WEBINAR: ICANN Strategy Panels – Draft Reports

Vint Cerf, Nii Quaynor, Beth Noveck and Paul Mockapetris invite you to join them on Tuesday, 11 March at 15:00-16:30 UTC (time converter: tinyurl.com/l458x7v) for an overview of the draft recommendations and report they respectively released earlier this month for public comment:

 

ICANN Releases New gTLD Contracting Statistics To 28 February

Below are the key Contracting statistics, as of 28 February 2014:

 

Registry Agreement Between ICANN and www.bzh Association Was Signed Today

The registry agreement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the ww.bzh association was signed today.

 You can read the announcement after the jump:

“The registry agreement between ICANN and the www.bzh association was signed on 02/28/2014. The first domain names using the GeoTLD for Brittany will be reg

The registry agreement between ICANN and the www.bzh association, backed the new .bzh GeoTLD, was signed on Thursday February 28, 2014 – marking a new milestone towards the upcoming launch of the new domain names with the Brittany brand.

For Mathieu Weill, CEO of Afnic, the registry for the .fr TLD and technical operator of the .bzh namespace, “The .bzh GeoTLD is one of the first of the new French GeoTLDs, so it was normal it should be one of the first to sign the contract with ICANN. We are proud to back the .bzh project with Afnic expertise. The .bzh GeoTLD means new business opportunities for the Internet community and better outlooks for Brittany fans.”

This announcement was sourced from :

http://www.afnic.fr/medias/documents/actu/2014-02-28-CP_Region-point-bzh-Afnic.pdf

 

 

 

 

Three More New gTLDs Were Delegated

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that three more  new gTLDs were delegated, bringing the total number to 163.

 

The three new gTLDs are :

.KRED
.BAR
.BEST

Here are all the 163 new gTLDs delegated so far :

