discuss Happy New Years - What is your 2020 Forecast?

[Rob Monster]

This is post # 3,000 at NamePros. So I thought to make it a meaty one.

First of all, I extend a warm Happy New Year blessing to all. May your domaining efforts be fruitful, and may your use of sale proceeds be wisely aligned to the things you feel called to do in 2020!

In the meantime, some folks have asked me for my 2020 predictions. Well, I am no prophet, but I will share some scenarios that I think would be not unreasonable to see unfold:

• Namepros' Alexa rank clears 10,000: After a steep incline in 2019, the NP growth engine keeps humming and clears Alexa rank of 10,000 like a hot knife through butter.

• Emerging markets set the outbound pace: The industry onboards 100,000 new domain investors in 2020 alone. Many find their way to NamePros and learn how to outbound from industry pros.

• PIR acquisition: Despite flag-waving by industry pundits, the deal goes through. The price increase does not happen as the dust settles. After all, the .ORG deal was not about price anyway.

• Godaddy restructuring: During Q1 2020, Godaddy announces housecleaning -- takes out $2 billion of intangible trash. Stock gets rocked. Private equity players directed by Fadi Chehade are in the mix

• Industry consolidation: Look for DAN, Efty, Escrow.com and Uniregistry all to be acquired in 2020. Godaddy will be a buyer of innovation as they throw in the towel on building great tech internally.

• Hidden hands exposed: Thanks to high impact forensic work by a network of truthseekers in the domain community, the hidden hands behind Cloudflare and LetsEncrypt begin to come to light.

• WHOIS makes a comeback: After 18 months of emasculation, WHOIS makes a triumphant return with the launch of GDPR-compliant WHOIS.

• Cloud hosting goes mainstream: An explosion of cPanel sites will move into the cloud thanks to technologies which will bring cloud migration tools for non-technical people.

• 3N.com domain market moonshots: 3N.com domains clear 7 figures as the industry consolidates into very strong hands.

• Digital brands not domains: I believe during 2020, we'll see a big pivot from selling naked domains to selling integrated brands. Squadhelp and Flippa were only the appetizer there.

• WIPO UDRP thuggery thwarted: After a year of boundary testing by WIPO, the industry calls bullshit on the overreach and fights back. Sunlight proves to be a potent detergent in 2020.

• Super-broker Andrew Rosener sells Clear.com for mind blowing $10 million: Sure, it sounds like a crazy moonshot, but Andrew does crazy deals like few others!

So, that's it for my 2020 predictions. Let's see what happens.

In the meantime, curious to hear what folks think will happen in the next 12 months that impacts our industry and community.

 

[Compassion]

I predict the veil of confusion that has lead humanity into perpetual cycles of suffering lifts its grips a bit more as the age of information brings forward long hidden truths for the intelligence of humans to decipher, embrace and embody.....

and along the way in 2020, the misanthropes that muck up NP migrate to the other board that shall not be named while the crown jewels of the industry continue to elevate NP to be a platform for all of us to create and catapult win-win-win scenarios for humanity.

 

[Lox]

GD acquired ...

Cognate
Main Street Hub
Plasso
Sellbrite (plans to connect WhatsApp / Instagram India business users with Sellbrite)
Securi
FreedomVoice
WPCurve
Elto
ManageWP
Outright
Host Europe Group
Locu
Media Temple
Mad Mimi
MDot
Nodejitsu
CoBlocks
ThemeBeans
Block Gallery
... DN portfolios and the list goes on .... what's next?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I just published a NamePros blog post featuring domain predictions for 2020 from 25 different people.
Bob

 

[iGreen]

The emerging brandable domain market and innovative contests name suggestion platform SquadHelp will be acquired in 2020 and some more similar markets will emerge.

 

[Embrand]

NameJet will fold? Their customer service certainly seems to have completely vanished...

 

[Rob Monster]

NameJet will fold? Their customer service certainly seems to have completely vanished...

That is a bold prediction.

NameJet remains a high traffic site. It is owned by Web.com with ample resources.

You are saying that the site is broken beyond repair and that they would not sell it as a fixer-upper?

Surely there is some value there even if the brand is neglected.

 

[Embrand]

That is a bold prediction.

NameJet remains a high traffic site. It is owned by Web.com with ample resources.

You are saying that the site is broken beyond repair and that they would not sell it as a fixer-upper?

Surely there is some value there even if the brand is neglected.

I guess they will be okay. I just find it worrying that they are very slow to hand over won domains, and their support Centre is not accessible. At least not to me.

 

[nameaura]

good post Rob

 

[manpreet]

This is post # 3,000 at NamePros. So I thought to make it a meaty one.

First of all, I extend a warm Happy New Year blessing to all. May your domaining efforts be fruitful, and may your use of sale proceeds be wisely aligned to the things you feel called to do in 2020!

In the meantime, some folks have asked me for my 2020 predictions. Well, I am no prophet, but I will share some scenarios that I think would be not unreasonable to see unfold:

• Namepros' Alexa rank clears 10,000: After a steep incline in 2019, the NP growth engine keeps humming and clears Alexa rank of 10,000 like a hot knife through butter.

• Emerging markets set the outbound pace: The industry onboards 100,000 new domain investors in 2020 alone. Many find their way to NamePros and learn how to outbound from industry pros.

• PIR acquisition: Despite flag-waving by industry pundits, the deal goes through. The price increase does not happen as the dust settles. After all, the .ORG deal was not about price anyway.

• Godaddy restructuring: During Q1 2020, Godaddy announces housecleaning -- takes out $2 billion of intangible trash. Stock gets rocked. Private equity players directed by Fadi Chehade are in the mix

• Industry consolidation: Look for DAN, Efty, Escrow.com and Uniregistry all to be acquired in 2020. Godaddy will be a buyer of innovation as they throw in the towel on building great tech internally.

