Domain Sales

In my morning DomainTools Registrant Monitor alert email on Friday, I saw that Gus.com changed hands. The domain name had been owned by Nat Cohen’s company, Telepathy, and the domain name transferred to a Norway-based registrant at GoDaddy.

I chatted with Nat Cohen, and he confirmed that Gus.com was sold. He shared that the domain name was sold via the GoDaddy Domain Brokerage Service (DBS). The net payment to his company was $300,000. The standard commission rate for GoDaddy’s DBS is 20%, which would put the value of the deal at $375,000 ($375,000 * .8= $300,000). However, because a buyer may be able to negotiate a better commission rate on higher value deals, it’s possible the total price is lower than that.

I have become a pretty big fan of DAN.com. It’s not just because they are an advertiser here. I have done a solid amount of business using the platform in the year since I put most of my inventory on DAN. In fact, one of my largest recent sales was closed via self-negotiation on the DAN platform.

For quite some time, I have been hearing about the next iteration of DAN. When I have passed along suggestions and feature requests to CEO Reza Sardeha or Laszlo Schenkhuysen, they have mentioned that the requested changes will be included in DAN 2.0 as it has been called. I am looking forward to seeing the newest iteration of DAN roll out.

This past Friday, Reza shared a few preview images on Twitter:

In early May, Andy Booth announced on Twitter that he acquired the Universal.com domain name:

There are still some absolutely mega domains out there, untapped, or just waiting for an investor to time their approach.

New pick-up:https://t.co/Yj9Sfv11eC

— Andy Booth (@360) May 2, 2021

Universal.com is a fantastic domain name, and while there are many brands that would likely want to own Universal.com, one brand stands out. Of course, that brand would be Universal Studios and its various associated Universal brands, including NBCUniversal and Universal Theme Parks. In fact, I was a bit surprised the company hadn’t already owned the asset when Andy acquired it for what must have been a substantial amount of money.

One of my favorite domain names has changed hands. Cool.com, which has been owned by Future Media Architects for many years, is pending transfer. The domain name was being brokered by Saw. I reached out to Amanda Waltz and Jeff Gabriel from Saw, and both confirmed that the domain name was sold.

As I recall, Cool.com had a high seven figure price tag. Neither Jeff nor Amanda were able to tell me the acquisition price, which is not a surprise. Commenting on the sale, Jeff said, “I can’t tell you the price but I can say that cool has always had a steady stream of interested buyers and we are excited to see it end up with a buyer who has a great plan.”

Andreessen Horowitz recently acquired the Future.com domain name, it was revealed today. According to an article published in TechCrunch, the Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm launched a new media brand called Future. Interestingly, the Future brand was launched on a subdomain of the Andreesen Horowtiz website – Future.a16z.com. I imagine the company will rebrand to Future.com at some point in the future.

Here’s what is TechCrunch shared about the company’s plans for Future: