Domain Name Industry Highlights
A quick post to mention several notable industry happenings. Photo.com was purchased via Moniker for $1.25 million. The buyer remains private at this point as their public whois information is currently shielded at Network Solutions. This is a common practice as many big ticket buyers are still acquiring premium domain names and wish to remain anonymous.
Sadly, Bido.com closed its doors effective today. Bido was an online domain name auction platform whose owners focused on a “social auction” model that allowed site users and bidders to vote for domains. The owners did an excellent job of designing a rather sophisticated interface with many features. One of Bido’s strengths and weaknesses was both its site’s diversity and complexity. Bido struggled somewhat in defining its market niche. Its demise seems at least in part a result of trying to sell lower quality domain name inventory on volume. This, in my opinion, moved the company in the wrong direction.
However, Bido’s owners are very creative, entrepreneurial types who constantly look for new opportunities and who can take a mere idea to final form through discipline and hard work. I have no doubt we’ll hear of other new ventures coming from Sahar Sarid, Jarred Cohen, and Jeff Bhavnanie.
Lastly, SanDiego.com (the complete business, not just the domain name) will be auctioned off on Friday, May 7. SanDiego.com was reported to be generating about $700,000 per year in revenue … which most estimators conclude is a significant underutilization of the site. Geo domains, and most any elite domain name, must be properly optimized. San Diego is a very large, popular American city with enormous potential. SanDiego.com will likely be acquired, and hopefully relaunched, by a media savvy organization. For more on this story, please visit Ron Jackson’s DNJournal.
