Clarity.com Founder & CEO Reports Company Paid $3.5 Million for the Domain

In a post on his LinkedIn account this afternoon, Sam Desai, the Founder & CEO of a venture investment site previously known as Hiive.com, revealed that the company paid $3.5 million for Clarity.com to upgrade to an unforgettable, top tier domain. Visitors the old site are now redirected to the new one. The company site said Clarity "brings venture investors and opportunity together in the private market." Desai wrote, "People keep asking me, “How did you manage to get Clarity .com?” Well, the answer is pretty simple: Dollars. 3,500,000 of them, to be exact."

That's a big purchase for anybody and Desai admitted he did wonder of it was worth it but quickly added, "considering what other smart people have paid for domains, I feel a lot better about our purchase." He cited these examples:

Image from Bigstock 

• Kris Marszalek acquired AI .com for $70M
• Club acquired Club .com for $10M
• Green acquired Green .com for $7.5M
• Voice .com was acquired for $30M 
• Rocket .com was acquired for $15M 
• Shopify acquired shop .com for an estimated $100M!

 "Together they point to something we believed when we made our decision - In a world where almost every idea or image can be replicated, the .com is one of the last definitive brand moats," Desai concluded.

We will be be charting this sale when our next bi-weekly domain sales report comes out Wednesday evening, October 21. If nothing changes between now and then, the Clarity.com sale will rank as the 4th biggest publicly reported domain sale of the year to date.

Hat tip to Nikul Sanghvi (HyperNames.co) for drawing our attention to Mr. Desai's post.

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Do Domains Beat the Market? After Kicking Off the Second Decade of His Liquid Market Reports Veteran Broker Giuseppe Graziano Answered That Question

In July, we told you about Giuseppe Graziano, the CEO and Founder of international domain brokerage and consultancy GGRG.com, releasing the 40th quarterly edition his insightful Liquid Market Report. That issue marked the 10th anniversary of the publication that tracks an important subset of the overall aftermarket - short acronym and numeric domains - that, due to steady demand, tend to have more liquidity than most other domain categories. These are .com domains comprised of 2-4 letters, 2-5 numbers or a combination of 2-3 characters mixing letters and numbers. Giuseppe has just kicked off the Liquid Market Report's second decade with the 41st edition covering results from 3Q-2026. 

These are some of the highlights from the latest report:

• Escrow.com sales nearly doubled, up 92.18% to $31.44 million, more than four times the $6.74 million in publicly reported sales (down 13.78%).

• 3L .coms led Escrow with $21.82 million, about 69% of the volume, while 4L .coms led public sales with $4.5 million, roughly two thirds of the disclosed total.

• Over the past 12 months, the 4L .com floor is almost flat (-1%), while the 5N .com floor is down about 67%. (the "floor" price is a metric showing the baseline market value for liquid categories from one quarter to the next).

GGRG Founder Giuseppe Graziano

In addition the latest quarterly report, The Domain Standard has just released a new issue (#6 in the series) featuring a can't miss new article from Giuseppe - Do Domains Beat the Market? A Decade of Data. Giuseppe said, " I was able to extract ten years of domain name performance and compare it directly with other asset classes. Is it better to hold domain names, or are you better off holding ETFs, stocks, gold or real estate? If domain names are a legitimate alternative investment class, how do they actually behave? The article has the intriguing answers and, in addition to the link above to the print version from The Domain Standard (an outstanding publication from Freename), you can read it on the GGRG.com website.

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GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani Will Deliver Keynote on Building for the AI-Native Entrepreneur at NamesCon Global in Miami Next Month

The already high level of anticipation surrounding the 2026 NamesCon Global conference that is coming up in Miami November 11 & 12, hit a new peak this morning when it was announced that GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani will be joining the party to present a very timely keynote speech. Aman's talk, titled Building for the AI-Native Entrepreneur: Inside GoDaddy's Transformation, will cover how the Internet is changing and what it means for your business. He will also share his predictions for 2027 and what the shift that is underway now will mean for entrepreneurs and the future of doing business online.

In advance his talk, Bhutani noted that after 30 years of building websites for people, there is now a transition toward AI taking on discovering, browsing, comparing and buying on our behalf. As we enter this new world, he will explain why businesses of every size, from global companies to local shops, must consider whether AI can find, understand, trust and do business with them. His appearance at NamesCon will give attendees a rare opportunity to hear directly from one of the key leaders on the Internet.

The full agenda for the conference is online now and you can register here. We will, of course be there and will look forward to seeing you at the show. 

One other reminder, your ticket to NamesCon also allows you access to the entire CloudFest Americas event that will run concurrently alongside NamesCon at the Ice Palace. CloudFest Americas is part of the CloudFest global event series and serves as the convergence point for the Cloud and internet infrastructure ecosystem across the Americas.

GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani

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TECHO Takes 2026 .ORG of the Year Award To Become First  Latin America Based  Winner of Public Interest Registry's Highest  Honor

Public Interest Registry (PIR), the people behind the .ORG domain, announced the winners of the 2026 .ORG Impact Awards October 6th at an annual celebration in Washington, D.C. The Awards recognize and reward outstanding mission-driven individuals and organizations from around the world for their positive contributions to society. 

Seven category winners were selected from over 4,200 applicants from 145 countries with the winner of the prestigious .Org of the Year Award - TECHO.org - selected from that elite group. Techo received a $50,000 donation from PIR, part of a $180,000 prize pool that was distributed to winners from these categories: Community Building ~ Quality Education for All ~ Environmental Stewardship ~ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ~ Health and Healing ~ Hunger and Poverty ~ and Rising Star (leaders under 30 making a difference in their communities).

The 8th annual .ORG of the Year Award recognized youth-led nonprofit TECHO's work to fight extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. The judging panel was inspired by how TECHO, the first Latin America-based organization to win the prestigious award, brings people together to create lasting change in their own communities - doing that at a scale that demonstrates the extraordinary power of collective action. TECHO won the award just a year after being a finalist for the honor in last year's competition.

This year marks a major milestone for the .ORG Impact Awards: since the program began eight years ago, Public Interest Registry has now awarded more than $1 million to support the extraordinary work of .ORGs around the world through the awards. 

PIR CEO Jon Nevett noted, "The work that this year's .ORG of the Year winner, TECHO, does to mobilize local communities to solve the housing crisis across Latin America is critical and should energize us all to do more to help each other. We're honored to support their work and excited that the awards have become a community that organizations keep coming back to."

José Ayerza, Global CEO of TECHO, added, "Being named .ORG of the Year is an incredible honor, but this recognition belongs to the families, communities and volunteers across Latin America who have built this movement together. We are ready to keep moving forward and thank PIR for believing in us."

Here in the complete of Category winners in the 2026 .ORG Impact Awards competition:
Community Building – TECHO
Quality Education for All – Style Her Empowered (SHE)
Environmental Stewardship – Friends of Tonga
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – Boys Champions Foundation
Health and Healing – Hope to Walk
Hunger and Poverty – Food4Education Foundation
Rising Star – Dr. Adriana Viola Miranda, 1000 Days Fund

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The Results Are in From ICANN's New gTLD Reveal Day - Here's Who Went Big and What They Went After

ICANN's highly anticipated Reveal Day arrived Thursday (Oct. 7, 2026), when the non-profit organization that coordinates the Internet's domain name system announced that 1,615 applications to run new top level domains (TLDs) had been received. More importantly, ICANN revealed all of the new strings that had been applied for and who applied to run them. In many cases, multiple parties are seeking to operate the same new TLD. The most sought after extension is .agent with 13 suitors. .bit was next with 11 applicants and three others - .api, .brand and .hub - are being sought by 10 applicants each. The eventual winner of those contested TLDs will be resolved through ICANN's Contention Sets process. Those often lead to an auction in which the rights to go to the top bidder.

The 2026 round was the first opportunity to apply for new TLDs since the initial round was held in 2012, 14 years ago. The biggest player then was Identity Digital (then known as Donuts) who, as a result, now has the largest portfolio of TLDs on the Internet - over 270 of them. So it's no surprise that they filed for more new TLDs than anyone else this time too - 216 in all. 

The newly formed Link Freedom Group was next with 158 primary applications (they also filed 158 replacement strings - an option that allows applicants to switch to a pre-selected second choice under certain circumstances). 

XYZ Registry went big too, seeking 139 strings, followed by GoDaddy at 77 and Intercap Registry at 71. All strings applied for and their applicants can be looked up on the ICANN website here.

Identity Digital's huge volume of applications is spread across 13 categories, including AI, web3, commerce, and finance. Their CEO, Akram Atallah, said, "We see the internet as a home for everyone, and new extensions give more people and businesses a way to show who they are and what they stand for. AI is accelerating that need, and these applications are designed to give everyone building online a relevant, trusted name. We approached this round with the same ambition we had in 2012, backed by a disciplined selection process and long experience running domains at scale." 

Regarding the next phase, after the two week replacement window, ICANN will publish the final list of strings that will proceed through the program on String Confirmation Day November 17, 2026. This will then begin the Community Input and Objections Period, a formal application comment period. Additional information on the program timeline and milestones can be found here.  

Recommended reading: If you are interested in a broader examination of what the 2026 round of new gTLDs tells us about the current state of domains, the internet and related technology, compared to its status when the first round was held in 2012, be sure to see Simone Catania's excellent article, From Apps to Agents: How the 2026 New gTLD Strings Mirror a Changed Internet, at CircleID.

