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auctions ICANN to Grant Verisign Right to Sell a Single-Character .com Domain for First Time in Over 25 Years

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ICANN to Grant Verisign Right to Sell a Single-Character .com Domain for First Time in Over 25 Years

ICANN's board of directors is due to vote next Thursday at the conclusion of ICANN 64, which begins Saturday in Kobe, Japan, to approve a complex proposal allowing Verisign to auction off o.com, with almost all of the proceeds going to good causes. Kevin Murphy reporting in Domain Incite: "ICANN had referred the Verisign proposal, first put forward in December 2016, to the US government, and the Department of Justice gave it the nod in December 2017. There was also a public comment period last May. The request almost certainly came about due to Overstock.com’s incessant lobbying."

The only single character .com domains currently registered are q.com, z.com and x.com.

Source: http://www.circleid.com/posts/20190...ign_right_to_sell_a_single_character_dot_com/
 
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I wonder what was the thought process or reasoning behind choosing this letter and why just sell one.
 
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I wonder what was the thought process or reasoning behind choosing this letter and why just sell one.
Because they know there’s at least one big company willing to pay 8 figures.
 
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Overstock aren't going to rebrand as O.com even if they get the name. They tried rebranding as O.co and it failed miserably. The main reasons being that they're not called O.co, they're called the more brandable name Overstock and o.co or o.com are equally confusing and don't provide anything discernibly useful to their customers.

It'll be a shame for O.com or any of the other single .COM letter names to be just become redirects to big brands, just because they're big brands.

These names could be used to create great value on the internet... it feels like they're not going to be though.
 
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I thought Overstock is done, they are being outsold by wayfair, and now want to be in the blockchain business. It's all about marketing, and getting the edge, but good on them if they can acquire it.
 
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Well you have all these letters, and I guess it is safe to assume $5-10M range, and willing buyers, I don't know who profits from this, I would assume ICANN, but put them on the open market, use the money to bring internet to rural areas, 3rd world countries, not for muffin baskets, or cheese trays at their 5 star hotel parties.

If those funds can be used for the good of building out the internet, I would say let them go live, they do no good just sitting there. If the funds are going to be used for travel, and executive parties, then forget it.
 
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"One MILLION dollars!" Dr. Evil
 
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I thought Overstock is done, they are being outsold by wayfair, and now want to be in the blockchain business. It's all about marketing, and getting the edge, but good on them if they can acquire it.
I Agree.Only blockchain and ICO will pursue 1L.com. They prefer simple titles, and I think the ranking of future ICOs may change (it will be ranked in alphabetical order, or by number of letters instead of BTC)
 
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Instead of spending time worrying about 1 letter .coms I think verisign and icann should be worrying about hundreds of domains expiring and dropping each day at ALPNAMES.com ,their site is now down and no-one has access to their domains,verisign and icann are useless,I am personally going to start calling every fortune 500 companies mis department and let them know that domain registras are defaulting and hundreds of millions of dollars in domains are being dropped and open for registration again,and icann and verisign are just being lax about this,this is the same thing as going to the bank and you cant withdraw money because the bank is closed and no one knows where they went,this can be the beginning on the end for domains if these so called regulators dont start protecting property insteading of having useless meetings and conferences with our 18 cents times a billion
 
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Overstock aren't going to rebrand as O.com even if they get the name. They tried rebranding as O.co and it failed miserably. The main reasons being that they're not called O.co, they're called the more brandable name Overstock and o.co or o.com are equally confusing and don't provide anything discernibly useful to their customers.

It'll be a shame for O.com or any of the other single .COM letter names to be just become redirects to big brands, just because they're big brands.

These names could be used to create great value on the internet... it feels like they're not going to be though.

Remember though these guys are stupid, really really stupid. They'll rebrand to o.com and screw things up again. This company doesn't know what business they are or what they are doing. They'll be selling weed next.

These single letter names are bad for doing anything with apart from a url shortener. Even x.com was dumped as brand and they preferred the reg fee name "PayPal.com".
 
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When it comes to one letter .coms it's not necessarily what it's going to be used for that is going to attract big buyers, it might be the prestige of owning one that is going to get people excited about this kind of rare domains, and their name doesn’t even have to start with an O in order for some companies or rich individuals to start bidding this domain up. IMO

I myself don't mind having this domain if I could get it at the 99 cents special. :)
 
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i will buy O.com :xf.grin::-P:xf.smile:....in leasing..in 175.652 year's :dead:
 
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Verisign is only profiting the regular fee for the sale.
That's some damn good lobbying.
 
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Verisign is only profiting the regular fee for the sale.
That's some damn good lobbying.
Misinformation, and some quick headlines can probably get them a bump in market cap on their stock price.

Most people will simply see the big number, and think they are profiting from it directly.
 
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I can see Google going for G.com , Amazon for A.com and Trump for T,R,U,M and P :)
 
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🚩

My first thought was that money can't actually be the reason why they are offering / auction it as I assumed they must have enough of it... ...but then I woke uppp
 
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O stands for Orifaces (plural) :)
 
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