During the NamesCon conference today, Escrow.com announced its Master of Domains winners. The annual award celebrates “the highest grossing domain name brokers for deals completed in 2022” at Escrow.com. Taking the top spot for this year is Andrew Rosener of Media Options. I believe Andrew has been Escrow.com’s top grossing domain broker for the past five years.
Here are the Escrow.com 10 Master of Domains:
In March of 2022, GoDaddy announced that it acquired DNAcademy, the domain investing education platform founded by Michael Cyger. Following the acquisition, Michael joined GoDaddy as its first Director of Education. Since that time, Michael has been helping to integrate DNAcademy within GoDaddy’s ecosystem, and where it has been rebranded as GoDaddy Domain Academy.
Last month, Michael shared that he will be leaving GoDaddy, and today is his last day:
I had a typo, April 28th will be my last day. 🤦‍♂️
I will be spending more time with AI, but I will also be continuing to invest in domain names.
You’re not getting rid of me that easily! 🤣
— Michael Cyger (@MichaelCyger) April 7, 2023
As I recall, Michael was not an early domain investor. Michael launched Domain Sherpa in 2010, where he shared video interviews and discussions with domain investors and developers who operate on great domain names. The platform grew and evolved, and Michael sold it in 2017. All the while, Michael continued to grow his own domain name portfolio.
I am not sure what Michael has planned for himself, but I am sure he will continue to be active in the domain investment community. Michael has always had a positive and uplifting personality, and he is an asset to our community. I know I am looking forward to seeing what he does next.
Squadhelp has become a leading brand naming marketplace, connecting business owners and entrepreneurs with domain names listed for sales on its platform. Led by its CEO Darpan Munjal, Squadhelp has been innovating while sharing a great deal of helpful search and sales data and insights to customers and prospects.
This afternoon on Twitter, Hilco Digital Assets announced that it “closed a $10m investment as the lead strategic investor in SquadHelp.” Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Hilco Digital Assets, will take a seat on Squadhelp’s Board of Directors. The announcement did not mention the valuation of Squadhelp, nor did it mention whether other entities invested as well.
Here are the tweets from Hilco Digital Assets announcing the investment:
Last week, GoDaddy layoffs impacted 8% of its workforce around the world. I am sure there are quite a few experienced people seeking new job opportunities. In fact, several talented people I have met at GoDaddy were, unfortunately, laid off by the company.
While checking out LinkedIn, I saw that Markmonitor, a corporate brand protection company and domain name registrar, posted an update with links to several job openings the company currently has. The opportunities range from account management to product management to technical development. It looks like there are additional job openings listed on Markmonitor’s website, too.
If there are domain industry folks looking for new opportunities in the domain name space, Markmonitor might be a good place to look for a new job in the industry:
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:
