Poker.org Sells For $1 Million

Its been reported that Sedo has brokered a deal selling poker.org to PokerCompany.com for the sum of $1 million.

Other .org auctions include engineering.org for $198k which happened in 2003 and date.org for $150k in 2006.

Kelsey Grammer Registers “Live” After Refusing To Pay For Domain

Kelsey Grammer has reportedly given up on trying to get back kelseygrammer.com after someone else registered the domain name.

Grammer launched KelseyLive.com after refusing to buy kelseygrammer.com. The former Frasier star reportedly said:

“Twenty years ago, everybody bought everybody’s name and I never paid for mine back. I just said, ‘Screw ya’.”

Insure.com Sells For $16 Million

Kikabink News reports that Insure.com, Inc. has sold its domain name and website for $16 million in cash. The company bought Insure.com for $1.6 million back in 2001.

Check out the article for more details.

Woman Changes Her Name To Princess-Rainbow.com

Its been reported that a woman in the UK has become the first person to change her name by Deed Poll to a domain name.

24 year old Claire Forshaw changed her name earlier this week to Princess-Rainbow.com.

“I knew that if ever I got the chance I would change [my name] to a web domain, to hopefully become the first. My boyfriend has always told me it cost hundreds of pounds to do, so I just forgot about it”

“When I realised it actually cost as little as £10 my boyfriend said that Princess-Rainbow.com was ideal for me because I am mad on rainbows!”

“My dream has always been to sell my artwork to a wider audience and after studying art at college, me and my friend who has an art degree, said that we would love to go into business together selling our creations. Changing my name has given me that kick-start into pursuing my dream and the new site will feature everything from paintings, textiles, 3D work and jewellery.“

“My name change is great and although my friends have started referring to me by my new name, and my place of work have changed all of the paperwork to include my new name, both my boss and my mum are refusing to call me Princess-Rainbow.com!”

Commentary

To be honest, I’m surprised that certain individuals in the domaining industry haven’t changed their name! Perhaps this will spark a new trend?

I’m going to change my name right now to:

“domaining wire king journal acro elliot whizzbang parked chef”

What do you think? Like my new name? Ohhhh…. what’s that? I can hear the ka-ching of UDRP’s coming!

Sources: Independent and PRUrgent.

3,459 Michael Jackson .COM Domains Registered

Where do you draw the line between registering a domain name to mourn or honor an individual, vs profit from their death?

Since MJ died, there have been 3,459 .com domain names registered with the word “michael” in them. Don’t believe me? Well, here is the list I compiled (please give me credit if you use it) and a few extracts of interest:

• michaelisstillalive.com
• michaeljackson-conspiracy.com
• michaeljackson911tape.com
• michaeljacksonautopsy.com
• michaeljacksonconcertrefund.com
• michaeljacksonisfaking.com
• michaeljacksontributetour.com
• michaeljacksonwasmurdered.com
• whopoisonedmichaeljackson.com

In light of this registration frenzy, I’d ask the media, not to “tar and feather” the entire domain name industry with the actions of a few people who lack morals / ethics in this area.

Having said that, newspapers, TV and other sources “profit” from this as well. What do you think? Have you registered a MJ domain?

Susan Boyle To Sell Domain Name

For a mere $25,000 (US dollars) you can be the proud owner of one website domain named susanboyle.com The British singer is perhaps a bit peeved with the confusion that surrounds when a fan is misdirected to a site owned by American artist Susan K. Boyle.

The “Britain’s Got Talent” star is an unlikely diva, with her self professed “frumpy” appearance. But when she raises the mic-the audiences are treated to a phenomenal feast of musical magnitude.

In attempts to avoid disappointing her fans and mistaken identity, Susan Boyle has moved her site. Fans can find her at sboyleart.com

As for the former site–let the buyer decide.

Via: NewKerala and Susan Boyle (Artist)

Kosovo.com Auction At 32,500 EUR

Kosovo is a disputed region in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo.

There are 3 days left in the auction for Kosovo.com and its at EUR 32,500 right now. Considering iran.com sold for $400k and melbourne.com for $700k, Kosovo has a long way to go.

Its a buyers market; if you have the cash its time to pickup some bargains.

Live Sells Two Domains – US $1.65 million

Live Current Media Inc. (OTCBB:LIVC) has announced that it has entered agreements to sell two more of its non-core domain names for $1.65 million.

Live Current Chairman and CEO Geoff Hampson said “We believe the recent sales of three of Live Current’s non-core domain names for a total of over US $2 million is a testament to the inherent value of our domain name assets, especially in this challenging economic climate.”

From the looks of things it seems that they need the cash – “These sales form part of management’s strategy to achieve the goal of cash flow positive operations by the end of 2009.”

I will be interesting to see if other domaining companies follow suit and start selling the family jewels to keep their heads above water. Seems time to pick up a few bargains!

Currency Markets Impact Foreign Domainers

Domainers that don’t live in the United States have often reaped the benefits of the currency market.

With world markets going up and down like a game of Donkey Kong (well actually more down than up) its having a serious impact on our cost of goods.

As of today, 1 USD = 1.52384 AUD (Australian dollar), or to flip it around, 1 AUD = 0.656154 USD. If you look at the chart, you will see that six months ago, the Australian dollar was worth US$.96.

Great For Parking

The rest of the world is making MORE money (in their local currency) as they take advantage of being paid in US$ or Euro.

Bad For Buying

The cost of bidding against US domainers has increased.

Great For Selling

While this may seem all “doom and gloom”, there is a hidden upside. If you are a non-US domainer who is selling, then now is the time to sell in US$. Why? It should be worth more in your local currency.

If you are a domainer outside the USA, please feel free to post a comment. I’d love to hear your situation.

Lycos Europe To Sell Domain Registration Business

A few weeks ago at a hotel in Amsterdam, an Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders was called for Lycos Europe. The shareholders voted to liquidate the business. Note that Lycos Europe is a separate company to America’s Lycos Inc. As a part of that liquidation, they decided to sell their domain registration business, united-domains AG.

united-domains AG was valued at 34 million euro and will be sold (subject to due diligence on the financial statements) to United Internet. The transaction is looking to close in Q1 2009.

Thoughts

When your share price is 0.15 € and you have a big picture of a dog as your logo, now might be the time to sell the house and think about doing something else.