news Domaining.com SOLD!

[Super Software]

On January 3rd in the daily newsletter, Francois Carrillo, owner of Domaining.com had announced that the domain industry’s most popular news and blog news aggregator was for sale.

Even during NamesCon Domaining was advertised for sale in the program guide. Francois has a new venture Proof.com that needed funding apparently the reason he decided to sell his most liquid asset which has several other sites and services mixed in.

Here is the gist of the message from him today as part of the newsletter to readers:

Hello, Game is over.

Next week I will announce the new owner of domaining.com.

TGIF

Francois

There is a guessing game as to the price which was quoted a couple of years ago at 1MM BIN, however most likely it closed around 250-500K range.

 

[infosec3]

Interesting news... I would guess it is between $400K-$500K.

 

[Joseph Green]

Here's the email from January 3rd, 2015:

Hello,

First, I wish you the best to you and your family for 2,015.

If you are reading our newsletter is because you are interested by the domain industry, and the biggest event of this industry is scheduled in Las Vegas next week: NamesCon
It is still possible for you to join, animate you, you will not regret it!

On a different note I decided to seek buyers for Domaining.com (my most liquid and valuable website), the main reason is to fund my next service: PROOF.com
I do not have any BIN price in mind, simply post your best private offer.
I should accept a 5 years seller financing deal.

Cheers!

Francois

 

[equity78]

The asking price has been $2million, we will see what he sold it for.

 

[Joseph Green]

There is a guessing game as to the price which was quoted a couple of years ago at 1MM BIN, however most likely it closed around 250-500K range.

I would guess it is between $400K-$500K.

In my opinion, these guesses are much too low. I believe the minimum was 2 MM over 5 years, so that's $400k/year for 5 years.

Domaining.com probably brings in about $100-200k/year in revenue from sponsors, and I'd guess most of that is pure profit. Let's take the average of that range at $150k/year. Thus, it would really only cost the buyer $250k/year (purchase_cost minus revenue) = 1.25 MM total.

I think that is a fair price considering Domaining.com has a "dofollow" backlink on practically every domaining site, and it has a lot of potential for growth.

 

[hookbox]

Domaining.com doesn't sell, make, produce, or create anything. They are completely dependent on Blog feeds of others. If the Bloggers decide not to pay to post anymore then their revenue becomes nothing because the readers won't show up because there won't be anything to read.

I would be very surprised if someone paid any more than 150-200 grand and that's to much in my opinion. I would bet a new GTLD company bought it to promote their products. Uniregistry? Donuts? hmmmm

 

[Joseph Green]

Domaining.com doesn't sell, make, produce, or create anything. They are completely dependent on Blog feeds of others. If the Bloggers decide not to pay to post anymore then their revenue becomes nothing because the readers won't show up because there won't be anything to read.

Agreed, but the same could be said about Facebook, iFunny, imgur, Instagram, Bitly, and many other services that rely on user-generated content. The primary value of the company is based on its reach/network (daily visitors, members, and subscribers). There are plenty of other sites that provide the same service as Domaining.com, but none of them have a comparable reach or distribution.

My money is on Uniregistry being the buyer.

 

[Super Software]

Although UniRegistry has recently heavily "blanketed" the front pages of popular domain blogs, there is confirmation by other industry bloggers that it is not them...speculation will continue over the weekend as to the buyer and the price (still hotly debated - latest professional guesses are closer to mine above).

 

[Joseph Green]

Unexpected: http://domainshane.com/domaining-com-will-purchased-uniregistry/ (sic)

 

[Joseph Green]

The second largest domain news aggregator is NameBee.com:

Domain Name: NAMEBEE.COM
Registrar: TURNCOMMERCE, INC. DBA NAMEBRIGHT.COM
Whois Server: whois.namebright.com
Referral URL: http://www.namebright.com
Name Server: NS1.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
Name Server: NS2.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
Registrant Street: 2635 Walnut Street
Registrant Phone: +1.303.893.0547
Registrant Email: [email protected]

WHOIS shows that they are owned by TurnCommerce, the company behind: HugeDomains, DropCatch.com, NameBright, etc.

Did they purchase Domaining.com? We'll find out in a couple days!

 

[Tia Wood]

The anticipation! Can't wait.

 

[NameOmnia]

The second largest domain news aggregator is NameBee.com:


WHOIS shows that they are owned by TurnCommerce, the company behind: HugeDomains, DropCatch.com, NameBright, etc.

Did they purchase Domaining.com? We'll find out in a couple days!

Jesus Christ not them again!

 

[iowadawg]

One thing I do know for sure?
Who the buyer is not....
ME.

 

[Tia Wood]

Hey, I know ME. I didn't think it was him, either.

 

[iowadawg]

Now I know who bought it....
It was....
HIM

 

[Edward Smeu]

Great to see the numbers here!

 

[Archangel]

$1.75mm to $2mil looks believable to me

 

[Super Software]

Most (automated) website value calculators place the daily ad revenue at around 150$ (avg) - just one metric and not sure how accurate, it will be interesting to see what valuation can be demanded for content sites/specifically news aggregator's these days....

PS: Announcement postponed till EOW per FC

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

http://www.thedomains.com/2015/01/19/breaking-domaining-com-is-not-sold-yet/

Like the article says if you got 7 figures + talk to the man

 

[Edward Smeu]

Yep, almost sure that the first figure is 1 and the second would be 5 or lower. Five more (from seven) to guess.

 

[Super Software]

First - My apologies to the 1000+ folks who read this post, FB+Twitter feeds (glad I did not include a blog post - backlash galore)

Second - Since I was asked to comment about this "mess" - I would prefer to refrain.

Third - I firmly believe valuation of such "aggregated content properties" which have a low barrier to entry will be on the low side irrespective of reach/SEO advantages/subscribers, so 250-400K is a fair price IMHO. (It took me few hours to create DomainWire.IN and with some investment+effort could take it to 10K uniques daily and with $ 1MM a new Web 3.0 business model perhaps?)

 

[Tal]

I dont know if it was the right step to sell it. (for sure not for 300k-400k)
Domaining.com need to be hold and to update it and to keep making profits.

 

[hn]

I have been following domaining but not sure how it can be valued at such a high rate. I would also agree with @hookbox that the said site does not produce any unique content and all it does is display info from multiple sites i.e. aggregrator of feeds. I think its popular because it has multiple ventures integrated like cax etc... so as a standalone venture I would be quite eager to know how much it sells for.

 

[Super Software]

I think Shane summed it up best in his tweet yesterday "Domaining.com may have, could be, might have, possibility that, rumored to, is just around the corner, a chance that, is sold" LMAO

PS: Funny how in the 140 character world we live in now people are getting creative and social! Always learning something new everyday.