In what I believe could be one of the top domain name sales of all-time, Hilco Digital Assets brokered the sale of Rocket.com. The domain name is currently pending transfer away from Network Solutions, Whois records at DomainTools show.
This morning, I reached out to Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Hilco Digital Assets, who had previously mentioned the domain name. Andrew confirmed the domain name was sold but could not comment about the sale price. “We can confirm that we oversaw the sale and acquisition of the Rocket.com domain name, in a win-win for the buyer and seller,” he told me via email.
Hilco and Andrew Miller have been involved in some of the largest domain name sales of all time. On the books, Hilco brokered the $15.5 million sale of Chat.com and the $8.515 million sale of Gold.com. Andrew Miller also oversaw the sale of Home.com, the price of which remained private but speculated to be into the 8 figure range. Although the price of Rocket.com has not been shared, I assume it would rank in the same lofty territory as these exceptional domain names.
Rocket.com has long been owned by Aerojet-General Corporation. For some time, the domain name forwarded to the website of L3Harris Technologies, Inc., the company that acquired Aerojet in 2023. This company trades under the LHX ticker symbol on the NYSE, and it has a market cap of nearly $45 billion. Even though Rocket.com certainly sold for millions, I am not sure if this domain name sale will be substantial enough to warrant a mention in a future SEC filing.
At the time of publication, the buyer of Rocket.com is unknown. Although there are many companies that would benefit from owning this valuable asset, one company stands out among the others. Once the domain name transfer finalizes, I would not be surprised if Rocket.com was acquired by Rocket Mortgage. This would be a wise strategic domain name upgrade for the company, and one it can likely afford and justify.
UPDATE: Rocket.com has transferred to CSC, a corporate domain registrar. The domain name is currently registered under Whois privacy and it does not resolve, so the buyer is still unknown.For what is worth, Rocket Mortgage uses CSC as its domain registrar.
UPDATE 2: Rocket.com was acquired by Rocket Companies, the company that owns brands like Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes…etc. The purchase price was reportedly $14 million..
I would imagine that the international diversified mismanagement company Boeing would not be the buyer
Rocket Mortgage makes sense but is too obvious. Often those type of prospects are the first to tell you ‘we don’t need the dotcom. We are fine with the domain on dotwhatever.’
I think Rocket .com was sold to Rocket Lab.
Rocket Lab Raised $355M in a private offering in February 2024.
Some 7-figure deals take months to negotiate, complete, and transfer. The timeline makes more sense to me. It’s the newer startups that have the strongest desire to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.
makes sense that rocket mortgage might be all caught up in their own beuracracy.
Maybe Elon Musk bought it for his space x project
@John D.
“Rocket Mortgage makes sense but is too obvious. Often those type of prospects are the first to tell you ‘we don’t need the dotcom. We are fine with the domain on dotwhatever………….It’s the newer startups that have the strongest desire to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.”…….albeit Rocket.com still does not resolve.
I just completed a very decent sale of a generic where I was convinced I was negotiating with the legal representative of a large multi-office business where the generic was an exact match.
Turns out the buyer – is in fact a start-up – clearly with some very deep VC money.
Crazy…….how smart we think we are sometimes 🙂