X.com is one of the few single letter .com domain names, and I would argue that it is one of the most valuable domain names. The X.com domain name was originally a financial services company co-founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk. X.com was the predecessor of PayPal, and it does not look like the domain name has been used independently from PayPal (or Ebay) since then.
I recently detected a Whois change involving the X.com domain name (Jamie Zoch also mentioned it on Twitter and in an article on DotWeekly). For many years, X.com was registered to PayPal Inc. On July 5, I noticed that the Whois information on X.com went private, and the domain name was transferred out of MarkMonitor to GoDaddy. This led me to believe that PayPal sold the domain name, and I reached out to several media and investor relations contacts at PayPal to see if the company could share more information about the status of X.com.
Late this afternoon, Amanda Miller, Director of Corporate Communications at PayPal, confirmed that the company sold the domain name. “We are delighted to sell the domain x.com back to its previous owner, Elon Musk,” Amanda told me in an email.
Unfortunately, Amanda was unable to comment about the purchase price of X.com, and she was unable to share any further details about the sale.
Because PayPal is a publicly traded company, and because I presume this domain name could be worth into the 8 figures, it is possible that there will be a subsequent SEC filing that mentions the sale of this domain name. I will be on the lookout for any mentions of a domain name sale in future PayPal SEC filings to see if the sale price is divulged. As a comparable sale, Z.com sold for nearly $6.8 million in 2014.
As of right now, X.com is not resolving to any website, so it is unclear what Musk has planned for the domain name. Perhaps SpaceX will simply become X and the domain name will be used for its website? I really have no idea, but it will be exciting to see what happens with the domain name. I reached out to SpaceX and tried to reach out to Mr. Musk to see if anyone could comment. I have not yet heard back, but I will be happy to update this article if I learn more.
Update:
Andrew Rosener from Media Options reported that his company acted as the domain broker in this deal (representing the buyer), although he would not share the price.
Elon Musk just tweeted about the acquisition:
Thanks PayPal for allowing me to buy back https://t.co/bOUOejO16Y! No plans right now, but it has great sentimental value to me.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2017
Photo via Elon Musk’s Twitter page.
Good reporting Elliot…
That’s huge news. Musk is very forward thinking. There aren’t many one letter .com that I think have the definition that X.com has. Definitely has the X factor. Now if I could only get Director.com back from Adobe.
Thanks for the share, what a domain!
Simply the best.
Great find. One “X” short of dos equis. Stay thirsty, my domainer friends 😀
I love domaining!
While there is a long is of desirable names that I’d like to get my hands on, the ones I already have in possession has given me the freedom to say phuoooccckkk youse to my boss whenever and wherever I choose.
I am really happy.
Proud to confirm that MediaOptions helped Elon acquire the name!
No comment on price so don’t ask.
X.com is in my opinion the single most valuable domain on the web. This sale proved that. For me it’s a very proud moment and the highlight of my entire domain career. Probably always will be the highlight for many reasons.
Congrats to PayPal and Elon. Americas greatest entrepreneur now has his domain back!
Wow! Congrats Drew, amazing accomplishment all around.
Don’t worry…PayPal is public and it’ll come out when someone reads through the filings, at some point.
X.com is probably worth $20 million but I would guess Musk probably got it in the $2 to 3 million range. I guess we’ll find out soon enough when Paypals annual comes out.
Congratulations Drew!
Great work. 🙂
That would be a pretty insane price.
I mean the low 7 figure range. Even $20 million would be low.
Congrats Andrew.
My guess is that he traded his remaining shares of the company for the domain.
His SpaceX.com may be replaced with X.com . I guess.
I’m inclined to suspect they may have given him a very good price for obvious reasons, a price much lower than this domain would normally sell for in a completely pure “arms length” transaction.
So what are the two biggest deals we know of so far? As far as I know, that would be Cars.com valued at $872 million and LasVegas.com for $90 million over time. Then there are Insurance.com, VacationRentals.com and PrivateJet.com. Below PrivateJet.com, you start dropping below $20 million as far as I know.
If X.com is not up there in the top tier then this is bad news really, and would require fixing any potential damage done to the market. Fortunately however, you don’t need to be a “domainer” to understand nepotism, cronyism, and how such things can factor into giving extremely low and abnormal bargains to special recipients.
PayPal is a public company, and I think a “very good price” might not be good for shareholders.
Let’s hope so.
And I just noticed it looks like M. Castello didn’t get your memo. “I would guess Musk probably got it in the $2 to 3 million range.” That would not exactly be within the same solar system of caring about shareholder value.
Broadcast.com for $5.7 Billion
https://tinyurl.com/Broadcast-com-sold-5BillionYho
Broadcast.com was a business, not just a domain purchase.
My guess is that he traded his remaining shares of the company for the domain.
I have to sell X.horse and my faverite which is for the Musk elon is X.party for a party to have with rocket ships
8.com can beat x.com if it’s on market
Yep.
Congrats on the deal Drew what a fantastic domain. just stunning.
Why would Elon Musk need a broker to acquire X.com?
