Thought Convergence liquidating? Sells Agreed.com & Aftermarket.com

[Joseph Green]

Thought Convergence, Inc. is the parent company of DomainTools, TrafficZ, Aftermarket, Agreed, Domain Roundtable, etc.

Timeline:

• TrafficZ.com launched, 2001.
  
• Aftermarket.com launched, November 8th, 2010.
• Agreed.com launched, January 7th, 2014.
• Aftermarket.com sells to Igloo, September 18th, 2014.
• Agreed.com sells to Escrow.com, September 25th, 2014.
  • “When Ammar [CEO of Thought Convergence, Inc.] first approached me with this opportunity, I felt that it would be a good thing for the domain industry."
• Update: TrafficZ.com discontinued, December 31, 2014.

Does anyone know what's going on with Thought Convergence? I know they have a cash cow monopoly with DomainTools, so maybe they don't see the value in bothering with these other companies?

I wouldn't be surprised to see them sell TrafficZ next. Update: Discontinued.

 

[OptimaDomains]

Makes sense to sell Agreed.com now rather than later. There's no way they can compete against Escrow.com.

 

[Chris Wright]

Makes sense to sell Agreed.com now rather than later. There's no way they can compete against Escrow.com.

Agreed must have had some market share, or there would be no reason to spend money acquiring it.

 

[OptimaDomains]

Agreed must have had some market share, or there would be no reason to spend money acquiring it.

Possible, but I doubt it had any major impact on Escrow.com. I think there's two main reasons for this acquisition: Agreed's unique technology and to take out the only other escrow company with a license.

I've heard so many domainers say they have no reason at all to use another escrow company other than Escrow.com.

And remember, it was Ammar that approached Escrow.com regarding this deal, not the other way around.

 

[Joseph Green]

I've heard so many domainers say they have no reason at all to use another escrow company other than Escrow.com.

Yeah, Agreed might have read this thread: https://www.namepros.com/threads/what-do-you-look-for-in-an-escrow-service.827156/

Monopolies are no good. I wish Agreed had kept at it.

 

[johname]

Sold nine months after launch. Was probably the intent from day one. Or priced too good not to buy. Both were licenced to do escrow in California, so Agreed was more a competitor than one would think from just a domainer point of view.

 

[Joseph Green]

Agreed should have sold to the new escrow company DN.com so that we'd have a healthy competition in the domain escrow business. It would have been a huge win for DN.com since some people are concerned with them not having a US presence. What a shame.

 

[Kate]

Buying up competitors is a way of killing future competition before it gets serious. It's just business. Of course there may be other considerations.

 

[Rick Ace]

Agreed should have sold to the new escrow company DN.com so that we'd have a healthy competition in the domain escrow business. It would have been a huge win for DN.com since some people are concerned with them not having a US presence. What a shame.

But I doubt DN.com would have been able to compete with Escrow.com offers. Escrow.com is established, and probably has more determination to kill off possible competitors.

 

[Joseph Green]

And there goes TrafficZ.

All of their focus is on DomainTools now.