Adding to its growing stable of business units, Amazon.com recently acquired Fabric.com and its business assets. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but Fabric.com will continue to function as its own entity. Amazon’s acquisition of a somewhat unrelated company is an interesting move, in this era of corporate refocusing on core competency.
With a tough economy, now might be a great time for a large company like Amazon to pick up some great business assets at good prices. The question is, what can Amazon do to avoid the same fate as IAC?
Thanks to Brad for sending the story.
TechCrunch: Amazon Acquires Fabric.com
Domain Auction Acts of Impropriety
An important discussion continues to be had at Mike Berken’s blog regarding companies who participate in their own drop auctions. The short summary is that Mike bid on (and won) 23 drop auctions at Tucows, only to be told later that the names were part of Tucows’ portfolio. Apparently these names were accidentally listed during Tucows’ transition from their auction platform to Afternic’s.
These domain names were taken out of Mike’s account, after he paid for them, and the only compensation he received was an apology and a refund. Nothing was given to Mike to compensate him for his time searching for these domain names and his time bidding on them. Mike is no spring chicken when it comes to the domain industry, and judging by the quality of names Mike has and continues to purchase, these were probably significantly valued domain names.
The conversation has turned into one about ethics, and the discussion moved to whether employees should be prohibited from bidding on their company’s auctions. While I think it is necessary that domain companies hire people who know the domain industry, I think employees should be prohibited from bidding on their own company’s auctions – or on domain names where their company could benefit from the results (ie: registrar who outsources domain drops but profits based on the final sales price).
Denying a company employee access to various stats or proxy bid information for a domain name isn’t the remedy. As long as there is the appearance of a possible conflict of interest, there is a problem. As domain investors, we could be getting screwed without even knowing it.
I think this is a conversation that needs to be had, and all domain auction houses and drop companies should pay attention. Check out the discussion on Mike’s Blog when you get a chance.
Great Blog of Interest With Focus on Hosting
Richard Douglas of Secure Host has a great new blog appropriately named “Too Many Secrets” that domain investors and developers alike should read. For the past few months, Richard has been giving me great (unsolicited but much appreciated) advice regarding my development projects, and it has been really appreciated. For anyone that has developed websites, or if you are thinking about developing your websites, Richard’s Blog is one I recommend.
Hosting is often the last thing people think about when they are building a website, but it is a critical component to any successful website. There are different types of hosting plans, there are laws that could impact a business based on the location of a company’s servers, there are ways to enhance a website’s security…etc. There are many things that need to be considered that seasoned professionals may miss when launching a website. Richard is very familiar with all of this, and he is also familiar with the domain space. He has been offering me fantastic advice, and I think readers of my blog will benefit from reading Richard’s blog.
TooManySecrets.com is going to be a very popular blog, and I highly recommend you check it out.
Viewpoints: Additional TLD Extensions
There are plenty of people on both sides of the fence regarding the proposal to add various TLD to the domain space. Companies, cities, and other individuals with enough financial backing may be able to apply for their own TLD. The impact on the domain industry, SEO, IP enforcement, TM protection…etc. constituencies will be enormous in some good and bad ways.
To form your own opinion, I invite you to read posts and blogs covering this topic from a few friends in the industry: Be sure to check out Kevin’s opinion, Mike’s opinion, and Anthony’s blog for more information about this.
Fandango Buys Movies.com from Disney
The Washington Post is reporting that Fandango recently purchased from Disney for an undisclosed sum. Fandango is a subsidiary of Comcast, a company that unsuccessfully tried to acquire Disney a few years ago. The article cites Disney’s desire to remain focused on its core brands (ABC, ESPN, and Disney) as the reason for selling Movies.com.
I understand that one needs to remain focused on its core competency, but doesn’t Disney make movies still? Doesn’t Disney have more than enough talent to be able to continue operating Movies.com without impacting its other businesses? I think this is a big buy for Comcast. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fandango become rebranded as Movies.com, giving it more of a presence in the full movie market, rather than being a movie preview and movie ticket facilitator.
While the price may be undisclosed at the moment, the purchase price may be revealed at a later date, as both Comcast and Disney are publicly traded companies, and the price for the domain name and accompanying business could have an impact on earnings, albeit minimal.
Delegates.com – High Value Domain For Sale
A friend of mine is looking to sell the domain name Delegates.com with a bargain Buy It Now price of just $18,000. This great domain name could have big election implications, and there are also many other uses for it. There are also over 28 MILLION references to “Delegates” on Google. Also, according to Aaron Wall’s Keyword Tool, there are 1,351 daily searches for the term “delegates.” If you count all the secondary terms such as “super delegates,” “delegate count,” “delegate tasks,” and more, there are thousands of daily searches.
This is a great domain name for any election season, but also has other uses. The first person to post “sold” will get this great name at a great price.