In August Go Daddy Auctions sold 31,481 domain names compared to 33,373 in July, a drop of 1892 for the month. The drop in sales is also reflected in quarterly sales figures with 103,831 domain names sold in the quarter ending 30 June (quarter two) compared to 126,966 in the quarter ending 31 March (quarter one), a drop of 23,135.However the drop in prices for the second quarter can be at least partly explained by the prices of domains, with psoriasis.com, which sold for $350,000 easily eclipsing the top selling domain in the first quarter (looker.com/$50,000). Looker.com would have only come in equal fourth in the first quarter.The drop in prices for the quarters is also reflected in Sedo’s most recent Domain Market Study for the 2nd quarter 2012 that showed drops in sales volumes (10,133 in quarter one compared to 9049 in quarter two) as well as sales value ($19,641,153 and 17,415,345 respectively).Both Go Daddy Auctions and Sedo also give breakdowns of how the domain name was sold. For Go Daddy Auctions, Offer/Counter Offer accounted for 1.5 percent (1509 sales) of all sales, auction for 54.7 percent (56,769) and Buy Now for 43.9 percent (45,553). This compares to Sedo, which offers more types of sales methods, where Buy Now accounted for 42 percent of all sales, Offer-Counteroffer (31%), Auctions (15%), External Transfers (7%) and Brokerage (5%).More information on Go Daddy Auctions sales is available here while the Sedo Domain Name Market Study for quarter 2 is available here.
Tag Archives: Go Daddy
Daily Wrap: .POST Goes Live, Go Daddy Denies Front Running, .HOTEL Objections, 3 gTLD Applications Withdrawn
A new gTLD came into existence this month with the .POST gTLD entering the root of the internet. The gTLD was first approved in December 2009 and there has been a project underway to get it operational since then. In June 2012 Afilias was chosen as the .POST registry operator.
Go Daddy was recently accused of misusing customer domain name search activity for profit by a blogger. And on a posting on the Inside Go Daddy blog, the company vehemently denied they have anything to do with front running, saying they never have âand never will front run domain names. Ever.â
The process is called domain name front running and it means a registrar monitors customer searches and then registers the domain names for their own purposes.
The posting asks âwhy would someone believe they experienced front running?â And then answers saying âsheer volume. As the worldâs largest registrar, the volume of domain name activity, both in terms of availability searches and registrations we see, is significant. Go Daddy performs tens of millions of availability checks for our customers each day, many of which are searches for the same domain name by different customers.â
âIn fact, more than six percent of customer searches for available domain names are performed by more than one person each day. This overlap in domain name requests happens every day. As unique as customers believe their domain name ideas are, thereâs more âinnovation collisionâ than many people realize. With so many domain name registrations happening every day, there is a good probability a domain name you searched for is also being searched by someone else.â
Some of the worldâs major hotel chains are planning to object to six of the seven .HOTEL gTLD applications, along with applications for .HOTELS, .HOTEIS and .HOTELES, Domain Incite reported.
The coalition of hotel chains says âthey want the Independent Objector to object to these applications on community grounds. Failing that, theyâll file their own official Community Objections.â
The âcoalitionâs members include the Choice Hotels, InterContinental, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood and Wyndham hotel chains. Together, they say they have over 25,000 hotels in over 100 countries.â The applicant that has gained the support of the hotel coalition is DOTHOTEL.
Domain Incite is also speculating that it is Google that has withdrawn three of its gTLD applications with the likely gTLDs withdrawn being .AND, .ARE and .EST, âthe ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes for the United Arab Emirates, Estonia and Andorra, which would be classified as country names and therefore banned by the Applicant Guidebook.â
Last week ICANN hosted a webinar that Domain Incite participated in which revealed, among other things, in addition to the three gTLD applications that have been withdrawn, there have been 49 requests to change applications, the vast majority of applications will receive clarifying questions with around 90 per cent receiving clarifying questions on financial status and around half of geographic applications not yet supplying letters of support from the relevant government.