• Hidden hands exposed: Thanks to high impact forensic work by a network of truthseekers in the domain community, the hidden hands behind Cloudflare and LetsEncrypt begin to come to light.

• WHOIS makes a comeback: After 18 months of emasculation, WHOIS makes a triumphant return with the launch of GDPR-compliant WHOIS.

• Cloud hosting goes mainstream: An explosion of cPanel sites will move into the cloud thanks to technologies which will bring cloud migration tools for non-technical people.

• 3N.com domain market moonshots: 3N.com domains clear 7 figures as the industry consolidates into very strong hands.

• Digital brands not domains: I believe during 2020, we'll see a big pivot from selling naked domains to selling integrated brands. Squadhelp and Flippa were only the appetizer there.

• WIPO UDRP thuggery thwarted: After a year of boundary testing by WIPO, the industry calls bullsh*t on the overreach and fights back. Sunlight proves to be a potent detergent in 2020.

• Super-broker Andrew Rosener sells Clear.com for mind blowing $10 million: Sure, it sounds like a crazy moonshot, but Andrew does crazy deals like few others!

So, that's it for my 2020 predictions. Let's see what happens.

In the meantime, curious to hear what folks think will happen in the next 12 months that impacts our industry and community.

Simply put, the industry is going to be awesome in 2020!

I also presume some new technologies to emerge both in the Domain/IP niche as well as the Networking technology as a whole.

Some new concepts will be replacing and winning over the age-old ones, for the good!

 

[Rob Monster]

I did call it:

https://domaininvesting.com/godaddy-to-acquire-uniregistry-name-administration/

No shocker here.

 

[sharfab]

I did call it:

Show attachment 144358
https://domaininvesting.com/godaddy-to-acquire-uniregistry-name-administration/

No shocker here.

BIG BROTHER GETTING BIGGER...

 

[Rob Monster]

Escrow.com should be next.

Dan.com got some runway so they will try to run up the valuation before exiting in 2020.

Call me crazy.

 

[Mister Funsky]

I did call it:

Wow...simply wow. Good call Rob...does this mean a potential 350K names being run through the godaddy stream?

ADD: btw, what is Frank going to do now besides buy a new yacht?

DOUBLE ADD: PLEASE tell me Epik will remain as is for at least the next two years!?!?!?

3x ADD: Okay...gd just taking over the operations aspect...the 350 blew my mind...just that many under uni registration...wonder how big the portfolio is they acquired? btw, I am going to get coffee now...brain not working properly!

 

[Rob Monster]

Wow...simply wow. Good call Rob...does this mean a potential 350K names being run through the godaddy stream?

ADD: btw, what is Frank going to do now besides buy a new yacht?

DOUBLE ADD: PLEASE tell me Epik will remain as is for at least the next two years!?!?!?

3x ADD: Okay...gd just taking over the operations aspect...the 350 blew my mind...just that many under uni registration...wonder how big the portfolio is they acquired? btw, I am going to get coffee now...brain not working properly!

As I see it:

Godaddy will acquire the Name Admin portfolio, amortize the portfolio over 80 quarters and sell off the cream in 2020-23. It will be accretive to earnings for 12 quarters and Aman will look like a genius.

I still believe Godaddy takes out the trash with their $2 billion restructuring charge to clean out the legacy goodwill. It will be a one and done.

Aman is making some moves though.

 

[oldtimer]

Aman is making some moves though.

Do you think that they will keep the same name, I am predicting that GoDaddy will change their name soon.

IMO

 

[rh2000]

PLEASE tell me Epik will remain as is for at least the next two years!?!?!?

GoDaddy might buy them next.

 

[Rob Monster]

GoDaddy might buy them next.

I doubt it. Escrow.com next.

 

[Rob Monster]

Do you think that they will keep the same name, I am predicting that GoDaddy will change their name soon.

IMO

They should buy Go.com from Disney.

That makes them gender-neutral and politically correct.

It fits the empowerment rhetoric. Just Go.

ABC can afford to part with it, and with Aman on the Board of NYT, he already has the secret handshake.

 

[Rob Monster]

I have not seen much discussion of Uni's gTLD strings.

Within 90 days, I expect the registries are in the hands of Donuts aka Abry Partners aka Friends of Fadi Chehade..

 

[oldtimer]

They should buy Go.com from Disney.

That makes them gender-neutral and politically correct.

It fits the empowerment rhetoric. Just Go.

ABC can afford to part with it, and with Aman on the Board of NYT, he already has the secret handshake.

I have GoBrandable.com if they want to buy it, no secret handshake required.

 

[Windoms]

I see domainers leaving Namesilo.

This tells me Namesilo is not making a lot of money on domain registrations, renewals, transfers, and certainly not privacy... Plus, they offer dirt cheap first time registrations (they lose money).
They are obviously trying to acquire customers and I hope for ya'll that they never raise prices once the boat is full.

 

[Lox]

I have not seen much discussion of Uni's gTLD strings.

Within 90 days, I expect the registries are in the hands of Donuts aka Abry Partners aka Friends of Fadi Chehade..

Count on CentralNic expansion (hungry dragon)

Regards

 

[branding]

I see domainers leaving Namesilo.

They haven't been doing bad past year:

 

[Lox]

They haven't been doing bad past year:

Thanks to the Brisio $ and Asia-Pacific region Regbait promos

 

[branding]

Thanks to the Brisio $ and Asia-Pacific region Regbait promos

Maybe but:

Obviously it would show growth as lots of new TLDs have been launched overtime but judging from what I can see there's not many people leaving yet.

Should probably check hosterstats to be sure.