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domains Breaking: $90 Million Domain Sale Revealed

NameSilo
When I logged on to Twitter this morning, I was met with a tweet from domain investor George Kirikos claiming to have uncovered one of the most expensive domain transactions in history.

Edit: Article updated for accuracy. The domain deal is for $90,000,000 payable until 2040. Not $65 million as was previously announced.

After reaching his Twitter target of 10 Retweets, George Kirikos revealed details of the massive $90 million domain name sale. The information, which was revealed on George's Twitter page shows that LasVegas.com sold for a $90 million payment agreement in 2005, starting with an initial $12,000,000 fee.

This sale dwarfs any other domain name sale in public record. The highest domain sale recorded has previously been Sex.com for $13,000,000. Some media outlets claim insurance.com for $35.6 million in July 2010 is the highest domain sale of all time, but this was not purely a domain name purchase.

The SEC filing from Vegas.com LLC shows that they entered into an agreement to buy the domain name LasVegas.com. They initially paid a fee of $12,000,000 and will pay up to $90 million in total.

Here's a quote from the SEC filing:
In May 2005, the Company entered into a contract under which it agreed to pay $12,000,000 for exclusive right to use the domain name “LasVegas.com.” The contract term is 35 years. The Company is amortizing the domain name rights over 35 years. The Company is also obligated to make payments of approximately $208,000 a month


If Vegas.com LLC wish, they can stop paying for the domain in June 2016 and lose the right to use the name, or they can pay $208,000 per month until 2040. So far they have paid around $30,000,000 for the domain name (includes the initial $12 million payment and subsequent monthly payments).

Here is how the payments have been broken down:
  • An initial $12 million payment in May 2005
  • $83,000 per month for the next 36 months
  • $125,000 per month for the next 60 months
  • $208,000 per month for the next 36 months
After June 2016 (as mentioned above), Vegas.com LLC can opt to stop using the domain or pay $208,000 per month until 2040, bringing the total sale to $90,000,000.

LasVegas.com shows a fully operational website, displaying information regarding hotels, shows, and tours in Las Vegas. LasVegas.com has a global Alexa ranking of around 30,000 and shows up on the number 1 spot on Google for the search term Las Vegas.

Incidentally, NamesCon will be in Las Vegas in 2016. With this new information, it seems very apt that domain investors will flock to Vegas!
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Absolutely stunning sale.

And now back to the usual 6N/7N reporting with 888 and mirrored digits.
 
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That's a great news, will help the domainers demand more and more !!
Good for us, ain't it? :)
Most LL.coms are already being listed on GD with a $5M BIN tag.
 
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Wow!

That has to obliterate the previous known sales record for a single domain name, doesn't it?
 
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A joke or Virtual Reality. This is amazing, what a hell domain business is becoming?
 
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You guys are selling your domains too cheap. Mark it up right now.
 
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so if I understand well.. in essence there was at some point in past a time when this 90mil domain could have been ANYONE's property for regfee more or less equal to today's value

did I get that bout right?
 
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@alcy Yes, it was registered in 1997 so there was a time it was available.
 
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Thats a Crazy amount of cash
 
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@alcy Yes, it was registered in 1997 so there was a time it was available.

so in short few words, can someone explain to me why I or they did not handreg in 199X lasvegas.com or sex.com or cars.com or somethingelsenice.com?

did it really require one to be a fortuneteller to forsee these prices back then?
 
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so in short few words, can someone explain to me why I or they did not handreg in 199X lasvegas.com or sex.com or cars.com or somethingelsenice.com?

did it really require one to be a fortuneteller to forsee these prices back then?

You needed internet access for that and at that time not more than a few % had it and no one would think about domain names as the internet was just a fad. so why register a stupid "domain name" whatever that is for this fad that soon no one will care about?
 
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You needed internet access for that and at that time not more than a few % had it and no one would think about domain names as the internet was just a fad. so why register a stupid "domain name" whatever that is for this fad that soon no one will care about?

