The domain industry has made the news again this week, this time with an article appearing in Investors Business Daily (found on CNN). With the domain industry maintaining its strength, mainstream news outlets are taking notice and beginning to cover the industry. These positive articles discuss how the industry is becoming more mainstream, which will continue to make venture capital companies more comfortable when investing millions of dollars.
Here are a few other recent articles that have appeared in mainstream press:
Christian Science Monitor
The Telegraph (UK)
International Herald Tribune
While much of the world’s economic systems are going through tumultuous times, the domain industry appears to be strong. The continued success and growth of the industry is leading to greater focus as it’s becoming an alternative to traditional investing vehicles. As more venture capital firms invest in the domain space, I believe we will see similar articles in the mainstream press. With the domain industry becoming less secretive, the fruits the industry bears may become even more lucrative.
Domain Industry Making News
Domain Industry in the News
It’s always neat when I wake up and there’s an article of relevance to me in the New York Times. Page One of this morning’s New York Times Business Section features an article about the domain industry, focusing on the growth of the industry while many other industries (especially physical real estate) are stagnant or losing value. The article comes on the heels of DomainFest in Los Angeles, which featured live and silent auctions ending with somewhere around $4 million in domain sales.
Oversee.net Receives $150 Million Investment
As discussed on TheDomains.com, Oversee.net received a commitment for a $150 million investment from Oak Hill Capital Partners. The transaction is expected to close by the end of January 2008. Oversee.net recently made news with their acquisition of domain registrar Moniker, and the transition to working as one collective unit has already begun. I received an email this afternoon with the subject, “SnapNames and Moniker Collaborate on Internext Domain Auction.”
According to Conde Nast publication Portfolio.com, “the funds will be used to boost growth and to acquire technologies that will enhance its suite of services.”
Let’s hope future acquisitions continue to help individual companies build upon the strong foundation of its buyer.
Network Solutions' Defensive Measure for Whois Searches
Say you want to buy the domain name HelloElliotsBlogReaders.com at Network Solutions, and you search the availability of that name. You see the name is available, but you would prefer to buy it at Godaddy. Ten seconds later, you look the name up at Godaddy to complete the registration, and POOF, the name is no longer unregistered, and it shows up as being registered by:
Domain Name: HELLOELLIOTSBLOGREADERS.COM
Registrant:
This Domain is available at NetworkSolutions.com
13681 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 300
HERNDON, VA 20171
US
It now appears that Network Solutions is registering domain names that are looked up on their Whois system as a “defensive measure” against people who may be able to screen their searches, affording searchers the time to register their names without worrying about them being picked off. This seems like a drastic measure to try and stop an apparent leak in the system. The problem is that by doing this, Network Solutions is preventing customers from registering the domain name at the registrar of choice. The name is still available to register, but only if done at Network Solutions.
As DomainNameNews points out, just imagine the possible litigation they could be risking if someone searches for hundreds of trademarked domain names.
Read more details at Jay’s Domaintools blog.
Controlling Interest in BodyBuilding.com Sold for $100 Million
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, and also reported in Tech Crunch, Liberty Media has paid $100 million to acquire a controlling stake in BodyBuilding.com. Liberty Media is an investor in Internet holding company, IAC, parent company of Match.com, Chemistry.com, Ticketmaster.com, and many other category leading websites.
Bodybuilding.com hosts both a fitness social networking community/forum with 100,000 participants, and it is an e-commerce website with body building supplies, vitamin supplements and fitness clothing. According to the Tech Crunch article (citing ComScore figures), BodyBuilding.com received over 2 million unique visitors in November.
Domain investors often cite Hotels.com as one of the few companies that built an entire business around a category killer generic domain name. While this is certainly true, I think there are many other companies, like BodyBuilding.com, that have built strong businesses around a category killer generic domain name. A category killer domain name doesn’t necessarily have to be mainstream to become a $100 million business. Sometimes niche category killer domain names can be just as effective, as long as a solid business plan is in place.
Breaking News: Oversee Acquires Moniker
According to this just distributed press release, Oversee.net has acquired domain registrar Moniker. I assume this is the news to which Rick Schwartz was referring this morning. More information about this can be found on Moniker’s homepage.
It will be interesting to see what will happen with the two major domain conferences (DomainFest and TRAFFIC) and their live auctions. Domain Sponsor (an Oversee.net company) is a founding partner of DomainFest, which features the SnapNames Live Auction from January 22-23, and TRAFFIC features the Moniker Live Auction on February 20 in Las Vegas.
I am sure we will soon learn more about how this news will impact the industry.