On May 1, George Kirikos reported that “Chinese firm Qunar $QUNR appears to have paid $459,000 for QUA.com domain in late 2014.” I believe George was basing this on the annual report filed to the SEC by Qunar. In that report, the company stated “The carrying amount of intangible assets is RMB2,849 (US$459), which relates to a domain name acquired in year 2014. No impairment to the domain name occurred for the year ended December 31, 2014.”
Chinese firm Qunar $QUNR appears to have paid $459,000 for http://t.co/xcgNsibo63 domain in late 2014 http://t.co/jJzZIYM0pW (p. F-26)
— George Kirikos (@GeorgeKirikos) May 1, 2015
I had my doubts that Qua.com sold for $459,000 because I saw that the domain name had been listed for sale in a domain broker’s newsletter for $35,000 on October 15, 2014. Based on the registrant info found using DomainTools Whois History Search, it looks like the domain name may have changed hands more than once subsequent to that newsletter, but it was hard to believe it sold for nearly half a million USD.
This morning, George emailed me to let me know that Qunar’s investor relations department confirmed the acquisition price in an email to him. George also tweeted about this confirmation as well.
Assuming someone bought the domain name for the list price in the October newsletter and it resold for $459,000, that would be quite an impressive ROI. With the various Whois changes that occurred after that date, I am not sure if there were a series of flips or if the owner simply made Whois changes.
One thing I will keep in mind is that even if a domain name is listed for sale by a broker, there is room to make money if a buyer really wants to buy it. Sometimes you buy a domain name at the right time for the right price.
Elliot – that is spot on and a concept that very few in this industry seem to understand. Each domain is unique. there is a “market” price for them if you want liquidity but value is about timing. At this stage, with as much experience as I have with end user sales, I would say that timing represents 80% or more of the value in any deal. Right domain at the right time can mean you achieve totally unrealistic pricing, or a price that would appear unrealistic to the “market”. But I’m sure that company barely gave it a second thought. They wanted it. They needed it. The timing was right and the owner was smart enough to capitalize on it.
@rosener, yeah and if you take a domain for brokerage you want to sell it at resale prices. so much BS
It sounds like you have an axe to grind. Did Andrew not accept a domain name you wanted to sell at a specific price?
I don’t know any broker that would turn down a great domain name at a reasonable price.
so Elliott, you filter comments to show only the ones that tap on the back of your friends?
No, dickhead, I was playing tennis and didn’t have my iPhone on the court to approve your comment.
If you commented here before with the same name/email combination, it would have been approved automatically. If you haven’t, it goes to a moderation queue until I can approve it.