Fully agree. Moreover, the process to register a domain was way more complex and expensive (but I was not in domaining at this time :))
 
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You needed internet access for that and at that time not more than a few % had it and no one would think about domain names as the internet was just a fad. so why register a stupid "domain name" whatever that is for this fad that soon no one will care about?
Anyone thinking the internet was "just a fad" was just as clueless in 1997 as they'd be today in 2015.
 
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So....
in august this year Remark Media bought Vegas.com LLC for $15.5 million in cash and $9.5 million in Remark stock, $10 million in future stock options and up to $3 million in the next three years based on the website’s revenue performance. (total around 38 Mil.)
This includes most prob. the deal from 2005.

After june 2016 they have to pay 208.000 a month (untill 2040) to become the owner so for now we can just call it a hire purchase.?
(they have to pay roughly 2.5 Mil a year. for many years to come......)

The playing field for especially online hotel reservations changed dramatically between 2005 and now, and is maybe the reason why LV based Greenspun Corp sold out to Remark Media.
In 2005 online hotel reservation income was skyrocket high for websites like LasVegas.com & Vegas.com, but now with mobile apps people starting to choose to use those apps over visiting a website when they intend to make a hotel reservation.
I see on the Remark Media website that the have an online hotel app and maybe they will use the traffic from vegas.com/LasVegas.com to let people to download their app.... (just a wide guess...)

It is just possible that they will cancel the LasVegas.com deal in June 2016, or renegotiate, as to me the price Remark Media payed for Vegas.com is not in line with the value some of you think for the domain LasVegas.com at this moment.
Only traffic and the type of traffic tells the money story, and maybe big lobbying to legalize online poker in Vegas (or the State of Nevada / whole USA) but time will tell......
 
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so in short few words, can someone explain to me why I or they did not handreg in 199X lasvegas.com or sex.com or cars.com or somethingelsenice.com?

did it really require one to be a fortuneteller to forsee these prices back then?

I would have bought a ton, but was actually under 18 with no credit card. Several good ones I had were actually bought by an older friend who later forgot to renew them. If I remember correctly it was about $70/domain per year so it was not super cheap.
 
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Remark Media: For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2016

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1368365/000136836516000046/mark_31mar2016x10-q.htm

See: NOTE 10. CAPITAL LEASES AND PURCHASE OBLIGATIONS

Purchase Obligation

On June 10, 2005, Vegas.com entered into a license agreement providing for, among other things, Vegas.com’s exclusive use of the domain name “LasVegas.com” (the “LasVegas.com License Agreement”). Under the terms of the LasVegas.com License Agreement, Vegas.com paid $12 million upon execution of the agreement, was required to make monthly payments of approximately $83,000 through June 2008 and $125,000 through June 2013, and is currently making monthly payments of $208,000 through June 2040. If Vegas.com continues making the required monthly payments through June 30, 2040, ownership of the domain name would transfer to Vegas.com, without further payment by or cost to Vegas.com, on that date. After June 30, 2016, however, Vegas.com has the option, in its sole discretion, to terminate the LasVegas.com License Agreement and forfeit its rights to use of the domain name upon 30 days notice.

As of March 31, 2016, the remaining accounting liability, representing only those payments we are required to make through June 30, 2016, was approximately $0.6 million, and was reflected in Accrued expense and other current liabilities in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. Payments under the LasVegas.com License Agreement after June 30, 2016 will be made on a month-to-month basis and will be recorded as an expense.
 
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Woooow!!! Just mindboogling!!!
 
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Woooow!!! Just mindboogling!!!
Yes. The LasVegas.com sale in progress is not "new" news, but this SEC filing from March at least references what we interpret to be the desire to continue payments effective just last week on June 30, 2016.
 
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So if I have Houston.com , I can sell it for $50million+ ?
 
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