auctions ICANN announces .WEB auction results: 9-figure winning price of $135 million

[ebk]

String      Contention Set Number  Auction Date  Application ID  Winning Applicant    Winning Price
WEB / WEBS  233                    27 July 2016  1-1296-36138    NU DOT CO LLC*       $135,000,000
WEB / WEBS  233                    27 July 2016  1-1033-73917    Vistaprint Limited*  $135,000,000

https://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/auctionresults

They just released their official statement here: https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2016-07-28-en

On 27 July 2016, Power Auctions LLC, ICANN's authorized auction service provider, conducted a New Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Program auction to resolve contention for .WEB and .WEBS. Auction serves as the method of last resort for determining which applicant may operate a gTLD when several entities have applied for the same or confusingly similar gTLDs. This method was defined throughICANN's bottom-up, multistakeholder process.

Eight applicants completed the requirements for participating in the .WEB/.WEBS auction. NU DOT CO LLC prevailed in the auction for the price of $135 million to operate the .WEB gTLD, and Vistaprint Ltd prevailed with a price of $1 for the .WEBS gTLD.

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Update:

• Verisign confirms it did fund $135 million .web bid

 

[DNScholar]

.Web is much better than .Webs and it sounds closer to .Com

 

[GoKaizen]

F%#$ ICANN and Verisign

 

[daica85]

.Web is much better than .Webs and it sounds closer to .Com

Correct, I think it will very popular in the future.

 

[ebk]

.Web is much better than .Webs and it sounds closer to .Com

Edit: it's for webs.com.

F%#$ ICANN and Verisign

They're in it for the money.

Correct, I think it will very popular in the future.

I'm excited for .web. I think it's far more versatile than .com in its application. .com still has a commercial connotation, especially to older users. Some people were thinking Verisign was behind nu dot co llc and backing the bid as a defensive bid to protect .com, but I'm sure after paying $130M for it they wouldn't. Then again, .com is their billion-dollar cash cow.

 

[mad409]

Too many .web threads.. I posted this in another one, .webs isn't a public extension.
https://www.101domain.com/webs.htm

.web
Applicant Vistaprint Limited has applied for the .webs domain. As this is a private application, this domain will not be initially available for public registration. Review the application for more information.

Unless something has changed that I didn't hear about..

 

[ebk]

Too many .web threads.. I posted this in another one, .webs isn't a public extension.
https://www.101domain.com/webs.htm

Wasn't aware of that, but I figured it had something to do with webs.com. Wouldn't make sense otherwise.

Thanks for posting that.

 

[mad409]

Wasn't aware of that, but I figured it had something to do with webs.com. Wouldn't make sense otherwise.

Thanks for posting that.

Looks like here's the breakdown, .webs was won for $1.00 because it's private and not public and of course .web @ 135 million.

Winners: String Won Applicant Application ID Winning Price Date of Auction WEB NU DOT CO LLC 1-1296-36138 $135,000,000 27-July-2016 WEBS Vistaprint Limited 1-1033-73917 $1 27-July-2016

 

[Wass]

Personally .web reminds me .net

 

[dordomai]

Edit: it's for webs.com.


They're in it for the money.


I'm excited for .web. I think it's far more versatile than .com in its application. .com still has a commercial connotation, especially to older users. Some people were thinking Verisign was behind nu dot co llc and backing the bid as a defensive bid to protect .com, but I'm sure after paying $130M for it they wouldn't. Then again, .com is their billion-dollar cash cow.

why do you think they are just protecting .com? They might be protecting .net.

 

[mad409]

why do you think they are just protecting .com? They might be protecting .net.

They didn't spend 135 million to protect anything, that's a huge investment for a new g. They're in it to make money plain and simple..

Now we wait to see if they have everything good reserved, overpriced, high renewals.

 

[Kate]

I never quite understood the excitement over .web.
I think it could be popular within a small niche of geek users, but these names will be novelty.

Just like .io domains are used by tech startups today (= fad).

I certainly don't see how it could outperform .net, which has been around for 30 years but always been considered second fiddle and now looks more and more a legacy TLD (I like it though).

 

[theSun]

I just want to ask how many years will it take for .web to recover the $135m amount spent? 10? 20? 50? 100? Or never?

 

[joro001]

Very smart of Verisign if you ask me.

They have taken out the single biggest competitor of the new GTLD's to .com and will ensure .com remains the number 1 extension.

Of course they want to make money from .web, but let's not play games part of the strategy was to take out a major and in fact what could have been the major competitor to .com. Whether they price them on a first come first served basis like they did with .com or more like .TV with high premiums/renewals is by the by.
.com has just gone up a notch in value in my mind after these results, no doubt about it.

Can domainers make ROI on .web when it's launched? Possibly, it will depend on the above and how Verisign launch it. However, for .com investors (like myself) they couldn't be happier.

 

[dordomai]

I just want to ask how many years will it take for .web to recover the $135m amount spent? 10? 20? 50? 100? Or never?

Maybe never but it still was a smart move. The effect is mostly psychological IMO. They have shown the dominance of the .com operator once again. Even when the threat of .web was mostly theoretical they got rid of it.

Now what has the nGTLD program left to challenge .com and .net?

Nothing.

.xyz, .gdn and .top can't do anything. The others are too niche.

 

[Soofi]

I think .web will fail or never be able to achieve what .com has achieved :D

 

[Addison]

Google Trends: WEB vs COM​

 

[Haroon Basha]

It is going to be another flopped gTLD. The world is too much crazy for .com

 

[GoKaizen]

https://namestat.org/comsec

They will do nothing...

 

[Domainstore]

Who won the auction ?
This article has a link of ICANN =>
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/28/someone_paid_135m_for_dot_web
The link is => https://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/auctionresults So the company that bought it is =>
NU DOT CO LLC*

 

[Eric Lyon]

It looks like Verisign bought .Web domain for $135 million (SEC Filing)

Verisign (NYSE:VRSN) just filed its quarterly report with the SEC today. Under “Subsequent Event” it says:

Subsequent to June 30, 2016, the Company incurred a commitment to pay approximately $130.0 million for the future assignment of contractual rights, which are subject to third-party consent. The payment is expected to occur during the third quarter of 2016.​

Verisign was rumored to be backing Nu Dot Co’s bid for the domain name.

The Register

That suggests VeriSign coughed up $130m for .web, and Nu Dot Co added $5m to retain a stake.

 

[platey]

cob.webs

 

[platey]

cob.webs

and cob.web

 

[GoKaizen]

http://domainincite.com/20833-verisign-confirms-it-did-fund-135-million-web-bid