27 February 2014     .KRED
27 February 2014     .BEST
27 February 2014     .BAR
26 February 2014     .CHRISTMAS     Uniregistry, Corp.
26 February 2014     .PUB     United TLD Holdco, Ltd.
26 February 2014     .дети     The Foundation for Network Initiatives “The Smart Internet”
26 February 2014     .ACTOR     United TLD Holdco, Ltd.
25 February 2014     .SUPPLIES     Atomic Fields, LLC
21 February 2014     .FISH     Fox Woods, LLC
21 February 2014     .삼성      Samsung SDS Co., LTD
21 February 2014     .VACATIONS     Atomic Tigers, LLC
21 February 2014     .INDUSTRIES     Outer House, LLC
21 February 2014     .SUPPLY     Half Falls, LLC  
19 February 2014     .XYZ 
19 February 2014     .WIKI     Top Level Design, LLC
19 February 2014     .NEUSTAR     NeuStar, Inc,
18 February 2014     .بازار (xn--mgbab2bd) – Arabic for “bazaar/bazar”     CORE Association
16 February 2014     .MANGO     Punto FA S.L.
12 February 2014     .QPON     dotCOOL, Inc.
11 February 2014     .CARDS     Foggy Hollow, LLC
11 February 2014     .FOUNDATION     John Dale, LLC
11 February 2014     .REVIEWS     United TLD Holdco, Ltd.
11 February 2014     .FUTBOL     United TLD Holdco, Ltd.
11 February 2014     .VISION     Koko Station, LLC
11 February 2014     .CONDOS     Pine House, LLC
11 February 2014     .VILLAS     Koko Station, LLC
11 February 2014     .PARTS     Sea Goodbye, LLC
11 February 2014     .PRODUCTIONS     Magic Birch, LLC
11 February 2014     .MAISON     Victor Frostbite, LLC
5 February 2014     . 移动 (xn--6frz82g) – Chinese for “mobile”     Afilias Limited
5 February 2014     .BLUE     Afilias Limited
4 February 2014     .FLIGHTS     Fox Station, LLC
4 February 2014     .CLEANING     Fox Shadow, LLC
4 February 2014     .REPORT     Binky Glen, LLC
4 February 2014     .EVENTS     Pioneer Maple, LLC
4 February 2014     .CRUISES     Spring Way, LLC
4 February 2014     .RENTALS     Big Hollow, LLC
4 February 2014     .PARTNERS     Magic Glen, LLC
4 February 2014     .PROPERTIES     Big Pass, LLC
4 February 2014     .CATERING     New Falls, LLC
4 February 2014     .EXPOSED     Victor Beach, LLC
29 January 2014     .VOTING     Valuetainment, Corp.
29 January 2014     .TOKYO     GMO Registry, Inc.
29 January 2014     .NAGOYA     GMO Registry, Inc.
27 January 2014     .DATING     Pine Fest, LLC
27 January 2014     .COMMUNITY     Fox Orchard, LLC
23 January 2014     .BOUTIQUE     Over Galley, LLC
23 January 2014     .BARGAINS     Half Hallow, LLC
23 January 2014     .TIENDA     Victor Manor, LLC
23 January 2014     .WORKS     Little Dynamite, LLC
23 January 2014     .WED     Atgron, Inc.
23 January 2014     .EXPERT     Magic Pass, LLC
23 January 2014     .WATCH     Sand Shadow, LLC
23 January 2014     .KIM     Afilias Limited
23 January 2014     .COOL     Koko Lake, LLC
23 January 2014     .TOOLS     Pioneer North, LLC
18 January 2014     .CLUB     .Club Domains, LLC
18 January 2014     .BUILD     Plan Bee, LLC
18 January 2014     .PICS     Uniregistry, Corp.
18 January 2014     .PINK     Afilias Limited
18 January 2014     .LUXURY     Luxury Partners, LLC
18 January 2014     .PHOTO     Uniregistry, Corp.
18 January 2014     .GIFT     Uniregistry, Corp.
18 January 2014     .网络 (xn--io0a7i) – Chinese for “network”     Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences (China Internet Information Center)
18 January 2014     .公司 (xn--55qx5d) – Chinese for “company”     Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences (China Internet Information Center)
18 January 2014     .MONASH     Monash University
18 January 2014     .RICH     I-REGISTRY Ltd. Niederlassung Deutschland
18 January 2014     .RED     Afilias Limited
18 January 2014     .SHIKSHA     Afilias Limited
18 January 2014     .中信 (xn--fiq64b) – Chinese for “CITIC”     CITIC Group Corporation
18 January 2014     .LINK     Uniregistry, Corp.
18 January 2014     .GUITARS     Uniregistry, Corp.
14 January 2014     .ZONE     Outer Falls, LLC
14 January 2014     .CHEAP     Sand Cover, LLC
14 January 2014     .MARKETING     Fern pass, LLC
14 January 2014     .DEMOCRAT     United TLD Holdco Ltd.
14 January 2014     .SOCIAL     United TLD Holdco Ltd.
14 January 2014     .AGENCY     Steel Falls, LLC
14 January 2014     .MODA     United TLD Holdco Ltd.
14 January 2014     .DANCE     United TLD Holdco Ltd.
8 January 2014     .BERLIN     dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG
3 January 2014     集团 (xn--3bst00m) – Chinese for “group”     Eagle Horizon Limited
