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Gold Rush - Domain Names
happy news club
November 19, 2023
Domain Names selling for millions WTF is going on!
You may recall the domain rush back in the 90s - well it never stopped, the media just moved on, but domain names continued to rise in value.
source: namebio.com database of public domain sales!
Chat.com which was acquired by the founder of Hubspot for $58m (no it’s not a typo), was flipped few months later for an undisclosed amount.
Voice.com sold for $30m in 2019
We spoke with Bassir.io (domain broker) to understand why certain domains sell for crazy money:
The value comes down to the commercial need/urgency of the given buyer: say a fortune 500 company with millions of brand equity tied up in a certain word/brand, if they were to acquire the exact match name, would make business sense to pay 7 figures for it, an asset they will own for life giving brand protection, email security, trust and crediblity to the company!
The acquisition value is a one off payment for an IP asset in a world rapidly turning digital. It costs $7m for a 30 second commercial at the super bowl at an event where people are distracted, eating hot dogs and not giving a hoot about sponsors - so for a company to pay for example $500k to own a premium domain name which they can benefit from for life - well that’s just smart investment!
Beer.com sells for $7m
Forget about rediculous cartoon monkey JPGs (NFTs) - domain names are not only collectable digital assets but also have real life commercial value/use as brand names which can go on to shift cultures, change lives and create jobs. Amazon.com Facebook.com (they paid $8.5m for FB.com ) Netflix.com Youtube.com - it all starts with an idea which turns into a domain name!
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