As George Kirikos pointed out yesterday morning on Twitter, JB.com has changed hands. The domain name had been owned by Domain Capital for several years, and the company had been asking well into the seven figures to purchase it. I spoke with Domain Capital’s Gregg Freeman, and he confirmed that the company sold the domain name. Gregg would not share the purchase price.
A Whois search reveals the current registrant’s email address is @guta.com. I believe this would indicate George Hong’s Guta.com domain brokerage helped facilitate the sale of JB.com. I presume the buyer is based in China, but we shall see.
There are quite a few companies and people that have JB as their initials. I am sure Domain Capital spent time reaching out to prospective buyers, and I am a bit surprised that one of the larger companies did not acquire the domain name. I suppose a seven figure price tag may be daunting, but it’s not like some of these companies and people couldn’t afford it. A few prospective buyers could have been:
- JetBlue
- Justin Bieber
- Julius Baer (investment bank)
- Jelly Belly
- JB Hi-Fi
- JB Pritzker
This is just the tip of the iceberg, as a Google search for JB shows many other companies who could have used this domain name.
I will keep my eye on the Whois to see if the domain name changes hands again in the short term, as Guta may be the brokerage rather than the purchaser.
