NameMedia, Inc. Files for IPO
Heary congratulations to the folks at NameMedia, who according to Reuters and a post on DomainNameNews.com filed with US regulators to raise up to $172.5 million in an IPO. The company plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq market under the highly appropriate ticker symbol “NAME.”
This comes on the heels of great growth in the domain space. Some of NameMedia’s better known properties include Afternic, BuyDomains, and Smart Name among others. The company also recently announced strategic partnerships with leading companies such as Network Solutions and Register.com.
And also, courtesy of Sahar’s Blog, the filing can be found here:
Two Certainties in Life: Domains and Taxes
I know its a bit early to begin talking about taxes, but its much better to think about them now than in April! Although I haven’t ordered this ebook yet, I’ve heard some great things about The Domain Tax Guide, written by Sandy Brooks, CPA. I plan to order it soon to give to my accountant. The price tag is a bit hefty for an ebook, but I think its well worth the investment.
If my friend Steve Maroulis thinks this is a must read, then I certainly need to buy it:
“A real eye opener!!! Must read book for anyone involved in buying and selling domains”
-Steven Maroulis, DNElite.com“
NameMedia Forms Strategic Partnership
NameMedia Announces Strategic Marketing Partnership with Network Solutions
The morning, NameMedia announced a new partnership was formed with Network Solutions. When a customer searches for an available domain name on the Network Solutions platform, a number of “Premium Resale Domain Names” will be listed in addition to the results of the query. For example, when I searched for the availability of BritishNews.com, the following appeared:
“britishnews.com is a Premium Resale Domain and can be purchased for $5,000”
This should be a good partnership opportunity because people who are willing to pay $34.99 for the standard one year registration at Network Solutions (vs. $9.99 at Godaddy) are probably more inclined to spend more to buy a premium domain name. This is a win for all parties, including the customer, who will have the opportunity to upgrade.
The End of Whois?
“The Associated Press reports that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which sets rules for domain names, may allow the system to end because of a disagreement over how it should work.
Part of the issue is that the registrars—a rather low margin business—have been charging domain owners an extra fee for the equivalent of an unlisted phone number—a Web site without real contact information listed in the whois directories.”— Source New York Times
Many people have complained about the whois database because it can be data mined for email addresses, which makes it a major source of spam to domain owners and businesses. Unsolicited emails generated from user Whois queries are both annoying and frustrating to domain owners.
Eliminating the whois would be a boon to aftermarket companies like Sedo and Afternic, as domain investors would spend more time searching those sites in lieu of whois searches. This would be time consuming for domain investors, and it would certainly narrow the amount of available domain names for sale.
Perhaps an alternative to scrapping the whois system would be to allow free privacy services to domain owners instead of the fee registrars currently charge. This would allow people to become unlisted, and it wouldn’t be financially burdensome for those who have hundreds of names in their portfolio.
If the whois database is eliminated, I foresee companies offering historical records for a fee, which would make owners susceptible to continuing to receive email. Although scrapping the system might seem like the easiest and quickest fix, in the long run, I don’t think it will help the domain industry.
Real Estate vs. Domain Names
A great post on Sahar’s Blog this morning comparing the opportunity in Fort Lauderdale real estate to the opportunity in domain names.
“One of the interesting facts I picked up on is the land on Millionaire’s row (which now is being refered to as “Billionaire’s row” due to cheaper money) was given away for free back in the 20’s. The first thought of course is how people overlooked this great opportunity back then? Then the second thought took me back to 1994, when Network Solutions was still giving away any domain you wanted for free, if you just asked for it. Can you imagine? You could have picked up million dollar names only 13 years ago, as many as you wanted (could have structured within different companies at ease) as long as you asked for it.” — Source: The Conceptualist
Read the rest of Sahar’s post here.