Daniel Negari has become a successful domain investor, with his company owning many top quality .com domain names. I admire his tenacity in building his business, and he is someone I think could build a successful business in a variety of fields. In fact, I am pretty sure he already has done that.
In a press release announcing the “Domainer-Friendly Landrush” for the .xyz extension, the ambitious goals of the .xyz registry can be seen. According to Centralnic CEO Ben Crawford, “Unlike most TLD operators trying to extract as much from domainers as possible through high prices for premiums and recurring premium prices, .xyz is positioning itself as the new .com – giving domainers the opportunity to buy anything they want at landrush, and then benefit from .xyz’s unprecedented global marketing campaign to enjoy the increase in values that comes from global demand.”
The added emphasis in Mr. Crawford’s quote  is mine, but the registry’s goal seems clear. Unlike many new gTLD domain name extensions, .xyz seems pretty generic rather than specific (like .tattoo or .berlin). As such, it seems that the registry hopes to sell its domain names to anyone looking for a domain name. Because of Mr. Negari’s background, I will be following this extension, although I have no plans to buy any .xyz domain names at the moment.
The press release I received from Centralnic this morning is published below:
.xyz Enters Domainer-Friendly Landrush: Thousands of names like gamble.xyz, whiskey.xyz and bids.xyz up for grabs Â
Following a Sunrise that saw world-leading brands secure their trademarks under .xyz, the first generic new TLD to hit the market is now in Landrush, making thousands of premium names available to the global general public at regular landrush prices.
.xyz entered its landrush period with the most domainer-friendly policies of any TLD, as part of its wider strategy of becoming what NPR recently described as “the next .com.”
.xyz’s domainer-friendly policies include:
– virtually every domain is available – less than 3,000 names have been reserved (as compared to tens and hundreds of thousands for other gTLDs)
– all .xyz domains are available for the standard registration fee – no premium pricing
– all .xyz landrush domains renew  at the standard renewal rate, making it affordable to hold a portfolio of .xyz domains
.xyz is owned by Daniel Negari, himself a successful domain investor with a track record of buying and selling over $100 million worth of domains. Â “With experience as a domain investor, I understand the importance of releasing great domains at affordable prices to give investors the opportunity to make a commercial rate of return”, commented Daniel.
“Unlike most TLD operators trying to extract as much from domainers as possible through high prices for premiums and recurring premium prices, .xyz is positioning itself as the new .com – giving domainers the opportunity to buy anything they want at landrush, and then benefit from .xyz’s unprecedented global marketing campaign to enjoy the increase in values that comes from global demand”, said Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic.
.xyz domains are now available through leading registrars worldwide including Go Daddy, Name.com, 123-Reg, and Network Solutions. Click here to view a complete list of available landrush names or visit www.gen.xyz/premiums. Landrush ends at 12.00 UTC on June 2.
I recently received an email from a registrar I do business with, informing me that they are giving me (1st year registration $-0-)a .xyz in a name I already have in the .com, .net, and .org extensions. This is obviously a marketing ploy jointly sponsored by the registrar and registry. I don’t think much of the new gTLDs (and until now, have none in my portfolio) but I do admire the marketing skills of Daniel Negari.