3 January 2014     我爱你 (xn--6qq986b3xl) – Chinese for “I love you”     Tycoon Treasure Limited
3 January 2014     中文网 (xn--fiq228c5hs) – Chinese for “Chinese network”     TLD Registry Limited
3 January 2014     .WANG     Zodiac Leo Limited
3 January 2014     .KIWI     Dot Kiwi Limited
3 January 2014     .WIEN     punkt.wien GmbH
2 January 2014     .EMAIL     Spring Madison, LLC
2 January 2014     .IMMOBILIEN     United TLD Holdco Ltd.
2 January 2014     .在线 (xn--3ds443g) – Chinese for “online”     TLD Registry Limited
28 December 2013     .INSTITUTE     Outer Maple, LLC
28 December 2013     .CEO     CEOTLD Pty Ltd
28 December 2013     .SOLAR     Ruby Town, LLC
28 December 2013     .FARM     Just Maple, LLC
28 December 2013     .EDUCATION     Brice Way, LLC
28 December 2013     .GLASS     Black Cover, LLC
28 December 2013     .ONL     I-REGISTRY Ltd. Niederlassung Deutschland
28 December 2013     .INTERNATIONAL     Wild Way, LLC
28 December 2013     .CODES     Puff Willow, LLC
28 December 2013     .TRAINING     Wild Willow, LLC
28 December 2013     .HOUSE     Sugar Park, LLC
28 December 2013     .KAUFEN     United TLD Holdco Ltd.
28 December 2013     .NINJA     United TLD Holdco Ltd.
28 December 2013     .REPAIR     Lone Sunset, LLC
28 December 2013     .BUILDERS     Atomic Madison, LLC
28 December 2013     .COFFEE     Trixy Cover, LLC
28 December 2013     .FLORIST     Half Cypress, LLC
28 December 2013     .HOLIDAY     Goose Woods, LLC
28 December 2013     .SOLUTIONS     Silver Cover, LLC
18 December 2013     .BUZZ     dotStrategy Co.
18 December 2013     .SUPPORT     Grand Orchard, LLC
17 December 2013     .RECIPES     Grand Island, LLC
17 December 2013     .COMPUTER     Pine Mill, LLC
17 December 2013     .ACADEMY     Half Oaks, LLC
17 December 2013     .CAREERS     Wild Corner, LLC
17 December 2013     .CAB     Half Sunset, LLC
17 December 2013     公益 (xn--55qw42g)      China Organizational Name Administration Center
17 December 2013     政务 (xn--zfr164b)     China Organizational Name Administration Center
17 December 2013     .SYSTEMS     Dash Cypress, LLC
17 December 2013     .DOMAINS     Sugar Cross, LLC
17 December 2013     .VIAJES     Black Madison, LLC
17 December 2013     .COMPANY     Silver Avenue, LLC
17 December 2013     .CAMP     Delta Dynamite, LLC
17 December 2013     .LIMO     Hidden Frostbite, LLC
17 December 2013     .MANAGEMENT     John Goodbye, LLC
17 December 2013     .PHOTOS     Sea Corner, LLC
17 December 2013     .SHOES     Binky Galley, LLC
17 December 2013     .CENTER     Tin Mill, LLC
10 December 2013     .RUHR     Regiodot GmbH & Co. KG
30 November 2013     .MENU     Wedding TLD2, LLC
30 November 2013     .UNO     Dot Latin, LLC
23 November 2013     みんな (xn--q9jyb4c) – Japanese for “everyone”     Charleston Road Registry, Inc.
19 November 2013     .diamonds     John Edge, LLC
19 November 2013     .tips     Corn Willow, LLC
19 November 2013     .photography     Sugar Glen, LLC
19 November 2013     .directory     Extra Madison, LLC
19 November 2013     .enterprises     Snow Oaks, LLC
19 November 2013     .kitchen     Just Goodbye, LLC
19 November 2013     .today     Pearl Woods, LLC
14 November 2013     .plumbing     Spring Tigers, LLC
14 November 2013     .graphics     Over Madison, LLC
14 November 2013     .contractors     Magic Woods, LLC
14 November 2013     .gallery     Sugar House, LLC
14 November 2013     .sexy     Uniregistry, Corp.
14 November 2013     .construction     Fox Dynamite, LLC
14 November 2013     .tattoo     Uniregistry, Corp.
14 November 2013     .technology     Auburn Falls
14 November 2013     .estate     Trixy Park, LLC
14 November 2013     .land     Pine Moon, LLC
14 November 2013     .bike     Grand Hollow, LLC
06 November 2013     .VENTURES     Binky Lake, LLC
06 November 2013     .CAMERA     Atomic Maple, LLC.
06 November 2013     .CLOTHING     Steel Lake, LLC
06 November 2013     .LIGHTING     John McCook, LLC
06 November 2013     .SINGLES     Fern Madison, LLC
06 November 2013     .VOYAGE     Ruby House, LLC
06 November 2013     .GURU     Pioneer Cypress, LLC
06 November 2013     .HOLDINGS     John Madison, LLC
06 November 2013     .EQUIPMENT     Corn Station, LLC
23 October 2013     شبكة (xn--ngbc5azd)     International Domain Registry Pty. Ltd.
23 October 2013     онлайн (xn--80asehdb)      CORE Association
23 October 2013     сайт (xn--80aswg)      CORE Association
23 October 2013     游戏(xn--unup4y) –     Spring Fields, LLC

