We are now in the final moments. Both bidders, me being one, are on a conference call with the company selling the domains. The conference call started a few bids earlier. Up until then, we had been receiving phone calls from the company. The company would then tell us the bid status and then we would tell them our increased bid. Since the bidding has gone on so long they decided to put us together on a conference call. I now knew who I was bidding against. It turned out to be the party I thought it was. At that moment I knew what the outcome would be.
Time can sometimes fool you. A few seconds can feel like an eternity. Using that logic I probably took years off my life during the few moments I waited after we gave our last bid. Our last bid was a large increase. I then hear the other party say…. 25k more. It’s over.
Was I disappointed? Of course I was. However, you can’t win every battle you go into but I do feel I did everything possible that I could have done. I also feel if we had went millions higher, he would have come back with 25k more.
Who was the other party? He was the former chairman of the company that was selling the domains. He is someone I have spoken with in the past and have the utmost respect for. I thought he had already owned these domains. However, as it turns out he did indeed own many great names, but these particular names were owned by his old company and not by him.
I believe he feels as strongly about generic domains as I do. I do not know for certain, but he probably was the one who registered them for the company originally and might have felt that they were like a part of him, sort of like children. I know that is the way many domainers feel about their domains. In the end, I feel he deserved them.
Here is the sec report filing on the sale:
On February 25, 2009, we entered into an agreement to sell the assets of Domain.com, our wholly owned subsidiary, to A. Emmet Stephenson, Jr., Inc. (“Mr. Stephenson”) in exchange for cash of $7,075,000. The assets of Domain.com consist of domain names, trademarks and corporation names. We conducted an auction for the assets and received bids from multiple parties, including Mr. Stephenson. Mr. Stephenson presented the highest bid, which represented the selling price, of $7,075,000 and the sale was completed effective February 25, 2009. Mr. Stephenson is one of our co-founders, has managed the Domain.com subsidiary since 2006 and owns approximately 20% of our common shares outstanding. Because the transaction involves a related party, the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors considered and approved the transaction.
Here is a list of the domains:
Domain Names
401-K.com
Airlines.com
Anniversary.com
Annuities.com
Birthday.com
Bookings.com
Bookshelf.com
Bourses.com
Car-Rental.com
Christmas-Gifts.com
Communications.com
Cumpleanos.com
Currencies.com
Dining.com
Distributors.com
Dividends.com
Doctors.com
Electronics.com
Exchanges.com
Excursions.com
Frequentflyer.com
Guidebooks.com
Hospitals.com
Investments.com
Municipals.com
Museums.com
MyValentine.com
Products.com
Profits.com
Royalty.com
Ships.com
Taxfree.com
Technology.com
Tee-Times.com
Ticketrez.com
Wedding.com
Wholesale.com
Thanks for sharing such a great story, Larry.
As “they” say, sometimes fact really is stranger (and certainly more interesting and worthwhile) than fiction.
Looking forward to that which is still to come…
Thanks Steve.
As I said prior, I will be adding lots of other stories on the past 13 years in the business. Lot’s of fun times to come.
larry
That was a steal. If he develops those names he will realize his investment in reasonable time. Plenty nuggets in there.
@Rob Sequin: “Wow, Larry. Those are some special names. $7mil is a lot but you could have sold just one or two to the right end user corporation and had the rest for free.”
I agree. Should have continued the bidding, if i had the cheese i’d easily go double that. Forget the Gulfstream and Wally, grab the names and sell off your luxury toys. You’d have had more gain to talk of in the end.
I agree with some of the previous posters, that a few of the names could have received substantial offers without having to sell them all for the bargain price accepted.
incredible! [electronics.com] … sigh
roy
These were sold ridiculously cheap, smells fishy to me!