NCC Group Buys Open Registry
NCC Group have announced they have acquired the Belgium and Luxembourg based Open Registry group of companies for a maximum of £14.9m (€19.5m) in cash depending on performance-related targets.
NCC Group is a provider of Escrow, Assurance and Domain Services while Open Registry is an independent group of domain service companies providing backend registry operations to brand customers, registrar and trademark validation services.
This acquisition will enable the Group to offer a one stop shop providing secure domain services to corporate customers globally, including both registry and registrar services, whilst ensuring that their brands are properly protected in the domain world.
NCC is also the operator of the .trust gTLD that is currently in its Sunrise registration phase. For Open Registry, it is a leading European Registry Service Provider for global brands and globally is ranked number six in terms of brand gTLD applications under management.
Open Registry also operates the Clearinghouse for Intellectual Property S.A., one of three key service providers authorised by ICANN to operate the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH). The TMCH is the most important rights protection mechanism built into ICANN’s gTLD program and provides a centralised database of over 33,000 verified trademarks, which are connected to every new TLD. Additionally they own Nexperteam CVBA, an accredited registrar for several TLDs managing over 8,000 domain names.
The deal comprises an initial payment of £7.9m (€10.3m) followed by two further payments of up to £7.0m (€9.2m) in total over the next 36 months against performance related targets.
“The addition of registry, registrar and trademark protection services to our own web security capabilities, in our Domain Services division, will provide us with a considerable competitive advantage in this fast growing and extremely dynamic market,” said Rob Cotton, NCC Group Chief Executive.
“With the introduction of thousands of new gTLDS – 22 to over 1,400 in the next year alone, corporates are looking to outsource the registration, brand protection and management of their web presence securely.
“The business is a highly respected ICANN and industry player. It significantly increases our presence and profile in the domain services sector and mainland Europe, as well as bringing a number of leading blue chip technology customers to the Group.
“We are delighted that OR’s very experienced management team is staying with us and look forward to working with them as we together enhance the business’ reputation as it benefits from the Group’s scale, reach, security expertise and experience in growing multi-national services businesses.”
Sedo Reports $1 Million in Domain Name Sales ! BabyCity.com Topped Sedo’s Weekly Sales List at $35,000
BabyCity.com domain name topped Sedo’s weekly sales chart at $35,000.Highlights also include HEG.es, leading the ccTLD category at 13,000 EUR and Sugar.net, leading the “Other” category at $15,000.
Other notable domain name sales include :
.COM
touchbank.com 17,000 USD
echecks.com 15,800 USD
jakt.com 12,000 EUR
airmouse.com 11,000 USD
igv.com 9,900 USD
iseeya.com 9,700 USD
forex360.com 8,800 USD
bionyc.com 8,750 USD
chinatraintickets.com 8,000 USD
360option.com 7,895 USD
pimpex.com 7,500 USD
goodeed.com 6,000 USD
oxigen.com 5,500 EUR
carros24.com 5,000 EUR
remio.com 5,000 USD
apptrader.com 5,000 EUR
sellmax.com 5,000 USD
evalu.com 5,000 USD
sportsense.com 5,000 USD
ibookmakers.com 5,000 USD
aureon.com 4,999 EUR
gochicago.com 4,900 USD
sgsoda.com 4,800 USD
rezare.com 4,125 USD
jsgj.com 3,995 USD
deutschesbier.com 3,800 EUR
ncmedboard.com 3,799 USD
trigg.com 3,750 USD
letsdobetter.com 3,400 USD
watchtvmovie.com 3,244 USD
futureofinsurance.com 3,000 USD
operaclinic.com 3,000 EUR
mg8.com 3,000 USD
traininn.com 3,000 USD
dgusa.com 2,949 USD
planeuron.com 2,900 EUR
int-pe.com 2,700 USD
js68.com 2,619 USD
mqian.com 2,619 USD
arenatour.com 2,500 USD
immensus.com 2,500 EUR
meteobox.com 2,500 USD
ramennoodles.com 2,500 USD
nexuslogistics.com 2,500 USD
ccTLD
ef.com.vn 10,000 EUR
grad.ca 9,880 USD
shop247.de 6,799 EUR
hotway.nl 5,999 EUR
ammo.us 5,000 USD
vitabook.de 4,800 EUR
biotin.de 4,000 EUR
buysupplements.co.uk 4,000 GBP
index.me 3,500 EUR
gratulera.se 3,500 EUR
tract.co 3,300 USD
lambretta.com.ar 2,500 EUR
zafu.de 2,000 EUR
emag.ir 2,000 EUR
ebill.co.kr 2,000 USD
nixon.es 2,000 EUR
medley.com.ar 2,000 USD
coop.me 2,000 USD
softwareone.de 2,000 EUR
technical-due-diligence.de 2,000 EUR