Ram Mohan has been reappointed as the Security and Stability Advisory Committee non-voting liaison to the ICANN Board with the new term commencing at the conclusion of the 2012 annual meeting. Mohan commenced this role in 2009. Mohan is Executive Vice President, & Chief Technology Officer of Afilias.
Daily Wrap: Including Donuts, Demand Accused Of, But Denies, Unsuitable gTLD Applicants
Donuts, applicants for more gTLDs then any other, along with Demand Media, have been accused of being unsuitable to participate in ICANNâs new gTLD programme, according to Domain Incite reports.
However Donuts have responded refuting the allegations that Demand Media, Donutsâ provider of backend registry services should be banned because of their history in losing cybersquatting cases.
The allegation against Demand Media and Donuts has come from Jeffrey Stoler of Boston law firm McCarter & English who wrote to ICANNâs leadership and the chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee, according to the Domain Incite reports.
When ICANN made their Big Reveal in June, it was revealed Donuts had applied for 307 gTLDs themselves and Demand Media another 26.
Meanwhile there are some busy people submitting comments on gTLD applications with Domain Name Wire noting that a trademark manager at Sunkist Growers Inc had submitted 467 comments on individual applications. The report notes that while the 467 applicants are identical, it appears they have targeted specific applications.
Meanwhile Go Daddyâs chief executive Warren Adelman stepped down this week with his replacement being an executive from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, one of its owners. According to the New York Times, âGo Daddy named Scott Wagner, a senior member of K.K.R.âs Capstone division, as its interim chief while it looks for a permanent new leader. While the company didnât name a reason for Mr. Adelmanâs stepping down, it said that the executive will remain at the company as a special adviser for strategy and global policy.â
Big Week For Go Daddy Auctions, But Sedo Still Has Top Sale
In recent weeks things have been heating up for Sedo in the domain name aftermarket with their usual dominance of the Domain Name Journal weekly report being lessened. However they still managed to be responsible for the top reported sale in the week to 1 April, with phonemarket.com selling for a very tidy $180,000.
Sedo only managed five of the top 20 sales, eclipsed by Go Daddy Auctions with eight sales, as well as another in conjunction with AfternicDLS.
Second biggest sale for the week was afw.com ($125,000 through Go Daddy Auctions) while FootFetish.xxx was third, selling for $89,000, a sale direct through ICM Registry.
Overall .COM domains accounted for 14 of the top sales, but only five of the top ten. There were also five ccTLD sales as well as the .XXX sale.
To see the Domain Name Journal list of top reported sales for the week to 1 April, see:
dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2012/20120411.htm
Go Daddy Passes 50 Million Domain Registrations
Go Daddy, the granddaddy of all registrars, has passed the 50 million domain name milestone over the weekend, meaning they now have 50 million domain names under management.The registrar is by far the world’s largest registrar and has a global reach registering, renewing or transferring more than one domain name every second of every day for the last few years.Given the number of registrations, it was quite a feat to register the 50 millionth domain name, which was DBAkit.com, registered by Kranthi Kumar Kukkala of India.”Sometimes you hear people say all the good domain names are gone, but they are dead wrong,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “An almost unlimited supply of great names is available … right now. In fact, Go Daddy is registering two-and-a-half times more domains a month now, than we were five years ago. Why? Domain names are like 21st century real estate. They allow you to own your own place on the Internet.””Our research shows that more than 40 percent of small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) do not have an online presence right now,” said IDC analyst Ray Boggs. “Hard to believe, but a lot of companies still haven’t stepped up to use a company website to reach prospects and customers. Of course this means firms like Go Daddy have what it takes to help SMBs, especially when offering one-stop online resources for SMBs to move from nothing to Web presence to major business generating activities.”
