GoDaddy bought Mike Berkens domain portfolio MostWantedDomains.com

[NameClerk]

Godaddy purchases 70,000 domain name portfolio from Mike Berkins (Worldwide Media).

I'd love to know the details of this deal. Mike is known for holding out for top dollar. I'm also curious what Godaddy's plan is for all these domains. They acquired another 200,000 earlier this year from Marchex.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...addy-bolsters-domain-name-portfolio-with.html

http://domainnamewire.com/2015/12/0...erkens-worldwide-media-domain-name-portfolio/

 

[wwwweb]

@Paul Nicks & @Joe Styler, You guys ever considered something like "GoDaddy Finance" where customers could get credit towards buying your names? Seeing that GD has been building a nice in-house portfolio of expensive names to sell, now you guys need a method for letting some of those who don't have tens of thousands in the bank acquire them. Occasionally you can find other domains who will let you make Escrow payments on LLL.com's and then release the name once paid off. It would be great if there were a reputable company out there you could do it with as well..

DNS/Uniregistry integration in the next month or so is slated to have this, it will be a big feature, most likely the domain will have to be registered at uniregistry for the instant integration.

Godaddy putting it off to the side, will continue to lose key domains from Accounts/TDNAM/Afternic/Premium inventory by not keeping up with rising domain prices, and the fact of the matter is most buyers can't front one time costs up front, they have to be financed in some manner.

This essentially could lead to getting a better price, and closing more sales.

The market moves to quick to simply stay with the norm, let alone get in front of it, and being a public company there is much more demand from investors who want to see strong growth.

 

[Joe Styler]

DNS/Uniregistry integration in the next month or so is slated to have this, it will be a big feature, most likely the domain will have to be registered at uniregistry for the instant integration.

Godaddy putting it off to the side, will continue to lose key domains from Accounts/TDNAM/Afternic/Premium inventory by not keeping up with rising domain prices, and the fact of the matter is most buyers can't front one time costs up front, they have to be financed in some manner.

This essentially could lead to getting a better price, and closing more sales.

The market moves to quick to simply stay with the norm, let alone get in front of it, and being a public company there is much more demand from investors who want to see strong growth.

We're always moving as well. Things have changed a lot since I started years ago and we will continue to introduce new things and refine our current offerings to make things better for our customers. This past year we tightened auction security through bidder verification, enabled 2fa for International customers, standardized commissions across Afternic and GoDaddy on all sales listing types which then let you more easily take advantage of listing in one place, Afternic, at one price point, and having the domain listed for sale in potentially hundreds of registrars including GoDaddy, launched free Webinars for domain investors, etc . This is only a part of what we completed this past year and in the New Year we will have many more changes that will benefit domain investors. So stay tuned and see how we continue to improve your ability to easily transact sales across many platforms getting in front of millions of end users.

 

[carob]

...and the fact of the matter is most buyers can't front one time costs up front, they have to be financed in some manner.

This essentially could lead to getting a better price, and closing more sales.

Agree - just need an asterisk or Info symbol by the price informing them "finance available" then when you click you see "Just $250 a month for two years" or "monthy payment plans available" or "from $100 a month...."

 

[NameClerk]

Hi, I understand the concern about how we'll treat expiry but we made a conscious choice following the Marchex acquisition that we would not skim any names prior to them reaching expiry and we would not be bidding in our expiry auctions because that would pit us against our customers.

If you read the comments from Mike McLaughlin (my boss) and I, we stated several months ago that we would not prioritize our inventory over our customers' and we would not bid against our customers. Even the commission structure for our call center reps have, and will, stay the same on NameFind inventory vs Afternic or GD Premium Listings.

This article from the Marchex portfolio includes some key quotes from Mike on this very topic.
http://domainnamewire.com/2015/04/22/godaddy-acquires-marchexs-domain-name-portfolio-for-28-million/

That's good to know Paul. I'm sure you can understand our concern. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

[DomainVP]

Sounds like a win-win for both Mike and GoDaddy.

GoDaddy has the structure to patiently hold and sell these from now until the internet collapses, and can get the most value out of every single domain; Mike wanted an exit, and got a fantastic payday for fantastic domains.

Congratulations to both parties.

 

[iamonline]

I'm happy for Mike on the well-deserved pay day.

I'm still left wondering what the ramifications of Godaddy becoming a major portfolio holder are? They're running two of the larger domain marketplaces in existence and now have over 250,000 of their own names to sell. One would believe they'll slant things in their favor, no?

Of course, they will. I'd do the same if it was my company. Also, bear in mind they're now a public company so there is even more pressure on them to turn a profit. They will certainly use all the tools at their disposal to get these names sold.

 

[iamonline]

My primary concern is how prominent the promotion of these domains become at GD and Afternic. The rest of us could be looking at diminished visibility on these marketplaces if it becomes more profitable for GD to sell their inventory than take a small percentage for selling ours. Premium listings could be taken out of the search path and replaced with recommendations from GD inventory.... things of that nature.

I'm inclined to think they'll surely front row their inventory. So your concern is justified.

