Recently Tucows announced that as of February 14, 2008 the Company had over 150,000 Internet domain names in its private domain name portfolio, including:

• Over 1,000 “Gems.” These domain names are considered to have the highest potential value in the portfolio. A sample of 100 of these names is included below.
• 39,000 Surnames. Tucows owns over 65 percent of North American’s surnames as domain names. These surnames form the foundation of Tucows’ Personal Names Service, a recently launched service that allows users to obtain their personal name, for example amy@smith.net for email and amy.smith.net for a web address.
• 22,000 Brandable Names. A brandable domain name is intended to stick in the heads of users and conveys the nature of the website it leads to or the business it represents. These domains are sold or leased to business owners and individuals focused on building a brand.
• 88,000 Direct Navigation Names. Direct navigation names are primarily monetized through targeted pay-per-click advertising.

Tucows in announcing their portfolio provided a sample list of 100 of their “assets”. Their portfolio is “strategically” sold to get best value via live and silent auction. Some are bundled and sold individually to interested parties, and some are leased to businesses on a multi-year term. In addition, some names are sold as Premium Names through the Company’s network of resellers.

I guess there are good and bad to this hogging of domain names. The good is it gives people a chance to get a desirable domain name that otherwise may have been taken by another party. However, the bad is what is the value to anyone apart from Tucows of them hogging these domain names? There could be entrepreneurs who could be using these domain names now. Still, it is perfectly legitimate so one must not quibble too much!

To see more on Tucows’ announcement, see their news release at  about.tucows.com/media/news/tucows-reveals-key-domain-name-portfolio-assets.