Dot Web Domain Sales Rights Sold for $135 Million

[engine]

Wow, that's a heck of a sum for the right to sell .web domains, and ICANN must be very happy with the outcome.

A company called Nu Dot Co won the auction and can now offer firms the chance to own a domain ending .web.

The figure is three times as much as was paid for the previous record holder, .shop, which went for $41.5m.

Losing bidders for the domain included Google and net registry firms Afilias, Radix and Donuts.Dot Web Domain Sales Rights Sold for $135 Million [bbc.co.uk]

[jmccormac]

Nice to see that WW noticed. Looks like .website, .site and .online might be in trouble as a result of this. Verisign is backing the winner so there's serious marketing expertise behind the deal.

Regards...jmcc

[engine]

That's serious money on that deal.
How will the others be affected? I can only think that it simply dilutes the concept, which I think has gone too far in other cases.

[jmccormac]

The .web is pitching at the same market as the ones I mentioned so they are effectively screwed. It will raise the profile of new gTLDs but it may have the effect of squashing some of the other new gTLDs. It has the potential to become a "must register" TLD like .net when someone is registering a .com. It is also short and a commonly used phrase.

Regards...jmcc

[tangor]

web won't be as fast to type as com (one is all one hand, the other is alternating hands). And is just about as silly as some of these expanding---and diluting---tlds. Where will the madness end?

For all that, .web is actually a good fit and might get some real traction!

[Webwork]

Nice to see that WW noticed.

<snark>
Zzzzzz.

I "noticed" the auction outcome.

I noticed the bidder was the "owner" (as in "exclusive mgmt") of the .co for Colombia registry - often marketed as an alternative to .Com.

Maybe .web was seen as 1/2 "threat" to marketing .Co as the "alternative to .Com" and 1/2 as an opportunity to employ / reuse the same sales pitch to holders of .Com domains.

"Hey, world! Welcome to .Web, the new+better+and-improved alternative to .Com. What says it more clearly - that you're a WWW whatever - than .Web! It's just the gosh darn best! It's the new gold-standard, just like .mobi was the new gold-standard the mobile web . . er . . sites?"

Maybe NU Corp had some new/outside investors . . from Colombia, especially now that peace has been declared. Maybe NU Co has a (silent) Chinese investor or two. Maybe he just had a spare $135 million in the bank . . in which case . . {{{shakes head}}} . . because, if that were the case, sometimes one ought to just declare victory and be happy wth that sum. At $135,000,000.00 I see this as a set up to a grand crashing and burning event.

.xyz is now being "given away" for $1.00, despite the great . . amazing . . stunning (sic) news of Google begetting Alphabet.xyz. (I think that sale/news was a colossal "head fake" and the $1.00 .xyz domains is the proof.)

But what the heck. Maybe it IS just third-party Colombian or Chinese investor's money?

What could possibly go wrong if this doesn't pan out?
</snark>

[jmccormac]

Well it appears that Nu Dot Co LLC is just a front. The funding and marketing muscle is being provided by Verisign. You may have heard of it. :)

"Note 11. Subsequent Event
Subsequent to June 30, 2016, the Company incurred a commitment to pay approximately $130.0 million for the future assignment of contractual rights, which are subject to third-party consent. The payment is expected to occur during the third quarter of 2016."

[investor.verisign.com...]

Regards...jmcc

[jmccormac]

And it seems that Vistaprint won .WEBS.

Regards...jmcc

[Jonesy]

Doubly redundant: www.example.web

[jmccormac]

True. But will people drop the www. on the hostname and stick with .web?

Regards...jmcc