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Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson. |
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$135
Million Winning Bid for .WEB Sets a Stunning
High Water Mark for Rights to Run a New gTLD
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After
a legal
challenge
failed
to stop ICANN from auctioning
off the rights to run coveted new
domain extension .WEB
Wednesday, the competition among
bidders went on as scheduled with
the new gTLD going to Nu
Dot Co LLC with a startling high
bid of $135 million.
That is more than triple the
previous top dollar paid for a new
gTLD (the $41.5 million that GMO
Registry Inc. spent in an auction
for .shop in January).
If
the name Nu Dot Co LLC doesn't sound
familiar to you it's because it is a
new legal entity that, as Domain
Name Wire noted
Thursday, almost
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.WEB
Sticker Shock!
(Image
from Bigstock.com)
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certainly
represents the interests (and deep
pockets) of domain industry giant Verisign,
who already operates the .com
and .net registries. That
certainly makes sense (even if the
price doesn't) as many considered
.web to have the best chance of
challenging .com's overwhelming
dominance on the web. It is also a
natural threat to their .net.
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Now,
if .web does prove to be a
big winner, Verisign just
gets stronger. If it doesn't
the multi-billion
dollar corporation is one of
the few that can absorb a
$135 million investment that
doesn't pay off without
batting an eye. In any case they
keep .web
from falling into the hands
of a competitor.
The
auction itself is big
news for the industry and especially
for the new gTLDs
that need all of the publicity
they can get as they
struggle to make the public
aware of the hundreds of new
alternatives to legacy
extensions. While it will
pain many of them to see
their chief |
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competitor,
the industry's 800-pound
gorilla, snap up one of the
new gTLD "crown
jewels", the news
is all over the web on both
industry and mainstream
media sites. |
That
will be little consolation to the
bidders that didn't win .WEB
(especially since all of the
proceeds go to ICANN rather than
being split up among other auction
participants as has been the case in
most previous new gTLD auctions),
but numbers like $135 million
always draw attention, so it's another
plank in the recognition bridge.
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(Posted
July 29, 2016)
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all current Lowdown posts - Go
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