Great Timing for G.CO Acquisition News

Today’s news that G.CO was sold to Google must be exciting to those with .CO investments. The price Google paid wasn’t disclosed, but the key word is “sold” and .CO Registry CEO Juan Diego Calle did tell Reuters that “the price of one character (.CO domain names) is already north of $1.5 million.” I am sure Google will publicize this in a way that money can’t buy, similar to Twitter using T.CO.

The timing is very good for the .CO Registry in light of the pending renewals that are scheduled for the next several days. As one person pointed out on Mike Berkens’ blog, the Registry has great timing when it comes to important dates. The O.CO announcement came just before .CO names were available to the public a year ago.

While some people seem to be calling the .CO Registry out for dropping important news before big dates, I think it’s smart marketing, and owners of good .CO domain names will certainly benefit. Someone like Lonnie Borck of B52 Media (a good friend) who took a very big risk buying E.CO for close to 6 figures must be very happy right about now. I know he has turned down 6 figure offers for the name, and I would bet if he doesn’t sell it for over a million dollars, it will be close. News like this will help him and others.

This news should certainly not influence people who bought .CO domain names that aren’t worth anything to renew their worthless names. I posted an article offering people the space to list their .CO domain names for sale, and there were certainly a whole bunch of names I wouldn’t want to own at no cost. In my opinion, this happens with every single extension and will happen forever. There are always people making dumb investments (DMD @ $27 anyone?).

When .mobi was having problems, people who owned .mobi names seemed to chide and criticize the .mobi Registry for not doing enough to promote the fledgling extension. I don’t think anyone can accuse the .CO Registry of the same thing.

Kudos to the .CO Registry for their marketing efforts. The more people that see .CO domain names in action, the better investment good .CO domain names will make. Whether you have or will invest in .CO domain names or not, you have to respect the fact that .CO isn’t resting on its laurels.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

47 COMMENTS

  1. July 19th, 2010 – It is reported that Overstock.com buys O.co for $350K.

    July 20th, 2010 – Open registration for .CO begins.

    July 18th, 2011 – It is reported that Google acquires G.co

    July 20th, 2011 – One year anniversary of .CO. Many people deciding on their renewals.

  2. @ Robert

    Low quality LLL.com are worth Mid $X,XXX range. Low quality LLLL.com are worth low $XX range.

    Here is the baseline price for low quality combinations –

    LLL.Co – $0
    LLLL.Co – $0
    LLLLL.Co – $0

    Brad

  3. @Elliot I think your post is right on the money. Good quality (Actually Quality not what most people think are quality) .co domains will remain valuable.

    Also funny you mention DMD because I shorted it as soon as I could and I have made a killing. Time to take that money and go over to your .co auction page and buy some quality domains.

  4. Elliot,

    Since you’ve found time to post this, can you please remove my portfolio that abc posted on the clusterf*&k post.

    It is the right thing to do.

    Thanks

    Chris

  5. Do you think Google got this for free or got it on the “cheap” to create a buzz or PR tool for .co??? I bet they did.

    Brad sums it up 100% correct. They are great marketers but I am not sold personally on .co and I own some dam good ones as well such as Peliculas.co, Vacacion.co (Movies and Vacation) and can’t even get a $60 low ball offer on them.

  6. @Elliot

    Please edit the comment by deleting the “@MHB” part and then delete this comment. It’s of course the same comment I made at TheDomains.com and forgot to remove the name. Thank you 😉

  7. Yes,That’s a great News for .CO when one year birthday,I think some people will consider renew his .co domains that he plan to drop before.

  8. I have not tried marketing it, but have not tried marketing my .tv names and those are selling some in mid 5 figures. Good names should sell themselves. I am not sold on .co outside of great marketing.

  9. I don’t know if .co will make it or not, but Google using G.co and millions of people seeing it won’t hurt.

    A domain extension gets more valuable by people using and seeing it all over.

  10. Still don’t own a single .co and I have no regrets. I remember that .mobi was never supposed to fail, big names outside the domaining world bought into it, even people I respect like Rick Schwartz invested .mobi, but what happened in the end?. However, I must say that Google using .co is a game changer for .co owners. It is great news indeed. But if I have an option to buy a single letter.co or a generic.com where both are offered at $300K I will go with the .com anyday.

  11. @SkyDomains

    “…if I have an option to buy a single letter.co or a generic.com where both are offered at $300K I will go with the .com any day.”

    I will buy both instead… They are both very valuable extensions…

    But, there is a tendency of shifting trends and general perception of WWW:

    .com is Old Tech
    .CO is New Tech

  12. The big G was always going to get G.co, I wonder if they have anything more imaginative in mind than link-shortener.
    I stand humbled, apart from defensive tm registrations I never thought I would by one of these. I still wouldnt exactly recommend them.

    allthe.co -gotta love it.

  13. Just part of the pump, like when Rick Schwartz allegedly bought Flowers.mobi at his own auction for over 200K. Funny how that played out. A bunch of people pumped .mobi and forums were littered with horseshit and garbage for a few years, and then the party ended.