ceviche.co.uk 1,888 GBP
dreh-dein-ding.de 1,785 EUR
immigrate.eu 1,750 EUR
buy.io 1,700 USD
woodpecker.co 1,700 USD
ok.pt 1,550 EUR
tipbet.de 1,500 EUR
cashback.co 1,300 USD
homeaway.com.ph 1,250 USD
homeaway.ph 1,250 USD
myhair.it 1,175 EUR
shave.de 1,150 EUR
datascientist.co.uk 1,150 USD
testamentvorlage.de 1,100 EUR
Other
tickets.info 14,000 USD
fid.org 10,000 USD
americafirst.net 7,000 USD
juegos.club 6,000 USD
eyo.net 4,000 USD
ebi.org 3,750 USD
igv.org 3,400 USD
sayings.org 1,900 USD
sanantonio.info 1,900 USD
betterliving.org 1,299 USD
hob.xyz 1,000 USD
artvin.net 1,000 EUR
workout.pro 1,000 USD
geolink.org 1,000 USD
ouhua.org 990 USD
drohnen.net 750 EUR
Check out Sedo.com for more details.
Land.com Hits $850,000 in RightOfTheDot Extened Domain Name Auction
The domain name Land.com received a whopping bid of $850,000 in the RightOfTheDot.com extended domain name from auction, held at SnapNames.
Land.com received only one bid and has a reserve range of $1MM – $5MM .
877.com also managed to attract a bid of $200,000. Its reserve range is of $250,001 – $500,000.
RightOfTheDot extended domain name auction will run until February 5,2015, at 3:15 pm EST. This means that there are stil 18 days left .
You can see the entire inventory and place your bids here.
.Vlaanderen and .Brussels Domain Names Now Open To ALL
Starting from January 20,2015, anyone is able to register a domain name ending in .Brussels and .Vlaanderen. Registrations will be on a first come, first served basis.
You can read the announcement after the jump :
“Starting from today, 20 January 2015, anyone can register a domain name ending in .vlaanderen or .brussels provided it is still available. Registrations will be on a first come, first served basis, as they are with .be domain names.
Anyone registering a domain name should think carefully about the extension that is most suitable for their company, project or whoever they want to reach.
Start-up companies, organisations, government departments and private citizens who choose a domain name that has a regional extension such as .vlaanderen and .brussels to improve their local online marketing. By promoting their geographical identity in this way, they can also strengthen their links with consumers and interested visitors to their website.
Who do we aim to reach through the .vlaanderen and .brussels extensions?
businesses that want to emphasise their Flemish identity. Ccompanies and individuals who are proud of their region and who demonstrate that pride by using a .vlaanderen domain name.
a brand, activity or event that is linked to the area or town where it is located (café, restaurant, festival, etc.) and that is known locally. One example would be festival.brussels.
organisations, activities where a town or region is part of the URL. Using the new extension, it becomes smarter and more to-the-point, making it easier to remember them.
International organisations or brands wanting to gain local awareness or open a local branch. They can also benefit from having a local extension so that they can reach more local consumers.
Choosing the right extension makes it easier for people to find your website on search engines. This is particularly true if your target audience is regional and your website features regional content.
All of which means that it is definitely worth taking the trouble to think carefully about your choice of extension. Choose the extension that suits you – one that benefits your company, product or specialities and that will serve your target audience better. It may be a .be, .brussels or .vlaanderen domain name, or one of the many other extensions available.
Anyone wanting to register a .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name should contact one of the registrars or resellers listed at www.dnsbelgium.be.”
Google Reads COFFEE.CLUB as “Coffee Club”: European Domain Name Centre
Interesting quirks for new gTLDs. The European Domain Name Centre has discovered that coffee.club is “read” by Google as “coffee club”.
According to a post on the Centre’s blog, Christopher Hofman writes “the site already ranks on page one in Google US for the term coffee club.” Hofman says if you’re located outside the US, then use this link to check for yourself and to make sure you’re in “incognito mode”.
Hofman also believes that for SEO “it seems that the domain name has become important for search engine optimisation again.”
To read the blog post in full, go to:
blog.europeandomaincentre.com/google-reads-coffee-club-as-coffee-club
