Did Apple Acquire WWDC.com Domain Name? (Updated)

Elliot Silver
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WWDCIn my morning DomainTools Registrant Alert email, I noticed that the WWDC.com domain name changed hands. The domain name is now registered to DNStination Inc., which is a privacy registration service offered by domain registration and brand protection firm MarkMonitor. The first thing I thought when I saw the registrant change is that I wonder  if Apple acquired this domain name.

Apple operates its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which is regularly abbreviated and referred to as WWDC. In fact, the meta description on the conference homepage within Apple’s website has the WWDC abbreviation. Apple uses the conference as an opportunity to show off and introduce new software, technology, and tools for developers. The 2017 WWDC will be held June 5 – 9 in San Jose, California.

I did a Google search to see if there are any other obvious suitors for the WWDC.com domain name, and all of the top results I see are

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DomainMarket.com to Allow Third Party Listings

Elliot Silver
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DomainMarket.comMike Mann is planning to open DomainMarket.com to third party listings, he announced in a public Facebook posting today. DomainMarket.com has been used exclusively to sell domain names owned by Domain Asset Holdings, a company also controlled by Mike Mann.

The Facebook post makes it clear that there are certain requirements that need to be met for a domain name to be listed on DomainMarket.com:

“As I mentioned DomainMarket.com will open a domain brokerage asap, which will have very strict rules and be very automated, with very low fees and high quality services. Only .Com is Rule 1 (may expand with .co and .org). Rule 2 is must have a good appraisal or price range meeting our standards. Rule 3 is it has to point to our landing pages. Rule 4 is it uses our commerce platform. Rule 5 is length of contract. That’s it, then you get the best at the lowest fees.”

Third party domain name appraisers will be used to ensure the domain names listed by third parties meet the $10,000 minimum valuation requirement. Mann is currently

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Heritage Auctions Brokering “Major .CO Portfolio”

Elliot Silver
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HA.com LogoAron Meystedt, Director of the Domain Names and IP category at Heritage Auctions, emailed me about a portfolio of domain names his company is brokering on behalf of an undisclosed client. The portfolio is made up of approximately 750 one word and short .CO domain names.

Here’s what Aron said about this portfolio:

One of our clients is selling the best .co portfolio on the market. There are approximately 750 names, and a majority of them are ultra-short and one word names perfect for branding – and could easily be sold one at a time.

Some of the domain names in the portfolio that Aron highlighted and that I saw include the following one word .CO domain names:

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Arnold.com Acquired for $27,500 in 2013

Elliot Silver
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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.

Here’s the relevant section of the endorsement licensing and co-branding agreement involving Arnold Schwarzenegger that George found on the SEC website:

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Heart.com Acquired by IHeartRadio Parent

Elliot Silver
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Media Options was brokering the Heart.com domain name domain name last year. This past  November, Jamie Zoch reported that “Heart.com which was owned by Blucora, Inc. has moved to generic whois data at MarkMonitor, along with a DNS change to generic MarkMonitor servers.” Andrew Rosener of Media Options confirmed the deal to Jamie at the time of his article, but the buyer was unknown.

Based on a Whois record update, the new registrant of Heart.com is iHM Identity, Inc., the parent company of iHeartRadio.

Heart.com Whois Record

 

Heart.com is a great acquisition for the company. In addition to being a fantastic domain name, Heart.com is

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How I Would Choose a Domain Broker

Elliot Silver
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Domain brokers can be very helpful. Some of the best  domain name brokers sell millions of dollars worth of domain names each year. Brokers can be an essential part of the process of selling domain names, and there are quite a few domain brokers I respect and would use.

It is very easy to become a domain broker. There are no qualifications required, there are no certifications needed, and literally anyone can call themselves a domain broker without any industry background or experience (do a Google or LinkedIn search to see how many there are!). As far as I know, there are no requirements for people to identify themselves as professional domain name brokers. It is because of this that due diligence is required before choosing a domain broker.

I am fortunate to know quite a few exceptional domain brokers, but I thought I would share some thoughts on how I would go about choosing a domain broker if I did not have these contacts.

For the purpose of this article, I am going to assume that a domain broker made the first contact with me to ask about selling one of my domain names or I did a Google/forum/blog search to find the names of domain brokers. Essentially, the assumption is I know the name of a broker but know nothing about that broker.

The first thing I would do would when contacting a broker

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