    Of course, Flowers.mobi sold within the last year for 6K. If you think that the Flowers.mobi so-called transaction legit, then you also think the G.Co was legit. The .co crowd will go to any lengths to keep the scam up.

    Of course they would give the name to Google if Google wanted it, and if Google was willing to announce that they acquired it. I wouldn’t trust anything that was announced, that is for sure.

    They are good at realizing how ridiculous their scam extension really is. It is about the most immoral extension you could ever dream up, with .cm a close second. It exists solely because it is a typo, and it is sad that nobody with any authority in domaining is willing to call out these lowlifes who pull this shit off and rob newcomers blind, while dragging in otherwise honest domainers who feel the need to try to make a few bucks on the new craze.

    Domainers will ultimately get what they deserve, and that is mostly the reputation of being shady. Honorable people who never dabble in this absolute dogshit are forced to retreat, as scammers, and otherwise dishonest people have now taken over, and nobody really cares.

  14. .CO is firing at the moment.
    Companies are replacing their garbage .COM names for .CO.
    The big boys are using it for redirection and rebranding.
    Wait another 5 years.
    This is not a .ME, .MOBI or .TV, .CM etc.
    .CO is on a completely other level.
    That’s why it has .COM investors running scared and posting massive amounts of comments. They are beginning to understand it is starting to decrease the value of .COM. It will continue as well. They are scared and frustrated, especially if they did not purchase any .CO. Why else would they post? Think of the psychological aspect, not just the words you read.
    You have to also rememeber that when they post arrogant remarks, the ones that sheepishly post “.com is king” are only reiterating what they have been told. They are sheep that follow the crowd. No innovation and no contribution to the growth of the Internet. Sheep are very easy to spot.
    .CO is going global, and it will become a true TLD.
    The morons that compare it to other extensions that have been realeased over teh last few years are either fools or not very educated. Either way, don’t give them 2 cents of your time. The fact that people are hating means it is a threat.

  15. @Robert Cline
    RE:
    .CO is firing at the moment.
    Companies are replacing their garbage .COM names for .CO.
    The big boys are using it for redirection and rebranding.
    Wait another 5 years.
    etc etc
    ______________________

    Nice words Robert. From a very wise man… me!
    I failed to mention in that post that I have investments in .COM, .NET and .US. I am worried somewhat about the value of my .COM’s. .CO has huge potential worldwide. I fear my .COM’s that I own will be getting less offers now. .CO is making alot of noise, even here in OZ and more companies are moving from their long winded over priced .COM’s to nice short .CO’s.
    I love my .COM’s but I’m an innovator and that’s how I make my money. Certainly not by doing what everyone else is doing.

  16. @Robert Cline
    Stop Robert… you had me at hello. LOL

    Seriously though, I have a vast portfolio over many extensions. .CO is the best I have seen in years. I’ll take my chances and risks. Sheep follow. Innovators lead. Risks are called risks for a reason. The greater the risk, the greater the return.

  17. @Damon I have spent around many thousands of dollars on risk, but no return…. Its the luck which decide to whom to get more.

    .co is very nice I know and it has started growing immediately after google bought g.co and yesterday I have sold all of my .co premium numeric domains domains with no profit. That is called luck.

  18. Damon, are you Roberts evil twin ?

    you posted his exact long winded comment on thedomains …word for word

    or did you forget which name to use at the time ?

  19. LOL
    Robert copied what I posted in another forum. Robert can be a little over the top, but I admire him for his passion. That’s what we lack in this industry. Most domianers are just slackers in it for easy money.

  20. @Raman

    Perhaps you should have sat on them for a few years, developed a few. People cannot expect great demand of an extension in its juvenile stage.
    What LLL’s did you flip?

  21. lol, .co start to appear in google serps it seems. i just found one unexpectedly for the term “whmcs client area header logo url” (while i am working on a WHMCS project)…

  22. @Raman 200.co

    Yikes, man. Why didn’t you hold onto it? That’s one of the better NNN.co. Were you strapped for cash?

  23. Why is it that google is now a .Co owner and people keep waisting thier time posting on blogs like this how the .Co is going to be a flop? Get over it people the .Co is a success and go in the corner and pout and stop waisting your time bashing the .Co. Why is every blog i visit have tons of comments about the .Co? Because its popular!
    Thats my two cent! :0)

  24. I had this on another post but I think it’s now lost in the 300+ replies of worthless domains so I’ll post it here. Maybe someone will know more about this.

    Question: Why are so many premium .CO’s registered inside Columbia?

    Example: Power.co was registered in March of 2010 in the second level, not open to general public. I would understand Power.com.co 3rd level. I thought that was their new internal designation. I read there was a grandfather clause tell the end of March 2010 that gave priority to 3rd level registrants. If that’s true why would anyone invest in .CO if these premium domains were never available? I would expect that all domains would be available after trademarks to the general public for auction/registration. To just grandfather in a bunch of premium domains to Columbia is dishonest to those investing in .CO.

