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LA.com Sold via Media Options

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In my morning DomainTools Domain Monitor alert email I received this morning, I noticed a registrar and registrant change for the LA.com domain name. LA.com had been registered at GoDaddy Corporate Domains (formerly Brandsite), and it transferred to GoDaddy under Whois privacy.

Using Screenshots.com – and also Archive.org, I could see the domain name resolved to a Media Options landing page with a $5 million price tag. I reached out to Andrew Rosener, CEO of Media Options, and he confirmed that his company brokered the deal. Chris Zuiker and Andrew managed the sale. Unfortunately, Andrew could not comment on the sale beyond confirming that the domain name was sold.

Helping a Non Profit with an Expired Domain Name

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Earlier this week, I noticed a non profit organization’s domain name had expired and was set to be auctioned if it was not renewed promptly. Over the years, I have tried to help a number of organizations save domain names that had expired without their awareness. I have found that it can be a bit difficult to approach an organization about their domain name as a good samaritan, and I thought I would share how I generally approach an organization when a domain name of theirs expired.

The first thing I try to do is identify a contact at the organization that would understand domain names and would have an idea about what happened to their domain name. Depending on the size of the organization, I would look for a CTO, CMO, President, or another executive. I prefer not to reach out to the most senior executives of larger non profits because they’re likely very busy and are more apt to ignore my email. If the expired domain name is a critical domain name to the organization or the domain name associated with their email, I will call someone at the organization.

SEOJobs.com Launched to Help People Find SEO Jobs

Peter Askew is one of the most prominent domain name-first web developers I know. His company owns several Internet properties that operate on domain names that tell visitors exactly what they would expect to find on the website. He has successfully built niche brands like RanchWork.com, DudeRanch.com, and VidaliaOnions.com (my personal favorite).

Late last year, Peter announced his acquisition of the SEOJobs.com domain name for $15,000. Peter found the domain name listed for sale on Afternic, and he tried to buy it for $9,750. The registrant held firm at the $15,000 price, and Peter decided to buy it.

Like Peter’s other projects, the business idea behind SEOJobs.com is clear – it has been (re)built into a website to help people find employment in the field of Search Engine Optimization. I say rebuilt because SEOJobs.com had previously operated as a job board for SEO jobs, but Peter’s acquisition only included the domain name.

CIRA Hiring General Manager of .CA

Adam Eisner, General Manager of Registry Services at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), posted a job opportunity that might be of interest to someone who has domain name industry experience and expertise. CIRA is looking to hire a General Manager for the .CA extension:

The job opportunity is listed on the Career page within the CIRA website, and it refers people to Keynote Search, the executive search company managing the hiring process. Here’s an excerpt from the job listing describing the GM role:

“Based in Ottawa, and reporting directly to the President & CEO, the General Manager of .CA, will be responsible for managing all aspects of daily operations and business development within the .CA business unit.

As a General Manager, you will rely on your leadership skills and superior business acumen to create new strategies to grow the business through customer acquisition and marketing innovation while strengthening internal processes, systems, and overall operations. It is also highly critical in this role that you prioritize being actively present within the business unit, building a roadmap to enhance innovation and revenue growth, reflective of the CIRA mandate.”

The person hired for this role will become a part of the CIRA Executive Leadership Team.

I am not sure if domain industry experience is a requirement for this role, but a “[s]trong understanding of domain services” is listed under the skills and experience section of the job listing.

The .CA extension is quite prominent in Canada, and this leadership opportunity might be a good fit for someone who has extensive domain industry experience.

What XYZ Will Do Differently for Newly Acquired Extensions

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Last night, ICANN broke the news that 11 domain extensions that were operated and sold by UNR have been reassigned upon approval from ICANN. The .HipHop extension was reassigned to Dot Hip Hop LLC (a company started by Monte Cahn and Jeff Neuman), and ten extensions were assigned to XYZ.COM LLC, the company operating .XYZ and many other extensions.

The ten extensions that were acquired by and assigned to XYZ are: .Audio, .Christmas, .Diet, .Flowers, .Game, .Guitars, .Hosting, .LOL, .Mom, and .Pics. Including these ten extensions and its flagship .XYZ extension, XYZ now operates 33 domain name extensions.

Back Office Rebrands to Finally – Using Finally.com

TechCrunch reported on the $95 million Series A funding round of a company called Finally. Originally, the company was known as Back Office, and it used the BackOffice.CO domain name for its business. Along with the rebrand to Finally, the company is using Finally.com for its website.

It is unclear to me when Finally.com was acquired by the company that is using it. At the moment, Finally.com is registered under Whois privacy at GoDaddy.