pfj
Established Member
- Impact
- 72
It's rumoured that Verisign has won the auction for .web - paying $135m.
Verisign had to get this whatever the cost, to stop competitors getting hold of it - and, truly, Verisign is probably the only company that can TRULY monetize it effectively.
How will they recover their $135m?
Simple - they can extort existing .com owners (they probably call it leverage though...)
"Hey, we see you have example.com - you should secure example.web which Verisign has acquired, to help to protect the rights of existing domain name owners! Did you know that .web is the newest web address out there, and sure to be a hugely powerful marketing tool? No? Well, it is! So we can give you preferential pricing of $25 per year right now for the .web address that matches your .com address, or we can release it to the market, diluting the power of your existing name. Insure against someone else getting it by securing it today!"
If only 10% of the current .com owners go for this wheeze, then they've doubled their money straight away - and have recurring income of as much as $300m a year. And everyone who holds a valuable .com either has to pay up, or have their value diluted.
Has holding a portfolio of 1,000 .com domain names suddenly become a liability that could cost $25,000 a year on top of your existing costs? Scary thought.
Verisign had to get this whatever the cost, to stop competitors getting hold of it - and, truly, Verisign is probably the only company that can TRULY monetize it effectively.
How will they recover their $135m?
Simple - they can extort existing .com owners (they probably call it leverage though...)
"Hey, we see you have example.com - you should secure example.web which Verisign has acquired, to help to protect the rights of existing domain name owners! Did you know that .web is the newest web address out there, and sure to be a hugely powerful marketing tool? No? Well, it is! So we can give you preferential pricing of $25 per year right now for the .web address that matches your .com address, or we can release it to the market, diluting the power of your existing name. Insure against someone else getting it by securing it today!"
If only 10% of the current .com owners go for this wheeze, then they've doubled their money straight away - and have recurring income of as much as $300m a year. And everyone who holds a valuable .com either has to pay up, or have their value diluted.
Has holding a portfolio of 1,000 .com domain names suddenly become a liability that could cost $25,000 a year on top of your existing costs? Scary thought.