Domain investors  (or those interested in the field) in India have a couple of excellent educational and networking opportunities coming up next month. The first of those, the 5th annual DomainX conference, will be staged in the nation's capital - New Delhi - on August 4 & 5, 2018. The following weekend the spotlight will shift to Kolkata for a new one day event on Saturday, August 11 that is simply titled Domain Name Conference Kolkata.

Image from Bigstock

Veteran domain brokers Brian Harbin from GritBrokerage.com and David Clements from Brannans.com have teamed up to close the biggest publicly reported domain sale thus far in 2018 - Ice.com at a cool $3.5 million. That is almost triple the amount paid for the previous YTD leader, Super.com, a name that sold for $1.2 million in March. 

Harbin represented the seller and Clements the buyer in a deal that was handled by Escrow.com and confirmed by Escrow.com General Manager Jackson Elsegood. While agreeing to allow the purchase

Image from Bigstock

price to be revealed the buyer, who reportedly has a plan in place to develop the domain, has chosen to remain anonymous for now.  

On Monday morning Harbin, Clements and Elsegood all agreed to participate in a private conference call to answer questions about the sale with the proviso that the information shared would be under embargo until 9am this morning.  

(Left to right) Brian Harbin (Grit Brokerage), David Clements (Brannans.com) and 
Jackson Elsegood (Escrow.com) were all involved in closing the $3.5 million sale of Ice.com.

Harbin told me he first met the buyer when that person bought a domain Harbin had listed for $2,500. After buying a few other domains through Harbin's Grit Brokerage in the same price range, this person wound up calling on Harbin to sell a domain for him but this one was a blockbuster - Ice.com. Harbin had done some previous deals with Clements and contacted him about this  exciting new listing. Clements happened to have an acquaintance he had met at a private event in his hometown, Atlanta, that he thought might have an interest in the domain. When Clements presented the opportunity to obtain the domain the buyer jumped on it, agreeing to the full $3.5 million asking price. Working with Escrow.com it then took them barely a week to complete the transaction which happened on July 6. 

Ice.com had previously been developed as an ecommerce platform to sell jewelry products but it became apparent to the owner that the name itself was worth more than the business. While the new owner has development plans of his own he is not ready to reveal what the domain will be used for. Whatever that may be, Clements believes the buyer now has the strongest possible foundation to build on. "For less than the cost of a single, 30-second Super Bowl ad we were able to acquire a powerful, single-word domain name with significant long-term value for our client. Major enterprises are recognizing the value and competitive advantages these premium domains deliver.”

With respect to the seller Harbin said,  “I’m enthusiastic that my client was able to fully monetize the digital asset they’d developed over 19 years – realizing significant gains over the previous sale price. I’m grateful and humbled to be part of a deal that was a win-win-win for everyone involved. And I’m honored to be a small part of the initiative to advance the domain industry by educating consumers on the value of digital assets.”

CentralNic, a UK-based public company that is already an important player in domain registry management and the operation of retail registrars, has just gotten considerably bigger. The company's board of directors announced today that they have agreed to a deal that will allow CentralNic to acquire the entire share capital of Luxembourg-based KeyDrive S.A. and its subsidiaries for an initial consideration of $35.8 million (a figure that includes combination of cash and CentralNic stock according to a report at ProactiveInvestors.co.uk) plus a

performance-based earn-out of up to $10.5 million. The acquisition represents a reverse takeover under the AIM rules for Companies and is conditional upon shareholder approval.

KeyDrive is a global technology business and leading domain registrar that manages nearly 6 million domain names on behalf of companies, resellers and individuals. They are the parent company of several registrars including Moniker.com and DomainDiscount24.com, as well as reseller portal RRP Proxy.

CentralNic CEO Ben Crawford said, “The acquisition of KeyDrive is a milestone for the company. On completion, the enlarged group will have doubled in size and will have the technology platforms, expert staff, vision and drive to rival the industry’s traditional leaders.”

Alex Siffrin, the founder and CEO of KeyDrive will become Chief Operating Officer of the Company, and will also be a significant shareholder. Crawford said,  “I am personally excited to be welcoming Alex to CentralNic. His experience, shared values and standing within the industry will be a tremendous benefit to the group and a great addition to the management team”

The 2nd annual  edition of the NameSummit conference was scheduled to run August 6-7 at the Westin Times Square Hotel in New York City. However, organizers have now decided to move the 2018 event to November 5-6 at the same hotel in Manhattan. 

Jason Schaeffer, who co-founded NameSummit with Steven Kaziyev, filled me in on the change of plans. "On May 31st Steve and I hosted our first Real Estate Summit in New York that covered everything from short sale and mortgages to blockchain for Real Estate and online branding," Schaeffer began. "Much of that one day event covered branding on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to

domain names and personal branding for agents.  The coverage had a lot of crossover and connection to what our speakers are teaching at NameSummit. Given the feedback after the event, we decided that we were going to host another Real Estate Summit in the fall."

