All four-letter domains have been registered as of the time of this post. As I’ve written earlier, I believe that LLLL.com domains have significant value higher than $xxx each, especially CVCV.com names (consonant/vowel). The fact that there are no four-letter domains available for registration anymore should result in a further increase in value for LLLL.com domains in general, but also for three-letter domains, as they have become even more desirable now. This being said, four-letter domains are still a good investment opportunity and you should buy them now, as long as one can still get them on the aftermarket for cheap.
Archive for November, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSWNAS008220071102
Nov 2 (Reuters) – CreditCards.com Inc on Friday registered its initial public offering of 10.7 million shares at an estimated price of $13 to $15 per share.
In an amended filing with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, the online credit card operator said it plans to sell 8.425 million shares while stockholders will sell an additional 2.3 million shares.
The Austin, Texas-based company said it applied for a Nasdaq listing under the symbol “CCRD.” (Reporting by Bijoy Koyitty in Bangalore)
This book by Kieren McCarthy tells the story of the most valuable domain name in history:
Sex.com was originally registered by Gary Kremen at Network Solutions in May 1994. Around that time, Kremen also started Match.com, but he didn’t develop his Sex.com domain.
In what has become the biggest case of domain theft, Sex.com was stolen by con-man Stephen M. Cohen in 1995, because he could persuade NSI to transfer it to him. Cohen then went on to develop the domain into a profitable online business that presumably made him more than $100,000 a month.
In the meantime, Kremen had sold his Match.com site and prepared to get his Sex.com domain back. First, he tried to convince Network Solutions that the domain was wrongly transferred away from him. However, Network Solutions refused to hand the domain back to him, so Kremen filed a lawsuit against Cohen in 1998. This was the beginning of a legal battle that would go on for years.
The domain was finally returned to Kremen in November 2000, but he still rightfully wanted to get a compensation for his loss in revenue. In April 2001, Kremen was awarded a total $65 million for lost earnings, which Cohen was ordered to pay. However, Cohen had fled the country to Tijuana in October 2000 and he was still not to be found. Kremen even posted a $50,000 reward for Cohen, but he later removed this reward after a shooting in Tijuana that supposedly was linked to the Sex.com case.
In 2005, Cohen was arrested in Tijuana for immigration violations and handed over to US marshals. Few months later, Kremen sold Sex.com to Escom LLC for $14 million. Kremen has yet to receive the $65 million owed to him, although he succeeded in seizing ownership of Cohen’s expensive mansion in San Diego, where he currently lives.
This story sounds like the plot of a Hollywood movie, but it really happened. What makes this an entertaining book to read despite the legal seesaw, is that it focuses on the interesting characters of Gary Kremen and Stephen M. Cohen. The “Sex.com” business-thriller is available at Amazon: Sex.Com (Paperback) (affiliate link)
Here’s a list of articles about the legal battle and the Sex.com domain sale:
2000: Sex.com Saga Still Sizzling, Judge Orders Sex.com Returned, Sex.com changes hands
2001: Sex.com’s sordid story, Cost of Sex.com Theft: $65 Mil, Manhunt starts for Sex.com snatcher
2003: Sex.com owner can sue VeriSign
2004: Sex Site Settles with VeriSign
2005: Sex.com thief appears in court, Former SoCal man accused of stealing porn site arrested in Mexico
2006: Sex.com Acquired by Escom, LLC, Sex.com owner sells up to chase $65m damages
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) just conluded its 30th International Public Meeting in Los Angeles.
“ICANN meetings are the ICANN model in action — bottom-up, consensus-driven discussions that help ensure the domain name system is co-ordinated rather than controlled,” said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN’s President and CEO. “This 30th meeting was one of the best — we laid out our progress on internationalized domain names and new generic top-level domains, and we charted a course forward on complex and difficult issues.”
Some of the resolutions adopted at the meeting are the formation of an IDN working group to explore what the process could be for developing a fast-track policy/process for introducing IDNs and having staff continue working on implementation analysis for new gTLDs and to come back to the Board and community as soon as feasible with a report on implementation issues no later than the ICANN Board meeting in January 2008. An overview of the adopted resolutions can be found at http://www.icann.org/minutes/.
ICANN also elected a new Chairman of the Board, as Vint Cerf steps down as ICANN’s chairman now. The new chairman elected is Peter Dengate Thrush, a New Zealand lawyer who specializes in intellectual property and Internet law. Thrush was the legal advisor to InternetNZ in 1996-1999 and he has been involved in ICANN since its inception. On his views of ICANN’s future, Thrush said:
“I think our biggest challenges are about serving the global audience. At a technical level there is the challenge of introducing international scripts at the top level for both gTLDS and ccTLDs, as well as new processes for introducing what may be a large number of generic top level domains. At the organizational level we need to expand our global activity and constantly increase international involvement, as well work on the completion of the Joint Project Agreement with the United States Government.”
Now that Vint Cerf leaves ICANN, the organization has recorded some video tributes to Cerf, including this tribute from Dr. Charles Elachi and Google’s Eric Schmidt:
Yesterday, Vint Cerf released a letter to the ICANN community, titled “Looking Towards the Future“, in which he points out some of the challenges ICANN will be facing in the future.
Google is expected to announce its mobile phone plans Monday. For about two years now people have been speculating about Google working on a mobile phone or mobile operating system. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has been in talks with T-Mobile and Sprint to offer cell phones powered by Google and it might partner with HTC, a Taiwanese phonemaker, for a Google cell phone. The search engine company is also going to bid in a wireless spectrum auction in order to become a wireless operator if it wins. Mobile web surfing is increasing sharply and the market gets more valuable every day with new mobile advertising services, better hardware and improved mobile web browsers. It would only be logical if Google tried to expand into mobile surfing in order to consolidate its Internet monopoly.
GOOG‘s stock is at $711.25 today, making investors happy who have gained about 55% or $250 per share since the beginning of this year. Many analysts are still rating GOOG as a strong buy. Now, Google joined forces with MySpace for the collaboration on OpenSocial, a platform for the development of social networking applications. This strategic move could possibly turn out to be a partial success against Microsoft/Facebook. We’ll see. At the very least, Google’s stock keeps climbing and neither Microsoft nor Yahoo nor any other company has found a way to rival Google, yet.
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