    I’ve come across a bunch like this (not that I could afford or have a chance at them). I’m sure many other folks have too. Just wonder what other people think of this. I think it stinks and shows just why .CO will never receive any real respect.

  25. @em

    I am very very upset for my done. I sold it to chinese singapore. I need cash immediately. I was unaware that market will rise after my sale of 200.co. After 500.co is sold market has boosted. It all my hard lucks….

  26. From .cointernet FAQ:

    If I have a third level domain (eg: xyz.com.co), do I have priority to register the second level version (eg: xyz.co)?
    According to the new policy, priority was given only to those that registered the domain prior to the approval date of the new policy, July 30, 2008; and during a the Grandfathering Phase from March 1 to March 31, 2010. From the end of March 2010 onwards, there is no additional priority given to third level domain registrants.

    So I wonder just how many premium domains weren’t even available to the general public? This grandfather clause makes no sense on a new global tld, which is what they’ve marketed .CO as. SCAM!!

  27. I just can’t imagine .co ever rising to the equivalent popularity and/or the value that .com has taken nearly 20 years to achieve. Don’t me wrong, I agree that Google acquiring g.co is great publicity for the current .co arena and domain holders are sure to benefit temporarily. However, what many here seem to be forgetting is as your commenting on this post, there are literally hundreds of quality dot com’s that are dropping now more than ever. Dot com will always be more valuable unless something completely turns this industry upside down, and I’m not convinced in the slightest that .co has done that yet. Personally, I will take a keyword.Com, .Net, .Org any day of the week over most keyword.co’s I’m just not confident in attempting to acquire hundreds of .co’s, especially if they are geo .co’s. Honestly, it just doesn’t make much sense.

  28. @Daniel

    “…the .Co is a success and go in the corner and pout and stop waisting your time bashing the .Co. ..”

    People… bashing the .CO …because some guys have owned thousands of .com portfolios, afraid of .CO taking over .com and consequently drop their .com values.

    So, they like to put bash .CO to make sure their .com are still number one on top of the world.

    Just like you work in an office where your colleagues jealous about your job and wanted to destroy you by talking behind your back or back-stepping you in order to get rid of you or sack you. He then gets your top job or promotion.

    It is my observation / opinion…

  29. .CO is a country code domain, it does not matter how you frame it. Google uses iGoogle as one of its logos, and I must tell you, I am one of those that felt it should affect the demand for idomains– has it?. I am not hating on .CO owners, If I were, then I should be hating on all domainers because I have long reduced my domain holding to less than 300 and decided to actively pursue development on a very limited few. I will take everyone to memory lane with this $1 million dollar sale http://www.newbusinessnews.com/story/06120001.html
    This is my prediction; A few people with great .CO names will make a killing and the rest will be left with there pants down. There are some names that will have a hard time selling no matter what extension they are, being .CO or anything other than the premium TLD makes it even worse. We are all domainers and hopefully we can be professionals too. There is absolutely no reason to insult someone because they disagree with your line of thought. Infact I do not think .CO investors are stupid, I think those that have the financial backbone to support such a risk are actually brave, but for the vast majority; only time will tell. Personally I think it is in Google’s interest to eliminate the power of domains so that they can charge more for ads? That is probably why these days it is very hard to hold on to the top spot. Recently I saw a one page .com dethrone a .US that has been on #1 for more than 3 years only for the .com to be kicked back to #2 with a hyphenated version of the same keyword. Go figure!. It is time domainers realized that other domainers are not your enemy. Google is not exactly our enemy either, but I think it is the greatest challenge of our time. Unfortunately, yahoo is not really a great search engine. I tried switching to Yahoo but regretfully came back to old G!

  30. Not that I condone bashing anyone, but it’s a ridiculous notion to think that “bashing” .co’s or their respectful owners would have any affect on the values of .com’s. Either way, Dot com’s hold high value. Dot co’s simply haven’t been around long enough to prove the same. If the dot com arena loses value it won’t be becuase their owners are bashing anyone…it would be due to a paradigm shift in the industry. At the end of the day two things matter the most when it comes to the value of any domain name. 1.) whether your audience can remember your domain/extension easily, and 2.) whether you’re offering value/content that they want/need. Since .com’s have been around for 2 decades and that’s what the public is obviously more familiar with, they currently “win” by default until another extension is around for 20 years and has proven the same loyalty and familiarity. However, in my opinion, the best case scenario for the dot co’s, is that they will always be looked upon as the extension to register if your domain happens to already registered. In other words, a second rate domain.. just like .info, .tv. biz, and everything else.

    Regardless of the recent advertising campaigns, 9 out of 10 average joe’s still have never heard of a .co.

  31. <>

    For the record — in response to “Smoke and Mirrors” above — I have said it before; I will say it again: Rick Schwartz purchased flowers.mobi of his own accord. There was no back-room deal, no under-the-counter payout, no anything.

    Whatever you may think of the .mobi domain or the dotMobi company, I can assure you this transaction was honest and above board, and was Rick Schwartz’ decision alone.

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