NameSummit Co-Founder Steven Kaziyev speaking in New York City May 31, 2018 at the Real Estate Summit he also co-founded. Video highlights from that event can be seen here.  

A scene from the first Real Estate Summit in New York City May 31, 2018. This event will be incorporated unto NameSummit when NameSummit returns November 5-6, 2018.

Schaeffer also noted, "Tickets will be priced the same as before with a $299 to $699 range and we will be providing light breakfast and lunch both days along with a party on Monday night.   We’ve already spoken with some Registries and they are excited about the opportunity to connect with the real estate industry to expand the discussion on domains and new gTLDs. In the end, the combined events provide an even greater opportunity for the domain industry to educate and connect with those that are going to buy and use domain names. Our focus remains on helping increase domain name usage and helping people grow their online presence, promote their brands and properties in this changing landscape."

Schaeffer said the fall event will be covering, among other things: 

"With the combination of Real Estate Summit and NameSummit, we can help focus the conversation and bring the real property and online property worlds together. We are looking forward to hosting our domain industry friends in New York City this fall," Schaeffer concluded.

We attended the first edition of the NameSummit conference last year in New York City. Photos and highlights from our coverage can be seen here. 

Buckley Media Group (BMG) has just closed a $1,004,450 sale of two closely related domain names -  Sleeping.com and Snoring.com - to US Expediters, the company that operates CPAP.com. At $502,225 each, BMG will have two new entries in the top ten of our YTD Top 100 Domain Sales Chart when the weekly update to that elite list is posted Wednesday evening. Buckley Media Group already occupies a top ten spot with their $335,000 sale of Inspection.com in February.

BMG Founder & CEO Kate Buckley noted, "Sleeping.com and Snoring.com were registered by my client, a private entity, in 1999. He decided he was ready to liquidate them to an end-user and retained my services to do so. While multiple companies across several industries (from mattresses to healthcare) expressed interest at a very high level, US Expediters ultimately won the domains in a highly competitive bidding environment. They operate CPAP.com so they clearly understand and expertly leverage premium domains, and were ready to substantially invest in these

Kate Buckley
Buckley Media Group

domain assets. I look forward to seeing the exponential impact that Sleeping.com and Snoring.com will have on their business.” 

US Expediters Founder and CEO, Johnny Goodman, stated:  “Cpap-pro.net was the first domain our company used to sell CPAP equipment. When we purchased CPAP.com, it made an immediate financial and brand impact for us. From then on, we understood the power of premium domains. We were able to purchase CPAP.com because we took the time and effort to email the seller in German when no one else did. That was a great deal for us."

Goodman added, “People search for the keyword “sleeping” roughly 12 times as often as they search for CPAP. We've often wished we could list sleep-related products on CPAP.com, but it hasn't always made sense or been on brand. We like the idea of a website that is your one stop shop for anything and everything relating to sleep. It folds nicely into our mission and the impact we want to have on the world."

Ms. Buckley said, “The bottom line to me is that Johnny understands the power of premium .COMs and how to strategically leverage them. He was the ideal acquirer for these powerhouse domains. Premium domains aren’t only lead generators but they are also brand enhancers and appreciating assets. All three lead to higher company valuations. As a business owner, finding these qualities in the same asset is incredibly rare. Johnny got this in spades."  

“I worked with both buyer and seller to negotiate terms and facilitate a smooth and elegant transaction which closed in record time—seven figures in 4 hours and 31 minutes via
	Escrow.com. A special thank you to Manuel and Jackson from Escrow.com who put in the extra time and personally called me to congratulate me on a 7-figure deal setting a
new record for time closed. All parties were a pleasure to do business with, and I look forward to US Expediters putting these authoritative ultra-premium .COMs to their highest and best use,” Ms. Buckley concluded.

Never say never! Less than 3 months ago we told you about how Crypto.com owner Matt Blaze had gotten so tired of getting unsolicited offers for his extraordinarily valuable domain he declared the name was not for sale at any price and people should just stop trying to change his mind. Blaze, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, had also made it clear that he was especially not interested in seeing anyone use the name for cryptocurrency purposes, having once stated, "many cryptocurrencies are scams, and I strongly advise against their use as investment vehicles."

What a difference 90 days - and a presumably gargantuan payday - can make. TechCrunch reported today that Monaco, a company that plans to issue a crypto Visa Card, had acquired Crypto.com from Blaze for an undisclosed price. With the purchase of Crypto.com Monaco is also rebranding itself as

Former Crypto.com Owner Matt Blaze
(Photo from Twitter)

MCO to match the name of the cryptocurrency it issues. News of the transaction triggered rampant speculation as to what the selling price was with the most common guess appearing to fall in the $5-$10 million range. Others, pointing to Blaze's reluctance to sell, think it took more than that to get the deal done.