Whisky.com Domain Sells for $3,1 Million

Michael Castello has sold the domain name Whisky.com for $3,1 million, according to DNJournal.

 

Michael Castello registered the domain name at the dawn of domaining and paid nealy nothing to register it.Michael explained how he sold the domain name. Here is the remarkable story :

“Back in late 1994 I had a vision of what a virtual world could look like with the introduction of the commercial web to the public. I felt there would be an exodus of people moving from the industrial world into the virtual world. A decade earlier I was using the stage name Michael Seven. As an accomplished singer/songwriter I learned much of my trade in New York City and was taken under the wings by Tin Pan Alley songwriter great, Lou Stallman. After some success in New York City, my brother David and I moved the band to Los Angeles where we performed in the local music scene playing clubs such as the Roxy and Whisky a Go Go. 

Sometime around 1994 when Los Angeles suffered the Northridge earthquake I became ill. I couldn’t figure out what was happening to me. I was feeling very weak and made the decision to see a doctor. I wondered if I had valley fever or chronic fatigue syndrome. The doctor did a battery of tests and came back with a shocker. He told me what I had is incurable and was going to eventually kill me. At the time I was married to my wife Sheri and we had a 2 year old son Jonathan. I wasn’t ready for that kind of
   

Michael Seven (AKA Michael Castello)

news. My wife made me the best meals trying to get me healthy. We were even gluten free back then. No processed sugars, only healthy eating and juicing.

After two years of waking up with the thought of dying, Sheri convinced me to go to another clinic. They said they would give me the results after New Year’s whether the tests were positive or negative. After several weeks, Sheri told me the doctors normally don’t do this but since it was Christmas, they wanted me to know that I did not have a terminal illness. In fact, I didn’t have anything wrong with me. “Nothing!?!” I remember putting my face in my hands. I couldn’t believe it.

During those two years of struggle I spent a lot of time on the computer and I made some of the best decisions of my life. It was 1994. I still didn’t exactly know how to get a website online but I knew I needed to. I had so much to learn about this Information Super-Highway. The name of my production company at the time was Powwow Productions. I wanted my musical website to be called Powwow.com so I went about trying to figure out how to get that name. I eventually registered Powwow.com after many months of trial and error. Most domain names were available like Hollywood.com or 777.com. Why would I need those, I thought? After a few months I again checked the whois for Hollywood.com and realized it and many others had been registered in the previous weeks. It hit me like a freight train that there were others grabbing these domain names.

Michael & Sheri Castello on the Sunset Strip
   

I decided to register more, one being Whisky.com. I had the original registration in March of 1995, and I registered it for free. I always liked Scotch whisky, but the real reason I registered Whisky.com was because of the Whisky a Go Go night club in Hollywood. I always enjoyed “The Whisky”, with its musical heritage and scene where the likes of The Doors and Janis Joplin played. Years later, I even offered Whisky.com to the owner’s son and he told me he didn’t need it since they already registered WhiskyaGoGo.com. That rejection would prove to be good for me.

