Generic Domain Names

You can have a look at a  SEC filing from BankRate.com, which provides details into its recent acquisitions, and it identifies over $80,000,000 in domain name acquisitions. The company specifically identifies what it spent on the domain names it acquired, although some of that value seems a bit high from my perspective. The total domain name spend recorded in the filing was $84,880,000.

Some of the domain names the company mentions that it acquired includes CreditCards.com ($26,500,000), CreditCards.ca ($650,000), InsuranceQuotes.com ($5,900,000), CD.com ($500,000), NetQuote.com ($40,900,000), Bargaineering.com ($2,700,000), CarInsuranceQuotes.com ($7,500,000) and a couple of others.

The figures mentioned above are specifically for these domain names and do not include customer lists or technology. The costs for everything else are also included in the filing but may be treated differently from the domain assets when it comes to taxes. I also suppose the domain name obviously increases in value when something is built on it, and perhaps that includes the goodwill associated with the brand.

I know it may seem far fetched that NetQuote.com was recorded as a $40 million domain acquisition, but here’s the exact quote from the filing: “Approximately $92.0 million was recorded as intangible assets consisting of Internet domain name for $40.9 million, customer relationships for $46.0 million, and developed technology for $5.1 million.”

One other interesting thing I noticed was BankRate’s  amortization  treatment for domain names. According to the filing, they  amortize  domain names from anywhere from 5 years to 25 years, depending on the domain name. I have no accounting experience so I won’t comment on why, but it’s interesting to note.

Thanks to  George Kirikos  for the tip.

I am generally impressed when I see a mainstream company have ownership of a great descriptive domain name, especially if said domain name would be worth a lot of money to other companies, including competitors.

A descriptive domain name can either help enhance a company’s web presence, like Baby.com does for Johnson & Johnson, or it can be used to forward traffic to the company’s primary website, like Barnes & Noble does with Books.com. These two companies use their respective descriptive domain names completely differently, but certainly both usages are effective.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P), one of the largest bank, government, credit (and more) ratings agencies, has been in the news quite a bit, and it hasn’t generally been for positive reasons. I hate political discussions, and I am certainly not an economist, so I will save you a synopsis of the current state of S&P and why they’ve been in the news.

I was duly impressed when I saw that the company owns BankRatings.com, clearly a great descriptive domain name for its business. I was much less impressed when I saw that not only has the company not appeared to develop the domain name, but it doesn’t redirect it anywhere either. Technically, the domain name is owned by The McGraw Hill Companies, although the registrant email is @sandp.com. The domain name was created back in 1997, and it’s been owned by the company since at least 2001.

What a waste of a valuable domain name!

I want to share a poorly crafted GoDaddy phising email I just received. Be aware of it and be sure not to click any of the links. It appears to me that the embedded link is to goldldaddy.com (as you can see in the image above when I hover over the link). GoDaddy will always use your name in the Dear section, although someone could very easily specifically target you.

Always hover over any links before clicking, and if you have any doubts that it’s real, forward the email on to legal@godaddy.com.

Subject: Important ICANN Notice Regardings Your Domain Name(s)

Message
it is that time of year again. ICANN(the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) annually requires that all accredited registrars (like GoDaddy.com) ask their domain administrators/registrants to review domain name contact data, and make any changes necessary to ensure accuracy. According to our records you are the ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT for one or more domains registered at GoDaddy.com, Inc. as of Jan 1st, 2011.

To review/update your Account data, simply:
+ Login to https://dcc.godaddy.com/ default.aspx?isc=ICANN0908a& amp;ci=8987
+ You will be taken to a landing page and asked to enter your account information
Please take a look that your account and domain information is up to date.

If, however, your domain contact information is inaccurate, you must correct it. (Under ICANN rules and the terms of your registration agreement, providing false contact information can be grounds for domain name cancellation.) To review the ICANN policy, visit:http://www.icann.org/ whois/wdrp-registrant-faq.htm

Should you have any questions, please email us at support@godaddy.com or call our customer support line at (480) 505-8877.

Thanks for your attention and thank you for being a GoDaddy.com, Inc. customer.

Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com, Inc. Domain Support

If you are the domain administrator of more than one GoDaddy.com domain account, you may receive this notice multiple times.
—————————— —————————— —————————— —
Copyright (c) 2008 GoDaddy.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

According to Tricia Duryee of AllThingsD, CSN Stores, the company that owns and operates quite a large number of websites on descriptive domain names, has received $165 million in funding. The article mentioned that the company will be spending some of this funding on new acquisitions:

“The funding will go toward expansion both internationally and in the U.S.; for acquisitions; and to support the launch of its new brand, Wayfair.com.”

This could be an opportunity for domain owners who have built product-related websites and want to sell their stake, or for those domain investors who have great generic domain names that have not built anything on them yet. Perhaps the company would be interested in making strategic domain acquisitions.

In all, the company operates over 200 websites. Some of the websites on descriptive domain names include:

• Luggage.com
• Strollers.com
• TVStands.com
• BedroomFurniture.com
• Upholstery.com
• BedroomSets.com
• WineRefrigerator.com
• Bedrooms.com

Thanks to MO.com for the tip.