It also brings up possible conflicts with their expiring domain inventory. I'm sure they'll continue to run the highly contested auctions but they might opt to keep large amounts of names for their own inventory instead of letting them go to Closeout status.

It will make business sense to do so.

It's very interesting but I don't see it as a positive based on where things could go.

I concur.

 

[FPForum]

I'm inclined to think they'll surely front row their inventory. So your concern is justified.

True, but I also think many of the names they've taken over are worthy of front row displays. Those LLL.com's would definitely be front row material no matter who owns them. Only real difference is you and me would have to pay a commission on the sale (a higher commission if we wanted premium listing for it)

 

[iamonline]

True, but I also think many of the names they've taken over are worthy of front row displays. Those LLL.com's would definitely be front row material no matter who owns them. Only real difference is you and me would have to pay a commission on the sale (a higher commission if we wanted premium listing for it)

Valid point. Mike had a great portfolio.

 

[domeen]

thedomains.com is now parked also for sale
So he most be very happy

 

[BrandClub.com]

Verisign price for .com is $7.85 + $0.18 ICANN fee.

Verisign price may be $7.85 + $0.18 but there are special prices for special customers. We know people that have special treatment at GoDaddy, so they can register UNLIMITED (.COM) domains at only $4 + $0,18
So imagine that GoDaddy pays less than $4 to Verisign for those domains ...

 

[BrandClub.com]

Godaddy purchases 70,000 domain name portfolio from Mike Berkins (Worldwide Media).

I'd love to know the details of this deal. Mike is known for holding out for top dollar. I'm also curious what Godaddy's plan is for all these domains. They acquired another 200,000 earlier this year from Marchex.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...addy-bolsters-domain-name-portfolio-with.html

http://domainnamewire.com/2015/12/0...erkens-worldwide-media-domain-name-portfolio/

GoDaddy, DomainNameSales (UNIREGISTRY) and all the outher registries are the new domainers ...
Welcome to "The New ERA of Domaining" ... Battle between giants ...

 

[DnEbook]

The house always wins, we all know that by now, in some cases there are opportunities to be part of the house....... food for thought

 

[dordomai]

in the past two years buydomains sold, marchex sold, berkens sold, rick schwartz sold porno.com and retired.

it seems that everyone is exiting the game. At the same time the gTLDs have launched and flooded the market. Coincidence?

 

[Argentum]

in the past two years buydomains sold, marchex sold, berkens sold, rick schwartz sold porno.com and retired.

it seems that everyone is exiting the game. At the same time the gTLDs have launched and flooded the market. Coincidence?

It depends how you look on this situation..i see from absolutely different point..i see that large companies now realize all potential of domain investment and ready to pay amounts which this guys asked from them..for example Mike Berkens never sold cheap any of his domains when others were ready to sell for any amount so he sold in bulk everything at once now and for sum he asked and he is absolutely happy.

 

[hugegrowth]

You can only make so many millions, then it's time to enjoy life and time. I agree it's a good sign that companies like Godaddy will go after portfolio buys.

 

[accent]

Mike mentioned a few months ago on TheDomains that he owned only a few LLLL.coms, on the order of 30 of them. I expect they were great ones.

 

[Branded Domains]

Wow

 

[BrandClub.com]

in the past two years buydomains sold, marchex sold, berkens sold, rick schwartz sold porno.com and retired.

it seems that everyone is exiting the game. At the same time the gTLDs have launched and flooded the market. Coincidence?

NO There is no coincidence ... Big individual players (who made fortunes on .COM) are retiring and their SEATS are taken by new big players on domaining: Registrars & Registries ...
Domaining is not a growing industry (for individuals), is an almost DEAD one !

 

[dordomai]

NO There is no coincidence ... Big individual players (who made fortunes on .COM) are retiring and their SEATS are taken by new big players on domaining: Registrars & Registries ...
Domaining is not a growing industry (for individuals), is an almost DEAD one !

Yes: I interpret all these exits as either being not so optimistic about the future of the domain market or believing that domain values have reached the top and won't grow further.

 

[Argentum]

Yes: I interpret all these exits as either being not so optimistic about the future of the domain market or believing that domain values have reached the top and won't grow further.

Value of domains (i mean only and only .com) is only grow..day by day..together with earth population and number of Internet users. As much new tld's will be launched so much .com value will be grow as each new extantion takes on themselves some customers and at the end no any of this extension can be compared by number of registered domains to .com

 

[Kenny]

thedomains.com is now parked also for sale
So he most be very happy

http://www.thedomains.com/
Still up for me.

Peace,
Cy

 

[hugegrowth]

Can you imagine the work involved in managing 70,000 domains?? Keeping track of renewals, replying to inquiries, negotiating, etc. on top of running an active blog. No wonder after 20 years of this, and 20 years older, you cash out for millions and enjoy life. And he still kept some domains to manage. I don't think it is a negative call on domains, just the right time and price for an exit.

 

[Arpit131]

Mike Berkens writes about the sale in this article:

My Sale to GoDaddy

 

[JamesCrew]

So I read it right somewhere that it's the seller's market. Sell sell sell. Congrats Berkens.