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We Will Learn Who Applied for What on ICANN New gTLD Reveal Day Wednesday -  Experts Will Provide In-Depth Next Day Analysis in Free ICA Webinar Thursday 

Ever since the applications window to run new Top Levels Domains (TLDs) closed last month, domain industry aficionados have been eagerly awaiting Reveal Day when ICANN will publish the list of entities that applied and the strings they applied for. Wednesday, October 7, 2026 is the big day, with the release scheduled to come at 18:00 UTC (2:00PM U.S. Eastern Time). ICANN will also include replacement strings, a list of contention sets, and public portions of each application.

With over 1,600 applications received in this 2026 round of new TLDs (the first since the initial round in 2012), it will take some time for everyone to wade through the data and identify the most interesting story lines. It will be particularly interesting to see which strings draw the largest number of competitors. Many of those will spark multi-million dollar battles for the right to run them. 

If you are looking for some expert insight into what has been piling up behind the curtain, you can get it from the Internet Commerce Association's free Day After Webinar that 

will be presented at 12 Noon U.S. Eastern Daylight Time Thursday (October 8). Todd Ryan (ABC Corp) will moderate the panel discussion that will feature new gTLD experts Vivek Goyal (LdotR), Jeff Neuman (JJN Solutions) and Joe Alagna (it.com Domains).

Thursday also starts a new clock for applicants that applied for a second-choice or alternate "replacement" string when they submitted their gTLD application. Starting October 8, they will have two weeks to switch from their primary applied-for string to their replacement string if eligible to do so. More information on the Replacement Period is available here.

The next major date to be aware of is String Confirmation Day - November 17, 2026. 
Following the String Replacement Period, a final list of all the applied-for gTLD strings is published on String Confirmation Day, as well as an updated list of contention sets. String Confirmation Day also marks the start of the Community Input and Objections Period and the final 10 days during which applicants can withdraw their application to receive a 65% refund of the gTLD evaluation fee paid. 

There is a still a long way to go before we start seeing any of the new TLDs online. Most estimate the first ones will start arriving near the end of next year or early in 2028 with the roll out likely to take another couple of years to complete.

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New InterNetX Report From Simone Catania Examines the State of Domain Parking After Google's Exit

If you read this year's widely heralded 2026 Global Domain Report (and the previous annual edition of the Report from InterNetX), you are already familiar with the comprehensive research and writing that the company's Global Content & Communications Manager has done on a wide variety of key industry topics. Some of his best work can be found in the InterNetX SnapShot section, including his just released report on the history and current status of domain name parking. 

Simone told me he put together the report, titled Domain parking in 2026: what changed and what to do now, after noticing that most media outlets, including those in the mainstream tech press, treated the shutdown of Google Adsense for Domains as Google banning domain parking. "That in turn left readers with the impression that parked domains no longer earn anything at all. Neither is accurate, and the confusion matters right now because investors are making renewal decisions on that basis," Simone said.

Is his article, Simone tackled the issue with a multi-pronged examination that does the following;

1. Lays out the wind-down as four dated stages, from the September 2024 default change to the February 2026 close. This explains why some sources date the end to 2025 and others to 2026.

2. Traces the arc back to Google's purchase of Applied Semantics in 2003, through the Marchex portfolio, the Cameroon .cm episode and the 2015 sale that closed the boom.

3. Works through the renewal arithmetic: $0.10 to $5.00 a month for a keyword domain with moderate traffic, against a .com wholesale fee rising to $10.97 on November 1st.

4. Reconciles the Infoblox 90% figure and ICANN's 5.5% on zero-click redirects. They get quoted against each other as if they contradict, when they simply sampled different populations.

5. Makes the case that monetization did not end with AFD. Yahoo feeds never went away, and access to Google inventory now runs through specialist feed providers rather than one self-service product. What changed is the scale, and how much the outcome now depends on the individual domain.

Simone Catania
Global Content & Communications Manager
InterNetX

Image from Bigstock

While the decline of parking revenue prompted many industry veterans to switch their focus from parking to sales (as super investor Yoni Belousov, who is profiled in our current Cover Story, said he did years ago), Simone's article show why parking monetization remains a viable option for some investors. Read his full report here. 

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Mogul.com Co-Founder Reveals Company Paid $1.3 Million for Mogul.com

In a new report from Inc. Magazine today, Alex Blackwood, the Co-Founder of Mogul.com, revealed that the company paid $1.3 million to buy the domain from veteran angel investor Braden Pollock in a deal that closed last month. Alex and Co-Founder Joey Gumataotao laid out the cash despite having started in 2023 with only $3.6 million in seed funding.  Alex said they have no regrets though, telling Inc. they are confident the  domain will take the fractionalized real estate investment platform to the next level after the upgrade from their Mogul.club domain.

We will be placing Mogul.com on the YTD Top 100 Sales Chart when we publish our next bi-weekly domain sales report October 5, 2026. If nothing changes between now and then it will rank as the #4 publicly reported sale this year.

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