now in the market. The re investment is just as important.
Mind you I have sold over a dozen better first name dot com for much more BUT they also ranked higher in popularity thus meaning more potential buyers.
jmo
I agree with you and know you’ve sold a few, but the fact that one of the largest marketing companies in the world is called Arnold, as is a major US-based baker, I would think this name could have sold for more. Since the seller had the domain name for his company, perhaps he did not shop it around and try to get a better offer.
It was a decent price, but it seems pretty low to me.
It would be interesting to know who brokered the deal.
If the seller knew they were dealing with AS, it would not go for $ 27k.
I believe AS net worth is in the hundreds of millions.
Both of you appear to be completely discounting the obvious Schwarzeneggerarian premium associated with this domain, which appears inexplicable. He may not be as huge as when he was in his prime, but the single name “Arnold” was still as famous and identifiable as “Madonna” or “Cher” and would still resonate that way in people’s minds.