Go Daddy Sold For $2.25B To Trio Of Private Equity Firms
Go Daddy, the world’s largest registrar, has entered into a partnership with a trio of private equity firms in a deal that values the company at $ 2.25 billion.The purchase by KKR & Co., Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures includes assumption of the company’s debt according to an announcement on Friday afternoon US time and will see Bob Parsons, founder and chief executive officer, keeping a minority stake in the company.”What these guys see is a company with a lot more potential internationally and more potential to make partnerships and acquisitions,” Bob Parsons, the company’s chief executive and founder, said. “They’ll help us finance and they’ll help us recruit talent.”KKR, Silver Lake and TCV are aiming to benefit from growth of the Internet, using Go Daddy’s predictable revenue stream and 9.3 million global customers from 48 million domain names to expand and pay down debt taken on to finance the transactions.”I’ve always said we would make a move like this when the right deal with the right partners could help us do the right thing for our customers and our employees,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “This is it! We are partnering with KKR, Silver Lake and TCV because of their technology expertise, their understanding of Web based businesses and because their values align with ours. We believe, together, we will take the company to the next level, especially when it comes to accelerating international growth.””We’re just at the beginning of the Internet in terms of all the additional services a registry can sell to companies,” said Lou Kerner, managing director of the private-shares group at Wedbush Securities Inc. in New York, before the announcement.”Go Daddy is powerfully positioned for future growth as it continues to innovate and add to its truly unique platform of cloud-based software and services, said Greg Mondre, Managing Director, of Silver Lake.”At the same time, we plan to maintain and augment all of the attributes that have made Go Daddy a clear market leader today, including world class customer support and competitive pricing for its 9.3 million customers.”Go Daddy is growing rapidly, not just in domain names but also web hosting and SSL certificates, with sales growing by 25 per cent to $947 million from 2009 to 2010, and the company projects its figure for 2011 to be $1.1 billion.”In Go Daddy, we are pleased to be partnering with a high-growth market leader and an outstanding team,” said Herald Chen, head of KKR’s software and Internet effort. “Building on Go Daddy’s exceptional customer service and loyal customer base, we believe there is significant opportunity to expand the current portfolio of products and services as well as accelerate growth internationally.”
Rumours Go Daddy To Be Sold For Over $2B
The world’s largest domain name registrar Go Daddy is in talks to be bought out by global private equity firms KKR (formerly known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) and Silver Lake Partners, plus private venture capital firm Silver Lake Partners.
Go Daddy manage more than 48 million domain names is reportedly to be sold for around $2.5 billion according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations according to Bloomberg and Huffington Post reports.
In a New York Times report, it is said that while talks could still fall apart, it is expected Go Daddy founder and CEO Bob Parsons is expected to continue leading the company should the takeover be finalised.
Silver Lake Partners is said to be a junior partner in the negotiations and an announcement is expected Tuesday.
Go Daddy to Leave China
Following Google’s move to leave China, the registrar Go Daddy has announced it to is going to stop offering .CN domain name registration in testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.Go Daddy’s General Counsel Christine Jones told members of Congress that her company would discontinue offering new “.cn” domain registrations because of the new registration requirements that commenced last December. The requirements mean registrars have to give the Chinese government a colour image of identity documents, a business license where appropriate and a signed physical contract for each registered domain. The information was to be forwarded to the .CN registry, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). The requirements are more detailed than most registries that require only a name, address, telephone number and email address.”We were immediately concerned about the motives behind the increased level of registrant verification being required,” Christine N. Jones, general counsel of the Go Daddy Group, told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China on Wednesday. “The intent of the procedures appeared, to us, to be based on a desire by the Chinese authorities to exercise increased control over the subject matter of domain name registrations by Chinese nationals.”Jones also told the Congress committee that Go Daddy customers with .CN domain names have recently been attacked more frequently than in the past.The Chinese government has previously said these requirements are part of its campaign against pornography on the internet.As with allegations that Google’s decision to leave China was at least made easier because it was not making very much money there, and was not likely to do so in the short or medium term, it seems Go Daddy was not being very successful there either. In her testimony, Jones told the Congress committee that Go Daddy there have been around 27,000 .CN domain names registered with Go Daddy since 2005. This is more than any other non-Chinese company but represents less than one per cent of Go Daddy’s revenue.