Domain Name Wire update for Domain - Donuts 🍩 and AWS.com acquired

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Top domain news: Donuts acquired and AWS.com sells

 

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Big news in the domain business

The big news last month for the domain industry was Abry Partners' acquisition of Donuts.

Donuts operates about 240 top level domains, all but one of which were part of the new top level domain name program.

Although Donuts is rather profitable, the exit makes sense. Donuts has been around for eight years so some of the early investors were ready to cash out. Heck, one of their early investors--Austin Ventures--has shut down shop since then.

So how'd the deal come together? I'm not sure, but it's probably not a coincidence that former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé is a partner at Abry Partners.

On another note, are you heading to Barcelona this month for the ICANN meeting? If you'd like to meet up, please reply to this email and we can schedule some time.
 

Let's take a look at the top stories on DNW last month, as ranked by pageviews:

1. Amazon buys AWS.com domain name - Amazon acquired the AWS.com domain name from a weather technology company that was no longer using it.

2. How Dropbox got the Dropbox.com domain name - The guy who sold the domain to Dropbox chose $300,000 cash instead of equity. The equity would have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

3. How much would .Com domains cost if .com went out to bid? - Recent data show that competitors would run .com for a lot less than what Verisign charges.

4. Those domains you're sitting on? They will probably never sell. - Many of the domains investors buy will not sell in their lifetime.

5. Domain name company Donuts Inc. acquired by private equity firm Abry Partners - A private equity firm at which former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé is a partner acquired top level domain name company Donuts.


And here are the DNW podcasts from September

#203 - Why Cyril Fremont just bought an entire TLD

#202 - The Registry/Registrar Sales Channel with Jay Daley

#201 - Talking UDRP with Gerald Levine

#200 - Selling social media handles

 


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Don't wait for this newsletter to get the latest domain name, online advertising and marketing services news. Check in on DNW daily, and join the 34k people who follow DNW on Twitter.

Thanks for reading,
Andrew
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Domain Name Wire update for Domain - Let's get back to business!

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Top domain news: Domain disputes, California.com and more

 

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Summer is over. Let's get down to business.

 

I was so happy to sit down at my laptop this morning to create this latest DNW newsletter.

August is a difficult month as a solopreneur. As a blogger, it's even more challenging. Half of the world is on vacation. College students are just returning to class. News slows to a trickle.

I know I'm not alone in having these feelings. Elliot Silver of DomainInvesting.com published a poll last month asking if August was bad for domain sales. The majority of respondents said yes.

The U.S. Labor Day holiday yesterday is the unofficial end of summer in the States, which means that we can all get back to business now. With that in mind, please contact me if:

1. You have interesting news to share.
2. You have a good idea for a podcast guest.
3. You have a partnership, business or sponsorship inquiry.


Although August was slow, there was still some news. Let's take a look at the top stories on DNW last month, as ranked by pageviews:

1. Betsy Riot trolls NRA Lobbyist's wife with domain name - Anti-NRA gun control advocates successfully defended a domain name in a UDRP that they used to troll an NRA lobbyist's wife.

2. Living as a Digital Nomad for a month - Many domain investors can live and work from anywhere. Here was my experience setting up camp in Seattle for a month.

3. California.com sells as part of big domain name transaction - The seven-figure transaction included 10 domain names.

4. Allstate is no longer in .GoodHands - Allstate is giving up its .goodhands new top level domain name.

5. Former NFL player Shawne Merriman wanted LightsOut.com, but panelist disagreed - His clothing company tried to get a domain name through UDRP.


Podcasts

I'm guilty of taking a bit of vacation in August, too. I only published three podcasts. But they're good, so pop in those AirPods and have a listen:

#199 - Crowdsourcing (domain) name selection - listen
#198 - New TLD Economics with Colin Campbell - listen
#197 - Top Domain Sales of the Year - listen


Get the Latest

Don't wait for this newsletter to get the latest domain name, online advertising and marketing services news. Check in on DNW daily, and join the 34k people who follow DNW on Twitter.

Thanks for reading,
Andrew
Copyright © 2018 Brainstorm Labs, LLC, All rights reserved.
Thanks for subscribing to Domain Name Wire's newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
Brainstorm Labs, LLC
PO Box 163411
Austin, TX 78716-3411

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Domain Name Wire update for Domain - Grab a 🍺, here are the top Domain Name stories

Latest domain news
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Top domain news: Ice.com, website builder reviews

 

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The challenges of selecting a company name (and domain name)

People in the domain name industry know all too well the challenges that companies face selecting a company or product name and acquiring the matching .com domain name. 

I was reminded of this last month when I interviewed ConvertKit founder Nathan Barry. His company settled on a new company name, Seva, after a years-long search. He then had to negotiate to buy the domain name Seva.com, and it wasn't easy. Ultimately, he paid $310,000 for the domain name.

But then, just weeks after unveiling its new company name, the company figured out there was a problem with it. It scratched the rebrand after working so hard to come up with it and paying so much for the domain.

Nevertheless, I think my podcast interview with Nathan (which was recorded before it the Seva rebrand was nixed) has lots of lessons for entrepreneurs. Check it out.

Now, let's take a look at the top stories on DNW last month, as ranked by pageviews:

1. Testing out the website builders: Wix, Weebly and Squarespace - In July, I started publishing reviews of website builders including Squarespace and Wix. Weebly is forthcoming, as are some others.

2. Competition in the domain industry - Domain name investors have seen the effects of little competition first hand.

3. Frank Schilling successfully defends OceanBreeze.com domain in UDRP - An air conditioning company filed a UDRP after failing to buy the domain name OceanBreeze.com.

4. Ice.com, a domain with a rich history, sells again. This time for $3.5 million - Ice.com was once a .com darling. It has traded hands since then.

5. New Zealand's .NZ administrator sues DomainTools - The lawsuit is about DomainTools' collection of Whois data for .nz domain names.


Podcasts

Catch up on last month's podcasts, including the podcast with Nathan Barry of ConvertKit as well as "Domain King" Rick Schwartz. Download them to your phone and listen on your commute. If you have suggestions for people you'd like to hear on the podcast, please reply to this email!

196: 5 things Mike Cyger learned...
195: Checking in with Escrow.com
194: Why ConvertKit rebranded as Seva (and a postscript)
193: Domain King Rick Schwartz
192: The domain name reseller business


Get the Latest

Don't wait for this newsletter to get the latest domain name, online advertising and marketing services news. Check in on DNW daily, and join the 34,900 people who follow DNW on Twitter.

Thanks for reading,
Andrew
Copyright © 2018 Brainstorm Labs, LLC, All rights reserved.
Thanks for subscribing to Domain Name Wire's newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
Brainstorm Labs, LLC
PO Box 163411
Austin, TX 78716-3411

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