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Reuters: FB.com May Have Cost Facebook Up To $8.5 Million

Elliot Silver
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23

As reported late last year, Facebook was able to acquire the FB.com domain name from the American Farm Bureau Federation. The Farm Bureau now uses FB.org for its website, and Facebook uses FB.com for the company’s internal email system.

At the time of the deal, the price for the domain name was not released by Facebook or the Farm Bureau. According to a report on Reuters, “Facebook paid $8.5 million to acquire the Internet address ‘fb.com.‘” Reuters cites the Farm Bureau’s annual meeting as the source of this information.

The article further stated that the Farm Bureau had sold two domain names that netted the $8.5 million, although they were unable to state which names were sold by them. It is quite likely that FB.com was the bulk of the $8,500,000 in domain sales.

Assuming an $8.5 million sale, it would rank in the top 4 all time domain name only sales behind Sex.com ($13m), Fund.com ($10m) , and Porno.com ($9m).

Goes to show that the combination of a great domain name and a buyer in need with significant cash can lead to a monster domain deal.

Innovation HQ Acquires DUIAttorney.com in Seven Figure Deal

Elliot Silver
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47

DUI Attorney .comJust before the end of the year, I had dinner with Brian and Charlotte Gilbert, portfolio managers for Innovation HQ, the company that owns and operates Grants.com,  MortgageCalculator.com, Unemployment.com, WhatIsMyIP.com, Earth.com, and many more descriptive domain names. They were excited to share the news that their company had just acquired DUIAttorney.com in a “seven figure deal.”

This is much more than a domain acquisition though. Operating online first as an attorney’s website, DUIAttorney.com has been a legal directory for the past two years. It has become a leading website for people looking to hire a DUI attorney anywhere in the US.

Many lawyers and law firms who understand the value of marketing on a site of this nature have locked in exclusivity on their region, and the company continues to field inquiries about advertising on a daily basis. As a result of the category defining domain name, as well as smart SEO, the website ranks very well in search engines for a variety of DUI-related terms.

The website has become a cash cow, and Innovation HQ’s acquisition will help the website grow, both in terms of traffic and revenues. The company intends to put a significant investment into marketing, search engine optimization, and content. All of these things will drive a strong ROI and enhance the value proposition for current and future advertisers.

Although seven figures might seem like a lot of money, I understand that the revenue multiple on this acquisition was very fair, and the company should see a strong return.

An official press release announcing this significant acquisition will be sent out by the company in the coming days.

Congrats to Brian and Charlotte Gilbert and the team at Innovation HQ.

Verizon iPhone Domain Name Suffers Same Fate as WikiLeaks.com at Go Daddy

Elliot Silver
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6

Page Not Available

As news spreads of a presumed iPhone announcement from Verizon Wireless tomorrow, commentators have been discussing some related domain names that are now owned by Verizon. For instance, iPhoneForVerizon.com now appears to be owned by Verizon. The company  fiercely  defends it’s trademarks, so this is no surprise to me.

Perhaps the best iPhone / Verizon domain name would be VerizoniPhone.com, which does not appear to be owned by either Apple or Verizon Wireless. Instead, it appears to be registered to a California resident and registered with Go Daddy.

According to a historical snapshot available on DomainTools, the domain name appears to have previously had a standard Godaddy landing page, which generally contains pay per click links.

However, the landing page seems to have suffered the same fate as that of the WikiLeaks.com domain name. Instead of a PPC-filed lander, there is a graphic that says, “Sorry! This site is not currently available.” I don’t know if there is a way to tell if Go Daddy intentionally isn’t monetizing it or if the customer changed the landing page, but it seems to be a smart move to avoid litigation for monetizing this domain name.

A big question I have though is if Go Daddy is responsible for removing the PPC landing page on this domain name, does it put the company at risk with other potential trademark names that are being monetized by them on their coming soon pages?

Could other trademark holders argue that if Go Daddy is willing and able to change the landing page for a name like VerizoniPhone.com, they should be doing it for all trademark names?  I have no legal expertise but think it’s interesting.

Oh… and I am very eager to hear the news… You can be sure my Blackberry will become a relic once the iPhone is available on the Verizon network.

