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sales Breaking: Jason Calacanis Sells 20.com for $1.75 Million

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Serial entrepreneur and angel investor Jason Calacanis has owned the domain name 20.com since 2006, after buying the domain name on Sedo for $75,000. Since then, Jason has received regular offers for the domain name that have steadily increased through the years. In 2011, offers were around the $400,000 mark and had quintupled by October 2015. In an article we wrote in December 2015, Jason revealed that he regularly received offers in the $2 million to $3 million range.

Thanks to the continued interest from China, the seven-figure offers have never stopped and today, Jason has completed the sale of 20.com for $1.75 million.

The story of this sale started on Jason’s Twitter account, where he told his 280,000 followers that he had received a cash offer of $1.75 million for 20.com, adding the comment: “going to take it I think.” Today, that deal closed and the amount has been confirmed to us in an email from Jason as being $1.75 million.

Although Jason has received higher offers in the past, he told his Twitter followers that the $1.75 million could be put to good use, saying he “feels like that capital would be better deployed in startups.” Aside from owning an incredibly valuable domain name, Jason Calacanis is a successful entrepreneur and investor, having created services such as his current project, Inside.com, which gives email subscribers curated news about an array of subjects, including security, Trump, and virtual reality.

The sale of 20.com for $1.75 million will rank as DNJournal’s second highest sale of the year behind the $1.82 million sale of 01.com, which was sold by VIP Brokerage earlier this year.

The buyer of 20.com is currently unknown since the domain name is under privacy protection at GoDaddy.

Congratulations to Jason (@Jason Calacanis) on the sale. We look forward to seeing which startups you invest in with the proceeds from the sale.
 
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Perfect price according to the current market!

Thanks James for the info!
 
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Bad timing imo but great ROI nonetheless. Most of us can only dream about a 7-figure sale!
 
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Might not have been the best time to sell, but I was following this on Twitter and it looks like the difference between $1.75 million now or $5 million later didn't matter very much.
 
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He was on here during the chip craze looking for brokers. I could see $2.5M during dec 2015, he could have got almost double during the peak, not sure what he was holding on for $5M?
 
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In an article we wrote in December 2015, Jason revealed that he regularly received offers in the $2 million to $3 million range.

Thanks to the continued interest from China, the seven figure offers have never stopped and today, Jason has completed the sale of 20.com for $1.75 million.

So after receiving regular offers in the $2 million to $3 million range, he sold for $1.75 million ???
Great strategy! (n)
 
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So after receiving regular offers in the $2 million to $3 million range, he sold for $1.75 million ???
Great strategy! (n)

He's not a domainer - he bought the name in 2006 for $75k and has cashed out for $1.75m. I'd say that is a pretty good ROI by anyone's standards.

The money is far more useful to him as capital that he can use as funding for companies.
 
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Thanks for sharing! Congrats to Jason! Congrats to the buyer who got a very good deal!
 
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He's not a domainer - he bought the name in 2006 for $75k and has cashed out for $1.75m. I'd say that is a pretty good ROI by anyone's standards.

The money is far more useful to him as capital that he can use as funding for companies.

Valid point but I think he was first fueled by greed, he had $3million and probably wanted $5million. If you are not a domainer even more reason to have taken the $3million in my opinion.

But Jason is doing fine and I wish him continued success.
 
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Valid point but I think he was first fueled by greed, he had $3million and probably wanted $5million. If you are not a domainer even more reason to have taken the $3million in my opinion.

But Jason is doing fine and I wish him continued success.

True. I guess that when you start receiving regular offers for $1m then $1.5m then $2m, it's natural to hold out for a little more.

I still think that given his track record, he'll turn that $1.75m into something far bigger so that extra $1.25m won't matter so much in the long run.
 
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True. I guess that when you start receiving regular offers for $1m then $1.5m then $2m, it's natural to hold out for a little more.

I still think that given his track record, he'll turn that $1.75m into something far bigger so that extra $1.25m won't matter so much in the long run.

Agreed this would be a bigger misstep for a domainer who was selling their prize domain and had no other businesses.
 
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So after receiving regular offers in the $2 million to $3 million range, he sold for $1.75 million ???
Great strategy! (n)
I guess he can more with 1.75 million up front than 2.5million over 5 -10 years or some company stock that's gonna probably go up ,down or stay the same , CASH MEANS -NOW
 
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Awesome, spend the proceeds unwisely, I would, but then at 3 score & 10 we will have different objectives! :xf.smile:
 
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He's not a domainer - he bought the name in 2006 for $75k and has cashed out for $1.75m. I'd say that is a pretty good ROI by anyone's standards.

The money is far more useful to him as capital that he can use as funding for companies.
He may not be a domainer but he came on namepros and was offering a bounty to anyone who got him an offer on the table that he liked. I would certainly say there are not many people who own a few category killer domains that come on namepros and put a bounty on their domain.

He obviously had the foresight to do his homework, and he consulted with domainers, and I would be sure he reached out to top industry brokers.

It was a crazy time, and not too many people wanted the party to end, but when you start getting into the millions, and getting offers, and getting someone who actually funds the offer without games are two different stories.

Regardless $75k to the end result is simply amazing.
 
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I guess he can more with 1.75 million up front than 2.5million over 5 -10 years or some company stock that's gonna probably go up ,down or stay the same , CASH MEANS -NOW
You didn´t got the point of my comment, my friend ... :glasses:
 
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Didn't take long for the armchair domainers to step in and criticize this sale.

Before you criticize the "timing" or "price" of the sale, remember that you will likely never own a domain even close to the caliber of 20.com and also never even sniff a 7 figure sale of any kind.

Congrats Jason on your awesome investment!
 
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congrats ! nice name and perfect timing, don't listen to anyone
 
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Awesome sale :)
congratulations @jason calacanis !

It is easy to criticize other people negotiation strategy but much harder to reject 7 figures offers for a domain on daily/weekly basis.
A much higher offer could have been presented theoretically but nothing is guaranteed.
$75k to $1.75m is a great ROI.
99.999% of domainers will never complete 6 or 7 figures domain sale.
 
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Fantastic domain, fantastic sale.
 
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omg............m jst hoping all serius domainers mst have atleat one such sale every year.................am i expecting more??????????????
 
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Let's all keep in mind that those higher offers were at a time when the market was on a consistent uptrend and offers could have reached $5 million at the rate they were increasing. If we all knew when the market would stop going up, then we all would have made a fortune (Some did). It's the same in the stock market. All is clear in hindsight. ;)
 
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