Domain Industry News

I have been writing articles on my blog since 2007. I have been fortunate to have the advertising support of many domain industry companies over the years, and I appreciate that. By accepting advertising revenue, I have felt obligated to publish articles on a daily basis. I usually take the weekends off from my blog, but that’s about it.

For the past 15 years, I have spent many hours each week searching for interesting topics to write about, writing articles, responding to comments, and performing general website upkeep and maintenance. I have made great friends and gotten to know many colleagues because of my blog. By publishing this blog, I have forced myself to stay up to speed on the latest industry news and trends. All of this has helped me become a better domain investor.

The new year is a good time to make a change, and I am going to take a break from this blog.

As advertising renewal dates have come and gone since last Spring, I haven’t offered the opportunity to renew banner placements. The remaining advertising commitments expire on Saturday. With no advertising commitments in place, I am comfortable to take time off. It may be a month or two – or it may be longer. It is an open-ended break.

Besides the income, the thing I like the most about domain investing is the flexibility it gives me. I can take my kids to practices or classes in the afternoon. I can play tennis or go for a bike ride or a run during the day. I can have lunch with my wife or do errands. I am able to travel anywhere in the world and still operate my business. Domain investing is an ideal business for me.

Despite having this flexibility, I have never felt completely free with the blogging obligations I put on myself. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I feel the constant need to publish content that will interest readers. I enjoy writing about domain names, but the commitment has become a burden.

This is not a “goodbye” post. My full focus will be on my domain investments. I thoroughly enjoy buying and selling domain names. Spending more time on my domain names should help me fine tune my business. Maybe I will pick up some more hobbies or do some community service or volunteer work. I will probably write an article from time to time. Perhaps I will return to my blog in the future.

I wish you continued success with your business. I will be working hard to continue growing my business, and I hope you continue to grow yours as well. I appreciate many of the interactions I have had with readers and commenters, some of whom I call friends. I am grateful for the friendships and connections I have made with other investors around the world.

Until next time…

Merck, the publicly traded pharmaceutical giant, is looking to hire a Global Web Domain Administrator. The person who is hired for this position will be responsible for managing Merck’s domain names. This is an important role for a large, global company like Merck, which owns thousands of domain names across its brands.

This job opportunity might be of interest to someone with domain industry account management experience who wants to make a jump to the client-side domain name management. Knowledge of Domain Management practices is one of the requirements of being hired for this position. The job was posted on Merck’s website.

Here’s an excerpt about what the job entails:

While attempting to place some backorders this morning at DropCatch.com, I encountered an error message. Clicking on the login link brought me to an error message preventing me from logging in to my account:

“We’re sorry. An error seems to have occured. Please try again or visit https://www.dropcatch.com to speak with a customer service representative.”

@NewfoldDigital has agreed to acquire @MarkMonitor, the leading global provider of domain management solutions, from @Clarivate, underscoring our commitment to delivering market-leading web presence solutions to our customers.

Learn more: https://t.co/WdSpCXMOq0

— Newfold Digital (@NewfoldDigital) September 12, 2022

A major domain industry acquisition was just announced in a press release this morning. NewFold Digital, the company that owns domain industry brands like Network Solutions, BuyDomains, NameJet, and many others, has agreed to acquire MarkMonitor from Clarivate Plc. Newfold will pay $302.5 million to Clarivate, the company that owns MarkMonitor.

The ICA presented the 2022 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award today during NamesCon. The deserving winner of this year’s award is Andrew Allemann of Domain Name Wire.

Congratulations to Andrew Allemann ⁦@DomainNameWire⁩ for being named the ⁦@ICADomains⁩ Lonnie Borck Memorial Award winner! Well deserved! pic.twitter.com/iqqwb2iEgF

— Fred Kauber (@fredkauber) September 1, 2022

I have been reading DNW for many years, and I admire Andrew for his exceptional coverage of the domain name space. Andrew has always provided unparalleled and unbiased coverage of this industry, and I think all domain investors are better off as a result.

I am happy to see Andrew honored with the award that was named after a close industry friend of mine.

Thanks to Fred Kauber for sharing the news.

In a blog post on August 18th, Sav reported that its PayPal account had been inexplicably closed by the payment provider. I am sure this would have impacted the registrar’s ability to collect payments from some clients, and importantly, it would have impacted the ability to pay clients proceeds from domain name sales.

This has happened to other domain industry companies in the recent past, and they had to make efforts to get their accounts reinstated. Sav requested that customers reach out to any PayPal connections they may have and to tweet to PayPal in a bid to get their account functioning again.

Yesterday afternoon, Sav reported that its PayPal account access has been restored: