Domain Movers: Gesture.com, SYP.com and More

Here are a couple domain names that I had noticed yesterday while digging around that likely wouldn’t be reported sold other wise.

Gesture.com was purchased (likely by a company) from Adam Smadja and purchased on behalf of a SafeNames LTD client. Adam was a bit surprised that I even knew the domain name sold when I contacted him to see if he could share any details on the sale. For whatever reason, many sellers are really shy on sharing any details and this really sucks for people that could use the information to learn from. Adam did reply to me, but as many sellers do, they feel the need to ask the buyer if it’s okay to share details!

If a buyer doesn’t make you sign an NDA from the start, you can share whatever you want! Don’t be afraid to share at least some details, even if you don’t give a solid number on the sales price!

Not the best domain in the world but it has plenty of uses, is a generic dictionary word and has branding potential as an easy to remember term. BMW for an example, just released a new car that has Gesture Controls… so that is one example how the domain could be used in advertising/branding etc.

WGL.com was very likely purchased. This one is interesting in a couple ways, but it’s a domain upgrade for Washington Gas Light Company. Washington Gas used a “shortened” or abbreviated term for its domain before, WashGas.com. Yes abbreviated, but also two words that really seems silly, unless you clean gas in some way or if you can even “wash” gas.

Another interesting part of this sale is who owned the domain prior: Thomson Reuters, which is a major multinational mass media company that is traded on the NYSE. Hard to say what made them sell (price or didn’t feel they “needed” the asset any more). I’m sure the price paid will be in some report at some time. 3 letter .com domains sell for tens of thousands and have been sold in the millions, so the price paid for WGL.com could be a range from a bag of money to a briefcase of money!

SYP.com has changed ownership. This one is also interesting because two very large companies were involved.  AT&T Services Inc. (the phone and internet company: American Telephone and Telegraph) had owned the domain according to whois records. The new owner, YellowPages.com LLC . This one is hard to call a “sale” because AT&T technically owns 47% of YP. I’m not sure exactly how those things work, but I do know that SYP.com transferred ownership from AT&T to YellowPages.com LLC. If any $ were involved or if this was a delayed transfer from 2012 when AT&T sold 53%.

Constitution.com has been sold via Sedo. Dave Evanson (Sedo Broker) has pushed this domain a couple times on DomainInvesting.com in brokerage listings on Big E’s blog.. once for $175K in 2013 and once in early 2014 for $100K. So one would assume this is likely a high five figure sale.