DotWeekly’s Domain Movers series focuses on domain name transactions related to businesses around the world. We do the research and provide the data to help companies better understand the great value domain names bring to your business and brand.
Here is a tiny example of some recent domain name transactions by businesses:
Daisy Communications has sold the domain name asset Moco.com at Sedo.com for an undisclosed amount and is now listed on BrandBucket.
Impulse Info Systems B.V. has acquired Avinty.com at domain name aftermarket service Afternic for an undisclosed amount.
National Indemnity Company has acquired TruckingDirect.com which held a buy now price of $27,300 but the exact sales price is unknown. The company owns about 80 domain name total and offers insurance and is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
Apple Inc. acquired HomePods.com from its past owner for cheap, $3,788. The domain name has been registered since March 27, 2006 and was owned by BuyDomains prior. The transaction took place in December 2017. Apple’s new voice assistant is branded as HomePod, but they do not own that matching .com domain name even though its for sale. The domain is owned by the estate of the late Lonnie Borck.
TurboTax.com changed name servers from Verisign / Akamai to Nsone / Akamai. A bit of odd timing, since it’s “tax season”.
George Kirikos reported on his Twitter account that Purple mattress startup paid $900,000 for Purple.com, which George dug up in a SEC filing. Elliot Silver of DomainInvesting.com reported the sale of the domain and confirmed the buyer in November 2017.
Purple Innovations, LLC started out on the domain name OnPurple.com and has totally switched over to the premium Purple.com domain name now.
Tencent Holdings Limited registered BattlegroundAA.com, BattlegroundMobile.com, BattleRoyaleGo.com and BattleRoyaleRush.com. Tencent is a heavy investor into Epic Games (40% owner), the developer of Fortnite Battle Royale. I’m not sure if “Battleground” is in reference to PUBG or not. Fortnite Battle Royale has been a huge hit lately with the release of Battle Royale.
Caster.com has been sold by Tucows.com, which was part of its RealNames portfolio. The domain name sold at Afternic.com and transferred to GoDaddy under whois privacy. The buyers are currently unknown but I have an indication of who the buyer may be, Anthony Minnuto.
Resideo.com has been acquired by a currently unknown MarkMonitor client. The domain has been registered since 2003 and was owned by domain name investor Cykon Technology Limited. After the purchase, MarkMonitor then registered several brand securing domain names like ResideoInc.com, MyResideo.com, ResideoCorp.com, ResideoSolutions.com, ResideoTech.com, ResideoTechnologies.com and ResideoVentures.com.
Coty Inc. were the buyers of previously mentioned FaceOfBeauty.com that was acquired from BuyDomains.
The Coca-Cola Company used the help of CSC Corporate Domains to acquire BeveragesForLife.com in a drop auction at DropCatch.com after the domain name expired and was released from the registry.
Playtex.com has transferred ownership from Playtex Marketing Corporation to Hanesbrands, Inc. The organization is pretty complicated as to who owns what, so I’d suggest reading the Wikipedia page. Mainly the “Organization” section. Basically, Hanesbrands, Inc. and Energizer Holdings own a 50/50 interest in Playtex Marketing Corp., who owned the domain. The Playtex tampons and baby products are owned by Edgewell Personal Care Brands (which was formed in 2015 from a split of Energizer Holdings) and they use PlaytexPlayon.com/PlaytexProducts.com/PlaytexBaby.com. The Playtex apparel brand (bras/panties) is owned by Hanesbrands and uses PlaytexFits.com. Playtex.com long had a split screen, making clear that they had a common name but were two different companies. This remains today, although it is not known what will happen now that Hanesbrands appears to own the domain name directly. Complicated!
TinyHouse.com has been acquired for $10,000 at domain name aftermarket service Sedo. In general, if you own TinyHouse.com, you should also own the alternative, TinyHome.com as they are the same/similar. Don’t forget the plural TinyHouses.com, which may be more important to own if you are using TinyHouse. Tiny House has a higher search volume than Tiny Home and Estibot gives an appraisal showing this with a $16,000 (tinyhouse) vs $13,000 (tinyhome). TinyHouses.com estibot appraises at $48K. In general, I think TinyHouse.com was a fair price for both the buyer and seller. One can’t “control” the market with only one domain, so it’s best advised to own and use both TinyHouse.com and TinyHome.com. It would be wise to own TinyHouses.com. TinyHouses.com is listed on Sedo and 17 offers to purchase have been made. With TinyHouse.com selling for $10K, IMO, that sets the status for the similar domains like TinyHome.com, TinyHomes.com and TinyHouses.com. Let’s not even start with the other potentials like “Small House, Small Homes” etc.
Thanks a lot Jamie .In domaining ,you have to be creative with words before a company even thinks of naming their products your name and you are on the money. HomePods was sold cheap in my opinion and sad to know why.I always advise that domainers,just dont undervalue their names and price too low out of fear but when a big sale happens they wonder why.A matter of research and renew the ones with potential and wait .Names go up in value with each new products being rolled out.
TinyHouse is a great brand I think, cheers