I mean PayPal already knew who the buyer was as is apparent from Amanda Miller’s response to Elliot and Elon is an internet savy man himself.
So Drew Rosener’s company involvement in this has to be confirmed by Ms. Miller or Mr. Musk before taken seriously. Mr. Rosener is well known for his previous false statements.
I think it would be legally and reputationally risky for Andrew to have reported this if it were untrue.
I was told that no other details would be provided, and I assume that a detail like this would not be confirmed or denied. I did not ask PayPal though.
What has he publicly said in the past that was later proven to be “false”?
That’s a heavy accusation you’re making.
Ditto. That’s a very serious accusation and not to be done lightly without proof. As I have mentioned before, when I caught someone making a similar accusation about FS a while ago at DotWeekly I did not let it go unaddressed either. As Elliot pointed out, and as I would put it, one would have to be dumber that a rock to make such a claim in Rosener’s position if it were not true, so I’m inclined to doubt very much it’s not true. On the other hand, however, I would also wonder why in the world someone like Musk would even need or use a broker for that too.
i bet he used a real estate agent to buy his house
Obviously that’s different.
Musk was never cofounder of PayPal. Why people keep saying that.
I am not sure why people say that, but that isn’t what I wrote. I wrote, ” The X.com domain name was originally a financial services company co-founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk. X.com was the predecessor of PayPal,”
Was Mr. Musk not the co-founder of X.com?
Musk is credited as founder of X.com, predecessor to PayPal. There are four founders of PayPal. Musk decided to have X.com renamed and relaunched as PayPal. It’s interesting that he is not credited as a co-founder of PayPal.
Nice, would have done the same…
Thanks Elliot for sharing and informing marketers to know more about how this all happened.
It,s about the Priject X
T N T
Tesla News Thailand
Nice find and write-up.
Your getting credit for the work from a lot of other outlets.
Hi! What do you guys think the potential for single domains are wether .com or other?
Well this pretty much blows a hole in the crytpo vs .com discussion. Domains are all unique, and the very best are incredible marketing assets that can help you dramatically lower overall marketing costs. Crytpos circulate millions of coins that are all the same.
Maybe Ethereum will be a platform that is game changer. Or maybe another blockchain startup will come along and offer a better platform. Sure hope one of them succeed.
But investors really need to understand that domain names at their core have nothing to do with crypto currencies.
Congrats on X.com sale! Should be a 20 Million Sale. Outside of 8.com, IMO the 2nd best name you can have in the industry.
But RP your way wrong, lot’s more money being made in Crypto than domaining, and it’s not even close. No billionairs in domaining, many in Crypto and it’s just starting.
I am in domaining 17 years, Crypto 2 years, Ethereum.
Speculation based on the above: if a broker was really used for this, which really does seem to be very strange in my opinion, i.e. Mr. Rosener, then perhaps it was done to create a charade and appearance of an “arm’s length” transaction such as in order to avoid any appearance of nepotism, cronyism, or screwing the shareholders of the seller with a price absurdly below the real value. Especially if the price was anywhere within a thousand miles of what Michael Castello suggested above. This type of scenario would otherwise be known as: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bullshit. Nonetheless, Rosener can still be congratulated for getting the deal and good for him. If this turns out to be the case, however, then this is definitely bad news for the industry and people would probably need to engage in damage control re the larger market. If anyone later says “good sale, good price” for something anywhere near what Michael Castello suggested, however, then they will be bald-faced lying and harming the industry as well.
I’m certainly inclined to believe Rosener is not going to say this unless it is true, so the fact that a broker was apparently used at all does have me a bit concerned about it.
Speculation based on the above: if a broker was really used for this, which really does seem to be very strange in my opinion, i.e. Mr. Rosener, then perhaps it was done to create a charade and appearance of an “arm’s length” transaction such as in order to avoid any appearance of nepotism, cronyism, or screwing the shareholders of the seller with a price absurdly below the real value. *Especially* if the total price was anywhere within a thousand miles of what Michael Castello suggested above. This type of scenario would otherwise be known as: “bullspit.” Nonetheless, Rosener can still be congratulated for getting the deal and good for him. If this turns out to be the case, however, then this is definitely bad news for the industry and people would probably need to engage in damage control. If anyone later says “good sale, good price” for something anywhere near what Michael Castello suggested, however, then they will be bald-faced lying and harming the industry as well no matter who they are.
I’m certainly inclined to believe Rosener is not going to say this unless it is true, so the fact that a broker was apparently used at all does have me a bit concerned about it.
Was probably a low flat-fee for what I’m guessing was little more than clerical work.
That does not seem related to anything I wrote unless perhaps it’s your way of suggesting congratulations are not really in order.
What a fabulous domain name and future portal. The X.com for SpaceX possibility is perfect.
Wonderful domain name
Congratulations to Elliot for getting mentioned in TechCrunch for this Whois name change!! Got credited as a blogger instead of a specialized domain blogger. In any case, great discovery that will get you additional fans. Right on!
Now this is an article. Thanks for writing it man. Look forward to updates. I’m selling RollerBlading.com or trying to broker it to Disney