The Wall Street Journal posted a press release this morning announcing the private acquisition of the XM.com domain name. According to the article, “Internationally acknowledged financial Institution Trading Point of Financial Instruments Ltd has recently announced the successful acquisition of the prestigious two-letter domain name XM.COM as the short name for XEMarkets for an undisclosed amount.”
Although the purchase price for the domain name wasn’t announced by ย the buyer or seller, past marketing of this domain name may shed some light on the acquisition cost for us.
In March and April, Frank Aiello, formerly of Domain Holdings, announced in his newsletter that XM.com was for sale with a price of $220,000. The domain name was mentioned in several newsletters, and the price doesn’t appear to have wavered ย from its $220,000 asking price. The transaction appears to have occurred at the end of April.
Although we don’t know the official purchase price of the domain name, it’s a great asset for this company.
** Update **
I was told that Domain Holdings was not involved in the sale of this domain name.
Thanks to Bill Sweetman of Name Ninja for sharing this with me.
We should hope that the real sale price could be nearly $2 millions.
According to my sources the name was hijacked many years ago, was in litigation at some point too. I wouldn’t touch it with a stick.
Any links to the legal action? What came of it?
http://www.adrforum.com/domains/decisions/861120.htm
If a broker was involved in this sale, I would be very much worried and concern. If claims are true, broker is held liable too.
Appears to be a lot of TM’s on the two letter name in various industries. Do they get a TM with it, have a TM or on it or just the domain name? In fact, almost all two letter names I’ve come across have various TM’s on them in various industries. Does that come into play in aftermarket sales often?
Two letter marks? Two letter may have billion of meanings. There should be no risk in regards of trademarks, unless the site clearly targets some of it.
Perhaps you should read about the LH.com UDRP and then see who has the domain name now: https://www.domaininvesting.com/lhcom-a-scary-decision
@Elliot – You don’t have complete information about LH.com. That domain name was actually sold, even UDRP ended with transfer…
What I know is that LH.com was lost in a UDRP, and then I assume a lawsuit was filed to prevent its transfer.
Neither you nor I are privy to the details of that and/or a possible settlement.
Whatever the case is, you said “There should be no risk in regards of trademarks” and that is faulty since there are considerable legal fees associated with a UDRP and subsequent lawsuit.
He is right “there should be no risk” but there is risk. In a perfect world
There should be no risk for many things we do in life, but unfortunately, we don’t live in a vacuum, and everything has a risk.
New gTLD blocks all two-character marks (domain names), so two-letter dot-com domain names will be pricey and their value will be higher and higher year by year. Only stupid or broke person can sell two-letter dot-com for 6 figure amount.
There are a few better ones on the market for 6 figures… want me to connect you to the brokers (since you think that’s undervalued)? It’s easy to criticize people for selling too cheaply, but if the market was stronger, they wouldn’t have sold for the “lower” prices.
@Elliot – Yes, I know there are some others on market for 6 figures… I am not buyer at this point. But I still believe it is stupid to sell it for 6 figure, as its value is much higher. I do understand not all domain holders are willing or able to wait for right buyer to come, but that has nothing to do with the value. It is same as foreclosures in house market. There are plenty of nice houses on market that are good buy, but I am not going to buy them just because there are well priced.
The value is what the market will pay. XM.com was marketed somewhat publicly, and if it was worth more, it would have sold for more. That said, we have no idea what the sale price was.
I’ve recently seen a two letter .com available for hand reg. I double checked it as well as possible marks, which like many ones have various corps in various industries. Weird that it was available.
I am sure it was some sort of error.
John – are you talking about .whaterver, not .com, right?
WhoIs has nothing. GoDaddy WhoIs has nothing. I’ve checked a few times past few weeks. Maybe I am doing something wrong in checking? Email me privately. If anything worth writing about why it would be just sitting there if it is available.
Even if it is available I’m not going after it without an attorney opinion and even then it’s the buyer of it who would be paying legal fees if anything ever came from it. On the other hand, with just about anyone who could claim it I’d be curious who would have rights to it. May be worth a Q&A post on 2/3 letter domain names in the future.
There aren’t any 2 or 3 letter .COM domain names available to hand register. That boat left well over 10 years ago.
Then I am using DomainTools and Dofo incorrectly or the whois is incorrect. It shows available. I’ve never seen it before and I look up names everyday.
If a two letter .com expires… it’s dropped and unavailable for registration forever.
So, there will never be a two letter .com available for registration.
So… don’t spend too much time tracking this down ๐
Aron
Very interesting – didn’t know that – thanks!
@Elliot – another reason why two-letter dot-com are the very special and best of all and why I would never sell it for 6 figure if I am one of the lucky holders…
If you own one and can afford to hold out, more power to you.
Then that is what I am looking at cause it says (deleted and available again)
But why would a two letter .com not be available to re-register and more importantly how did it go through drop process without anyone picking it up?
If the seller got more than $100k+ for XM they did well or at least better than reseller prices. Hey if the end user comes and the number is above reseller, what more do you want. Also the end user may have paid more if you didn’t price it but its a catch 22, maybe the price got their interest, maybe not, who knows. Oh I know wait 20 more years and hope another end user comes along and offers more money. I have personally sold 4 LL.com, there are only so many domain buyers (resellers) who can afford $100k-$200k+ for a very nice combo.
@Mark,
“New gTLD blocks all two-character marks (domain names), so two-letter dot-com domain names will be pricey and their value will be higher and higher year by year.”
Hmmm… I formed the exact opposite opinion. Since 2Ls are prohibited from right of the dot (I think this is reserved for countries) I think 2Ls have lost a little bit of their shine, relatively speaking. Better to buy a good 3L with the option of taking it right of the dot.
The brand domains are going to be huge.
Look at General Electric, they are unable to go with .GE and so are going with .GECOMPANY, which I don’t think is an ideal solution. (GE also owns gec.com so I have no idea why they don’t go with .GEC.)