news ICBC.com almost changed hands for $10 million in 2017

[GeorgeK]

Here's an interesting article that provides some insight into the higher end of the domain name market. Chinese bank ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) almost upgraded to the ICBC.com domain name in 2017, for $10 million, but the deal was nixed by the provincial minister in BC (ICBC.com is owned by Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, a provincial crown corporation, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance_Corporation_of_British_Columbia ).

Here's the link to the Vancouver Sun story:

https://vancouversun.com/news/polit...s-to-chinese-bank-accused-of-money-laundering

Kudos to "MarkUpgrade" on Twitter for finding that story: https://twitter.com/markupgrade

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for bringing the story to the domain community, @GeorgeK

This story has been in our local political news for a bit. It is important to realize as background as I realize it from the minister in charge at the time (we have a different government now) was it was one, of many, options that were suggested to handle a budget shortfall in the crown corporation and it never came close to being an actual deal in 2017 (although must have been some talks to reach the proposed $10M).

Even though operating from the .ca (which they own) would be more expected, giving up the .com would have lead to confusion down the road since ICBC (the BC insurance one) have used it. The .com was registered in June 1995 and I presume was always in their hands? as the insurance corporation was created way back in 1973.

The previous government was looking at making it into a for-profit corporation (it is currently nonprofit Crown Corporation) but that is not being followed by our current government in BC.

Had it sold, it seems to me that $10M would be high fro a 4L .com which is not speakable or a word? What do people think?

Thanks again for pointing out the story George, and thanks for all of your great writing!

Bob

 

[GeorgeK]

$10MM is high relative to what? Probably not high at all compared to the expected benefits the Chinese bank, one of the largest in the world, would achieve from doing the upgrade.

i.e. one has to do a cost vs. benefits analysis, and not just focus on cost alone.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

$10MM is high relative to what?

You obviously know this market much more than I do (that is stating the obvious!) but I made my remark for example comparing it to names like ICE.com that sold for $3.5 million in 2018. It too was to a financial end user with huge resources, ICE is not only shorter, but is a word that could apply to many things as well as more acronym possibilities. When you say relative to what, that is what I made reference to (or numerous other examples like FLY selling for $2.89 million in the same year of the supposed negotiation re ICBC, or ETH sold for $2 million in 2017 or EKO for $1.5 million in 2019).

I agree with your point that moving from their existing com.cn to .com would yield huge benefits to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, benefits that could support the price level even though it is higher than most 3L and 4L sales in the public record.

Thanks again for your article.

Bob

 

[Soofi]

Thanks for sharing George!

 

[vikki88]

thanks for the insight @GeorgeK

 

[equity78]

You obviously know this market much more than I do (that is stating the obvious!) but I made my remark for example comparing it to names like ICE.com that sold for $3.5 million in 2018. It too was to a financial end user with huge resources, ICE is not only shorter, but is a word that could apply to many things as well as more acronym possibilities. When you say relative to what, that is what I made reference to (or numerous other examples like FLY selling for $2.89 million in the same year of the supposed negotiation re ICBC, or ETH sold for $2 million in 2017 or EKO for $1.5 million in 2019).

I agree with your point that moving from their existing com.cn to .com would yield huge benefits to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, benefits that could support the price level even though it is higher than most 3L and 4L sales in the public record.

Thanks again for your article.

Bob

Thanks for the additional info Bob. Interesting story.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I see that BCinsurance(.)com just sold. Maybe stocking up in case the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia are still thinking of rebrand and pocket the ten million . Not serious, BCIC is so established as a brand you see it on every few blocks here, the only brand I could see them switching to is the .ca, which they have and redirect, but all the links to the .com would spell trouble. Was just interesting to see, although of course BC might mean blockchain too.
Bob

 

[wwwweb]

I see that BCinsurance(.)com just sold. Maybe stocking up in case the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia are still thinking of rebrand and pocket the ten million . Not serious, BCIC is so established as a brand you see it on every few blocks here, the only brand I could see them switching to is the .ca, which they have and redirect, but all the links to the .com would spell trouble. Was just interesting to see, although of course BC might mean blockchain too.
Bob

BC means Bitcoin also, Because ....

You never know. Nice eye on that one.

 

[xcloud123]

i can tell you is not possible for a bank owned by china government to spent huge money to buy a domain ！

 

[oskaaay]

BC means Bitcoin also, Because ....

You never know. Nice eye on that one.

Bitcoin is BTC.

Well, a domainer determines how much to sell for. At the long run, it could be a failed or success attempt -who knows

 

[Arfy]

Even after reading that story, my opinion is that they should have sold that domain name for $10M and rejecting the sale was a bad decision.

 

[Pazu]

I'm living in China and I primarily use ICBC for my banking now. I can tell you that they are seen as the most conservative and tightfisted national bank. I think it is preferred that state enterprises use ICBC. And they are prolific... sometimes I see an ICBC bank every couple of blocks. So $10,000,000 for them... it's no sweat. That's the cost of two nice Beijing apartments. Cheers!

 

[MadAboutDomains]

What kind of bank doesn't use HTTPS for the homepage of their website.