40z.com - making sense of internet branding

Why did Salesforce spend $7.1 million on two domains?

This summer, the two big domain sales came through an auction held by Moniker.

Data.com was reportedly sold for $4.5 million, and Social.com was reportedly sold for $2.6 million. Shortly thereafter, it was pretty simple to notice that Data.com had been acquired for a rebranded marketing channel for their recent acquisition of Jigsaw.

So the question remained, why Social.com? Perhaps not too hard to determine, given their recent acquistions in the social enterprise space... consider a quote from their recent PR regarding the acquisition of Assistly in September:

"Salesforce.com is leading the shift to the social enterprise, helping companies leverage social, mobile and open cloud technologies to put customers at the heart of their business. For many organizations, that shift begins with customer service, as businesses engage with their customers where they are now – on social networks like Facebook and Twitter."

 

11.com Sold for $525,000

This week DN Journal has reported the largest 'numeric' domain sale ever was brokered by MediaOptions.com.

11.com sold for $525,000.

11.com was sold to a new owner reportedly in China. According to DN Journal MediaOptions is hoping to sell another numeric domain 25.com in the 7 figure range.

DomainName.com sells for $1 million

In the past month there has been a sharp uptick in significant domain name sales.

DomainName.com has sold for $1million.

Puzzle.com $500,000

Gambling.com $2.5 million

Runningshoes.com $700,000

33.com $358,000

Drugstore.com acquired $409 million

Walgreens bought drugstore.com for $409 million, and it included other website brands, such as Beauty.com, Skinstore.com, VisionDirect.com.
 
Of course drugstore.com was much more than name, it was a real business, with $456 million in sales/revenue last year. But it started originally as an idea, based on a generic domain brand. And it worked.

Here is what Walgreen's said about the acquisition:
 
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/24/boom-walgreens-buys-online-retailer-drugstore-com-for-409-million/
Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson, commented:
“This acquisition offers a unique opportunity that will provide us immediate access to more than 3 million savvy, online loyal customers, and will allow us to move even closer to our existing customers through relationships with new vendors and partners, adding approximately 60,000 products to our already strong online offering. Importantly, drugstore.com’s well-recognized presence in the health, personal care, beauty and vision categories, including such strong websites as drugstore.com, Beauty.com, SkinStore.com and VisionDirect.com, will complement and extend many of our own multi-channel initiatives that have been driving growth in our business.”
Drugstore.com will maintain separate branding of its websites after the merger closes.

Domain sales early 2011

The domain market appears to be rebuilding some momentum short term with several notable sales. Some recent sales worthy of mention in February and March include:

GamesForGirls.com $500,000

Action.com $270,000

TS.com $186,000

Stockbrokers.com $185,000

Won.com $115,000

XXXbook.com $100,000

DoorHardware.com $85,000

Gold.net $81,500

TZ.com $80,000

LoanQuotes.com $75,000

 

Boutiques.com launched by Google

Here is an interesting developing story about a top tier developed by Google.

Boutiques.com

Time magazine online reported the launch in November:

"Boutiques.com makes its entry into the crowded online fashion marketplace Wednesday and is backed up by the technology from Google's recent purchase acquisition of Like.com, the shopping site with a sophisticated visual search."

Like.com was acquired by google in August 2010, in a deal reportedly worth around $100 million.

Story of Cityville.com

Cityville.com, a domain name  reportedly sold at auction by Moniker just last June for $38,000, now tops Facebook as the #1 app, according to Fusible, gaining more than 6 million users in less than 2 weeks after launching, and it now has nearly 17 million daily users.

Mashable reports that four of the top five apps at facebook have been developed by Zynga, a well funded venture.

Appdata currently shows Cityville with a total of nearly 65 million total users.  

Ringtones.com sold $750,000

Mobile Streams Ltd, a public company trading on the London Stock Exchange, has sold its domain name Ringtones.com for $750,000 according to a press release. The domain broker was Sedo.

CarInsurance.com acquired for $49 million

QuinStreet recently announced the acquisition of CarInsurance.com for $49 million in cash.  Of course more than just a domain name, CarInsurance.com is a website providing valuable lead generation for the auto insurance industry. However, it's worth noting that the website was built upon the generic domain which exactly matches the keyword search term for the industry.

A quick glance at search ranking at Google places it on page 1, placing #11 out of 15 non-sponsored search results. Compete.com shows the site receives approximately 208,000 unique visitors per month currently.

The acquisition of CarInsurance.com comes on the heels of QuinStreet's acquisition of Insurance.com this summer for $35 million. QuinStreet is a public company trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker QNST.

 

 

Amazon acquiring Diapers.com $545 million

Amazon announced news today they are acquiring Quisdi which owns and operates Diapers.com and Soap.com, for $500 million. Cash.

In the press release Jeff Bezos, known for his sense of humor said, “I’m not sure which is more unpleasant—changing diapers, paying too much for them, or running out of them.”

In addition to the two top tier generic domains sites, Quisdi also recently launched BeautyBar.com.

Fortune reported the acquistion price at $540 million, and also reported in the news, Walmart had previously made an offer for Diapers.com as well.

Techcrunch reported the total acquistion price at $545 million, with 500m in cash, and the assumption of $45m in debt.