In June, with the help of DomainTools, I noticed that the Engine.com domain name was pending transfer and the nameservers had recently changed to Cloudflare. This valuable domain name transferred to Cloudflare, where it is currently registered under Whois privacy.
According to my @DomainTools Domain Monitor alert email, https://t.co/skWspkn2bF is pending transfer and the nameservers recently changed to Cloudflare (domain name doesn’t resolve yet).
It has been registered at GoDaddy under Whois privacy, and it had Afternic nameservers.
— Elliot Silver (@DInvesting) June 17, 2024
We now know who acquired Engine.com.
According to an article in Fortune today, Hotel Engine is rebranding itself as Engine. The Engine.com domain name now forwards to HotelEngine.com. I suspect that will reverse when the company fully rebrands in October.
The reason for the rebrand seems pretty simple – Hotel Engine as a brand was too limiting. People only expected to book hotel rooms on Hotel Engine. Rebranding as Engine while acquiring the generic Engine.com domain name allows the company to offer additional travel services without confusion. This is outlined in a FAQ on the splash page visitors to Engine.com land on:
“When we started this journey, we focused on revolutionizing hotel bookings for businesses. But our customers asked for more, and we listened. Our evolution into Engine marks our expansion into full-service business travel solutions for our customers. With the addition of flights and cars, our customers can manage all their business travel on a single platform.“
Prior to the transfer to Cloudflare, Engine.com had been registered under Whois privacy at GoDaddy. Prior to that, the domain name was owned by a domain investor I have known for many years. I will reach out to him to see if he was the seller, and if so, if he can comment on the sale price.
Right now, I have no idea what the company paid to acquire the Engine.com domain name. I would not be surprised if it was well into the 7 figures (or more). I think it is similar in nature to the recent sale of Rocket.com.
Perhaps the sale price will be announced one day. Until then, kudos to the team behind this great rebrand. The company is now reportedly valued at $2.1 billion.
Search Engine is a dated term IMO. Probably going to receive some Motor Engine related traffic.