Go Daddy Sponsors .ME College Scholarship Give Away

Elliot Silver
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2

.ME college scholarship

I heard about something pretty cool, and I thought it might be of interest to you if you know someone in college or thinking about going to college. Go Daddy is sponsoring a $100,000 .ME college scholarship fund, and the company will be giving away 10 college scholarships.

Here’s what the Go Daddy website has to say about the newly announced Go Daddy Scholars program:

“Do you have what it takes to be a Go Daddy Scholar? We want to know how  the Internet or Internet technology (e.g., websites, blogs, forums, social media,  etc.) has helped you during the course of your studies. Have you used the  Internet to advance your athletic, artistic or intellectual pursuits? How do you  envision benefitting from it through college and beyond? Tell us in 500 words  or less and you can become one of 10 Go Daddy Scholars to receive $10,000  for your college tuition.”

The submission start date is January 10, 2011, and all submissions must be received by March 31, 2011 at 11:59 pm (PT). The winners will be announced on or around April 25, 2011.

There are a few requirements of applicants, in addition to the essay. Applicants must have a 3.0 or higher high school GPA, ACT score of 18+ or SAT score of 860+, and references from two people (not family members).

I think it’s very cool of the company to offer scholarships like this, especially given the tough economy and increasing college tuition costs. It’s also a great way to promote the .ME extension, since this will surely get some mainstream press.

Sunday Afternoon Update

Elliot Silver
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18

Just relaxing today, trying not to do much work. Just some football, the gym, and some good food.  I am a bit envious of my friends and colleagues who are out in Vegas right now. Seems like a very good weekend to be there.

I’m excited about the rumors of a Verizon iPhone, supposedly being announced this Tuesday just a few blocks from me in Lincoln Center. It’s amazing that I was a pc user just a few years ago, but now I’ve got a Macbook, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, and soon an iPhone.

Here are a couple business updates:

– I decided not to attend DomainFest this year. I am going to go skiing out west instead, and taking two trips across the country in less than a month isn’t desirable to me.  I am sure it’s going to be a good show, and I will probably regret not going, but there are going to be plenty of others this year.

–  This is common sense, but if you wait until the last second to snipe a domain name at NameJet, you should be mindful of potential slow loading pages (or slow hands). I wanted to bid on BandForum.com last night, and since there weren’t bidders, I waited until the last second so nobody would see me bid. The page didn’t load fast enough, and I didn’t end up getting my bid in time, so another person was able to buy it for $69. Good buy, IMO.

– If you rely on one web developer or designer for a majority of your work, it’s always good to have a back up just in case. People get sick, take vacations, or have other projects that take  precedent  over yours so your work may be on hold if something comes up. Having a back-up developer or two is important.

Telepathy, Inc. Puts Massachusetts.com on the Market with Sedo

Elliot Silver
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16

SedoSedo broker Dave Evanson has been given another domain name exclusive, as I learned his  company is currently brokering Massachusetts.com on behalf of Nat Cohen’s Telepathy, Inc.  A sales price has not been publicized. My best guess is that it will take a mid to high 6 figure offer to close a deal on it, although that’s just a guess.

Nat’s companies own a number of high value domain names (like OceanCity.com and Retirement.com to name just a couple), and it’s not a surprise that he would opt to sell.  I personally have found that to maximize the value of a geodomain name, it needs to be developed, and with so many one word descriptive/generic .com names, it would not be feasible to successfully develop them all within one’s lifetime.

With millions of dollars in advertising and marketing spend this past year, I could see the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism upgrading its website from MassVacation.com. There really isn’t a better domain name for them to own, granted it will be an expensive acquisition. I also think it would behoove the state government to acquire this domain name, but I would imagine that would be a difficult acquisition to make in light of the dour economy.

I don’t recall seeing any state .com domain names on the market in quite some time. Just recently, Ryan Colby announced that Sedo had secured the rights to broker Austin.com.

To learn more about the sale of Massachusetts.com, Dave Evanson can be emailed at dave.evanson@sedo.com, and to learn more about Austin.com, you can email Ryan Colby at ryan.colby@sedo.com.

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