Back in 1995/96 the internet was viewed as a fad. No one really took it as being anything other than a digital rolodex.  Around 1996-97 Network Solutions started retroactively charging anyone with a .com/.net/.org a hundred dollars for two years per domain name registration. I really did not have that kind of
money back then, and after all, the names were free to register previously. I needed money to keep the names that I had registered for free, but now would cost me more then I had.

I received an email one day in 1996 from someone in Germany. A professor wanted to purchase Whisky.com. I thought I could possibly make some money and I offered him the name for $1,000. He told me he could register any domain name for $100 and declined my offer.  I told him that $100 was no incentive for me to sell.  Funny thing, he wrote me the very next year and offered me the $1,000. I told him what was $1,000 last year was now $10,000. He scoffed and said that was preposterous. Lo and behold, a year later he again came back with an offer of $10,000 and again I told him what was $10,000 last year is $100,000 this year. I never heard from him again.

The Maturing of Whisky.com

Over the next several years I created a website for Whisky.com. It was a pretty expansive site at the time since I created a page for every brand of whisky – and there were hundreds. The site took on a life of its own, ranking at the top of search for just about every type of whisky. There were several large conventions, like WhiskyFest and WhiskyLive, and I decided to make some Whisky.com business cards and attend a few events.

I started out walking around the distillery display tables where you could sample great whisky. I walked up to the table to tell them that I was the owner of Whisky.com and handed them a Whisky.com business card. I told them I would like to have a picture for the website. They would all stop what they were doing and have me come behind their booth to take pictures with me while everyone else out in front of the table asked who I was. It seemed Whisky.com was a big hit and everyone
   

Michael Castello at one of the many whisky connoisseurs conventions he attended to learn more about the industry.

gave me their full attention. I realized this is what happens with a Hyper Domain Name like Whisky.com. There is already a built in trust factor, and it greets you like a Lamborghini in the fast lane.

The Sale of Whisky.com

Toofun of TorontoDomainer.com holds the $310,000 Castello Brothers check he received for brokering the $3.1 million sale of Whisky.com. It took just seven days from the time the name was listed to find a buyer.
   

I was doing business in Toronto in 2013 and while on the jet I remembered a domain blog named Toronto Domainer. I wrote a post on this blog telling the author, Toofun, that I would be in his neck of the woods and asked if he would like to join me for a few drinks to talk domain names. Toofun wrote back that he would. At the time, he was dealing in three to four figure domain name sales, and he was also a camera operator for several major films in Toronto.

 He told an incredible story of his family fleeing the Iranian Revolution, explaining how his mother and siblings went from country to country trying to survive, hoping eventually to reach the USA. He mentioned how he would love to come to California; I told him to book a flight and I would introduce him to the area and some of my friends. He took me up on my offer, finally settling in Los Angeles and eventually getting his green card!

I remember him sitting across from me one morning, at the local coffee shop on the beach. He said, “I would like a chance to sell one of your premium domain names”. I thought about it for a second and said I would let him sell Whisky.com – but I wanted 3 to 5 million dollars for it. He said he would get right on it. I believe that, in life, the things that you want, you have to ask for, and I appreciated that moment.

Toofun immediately started contacting companies, and within a day he had two offers for the “domain name only”: one offer for $200,000, and another for £1,000,000. I was very

   

impressed, but I told him that he needed to get more for the name.  At the time, I had another inside contact at a major whisky distillery that was pushing his company to make me a $3 million offer and I told Toofun about it. The next day, Toofun told me of a new $2 million offer from Whisky.de, and I knew that one was going to be a solid end user – but I still needed more. I knew that I was asking Toofun to turn down a lot of money in commission, but I told him he needed to put that aside and understand there was no difference between $10,000 and $10,000,000. It’s just a number. He said that he understood, and he had learned that in his acting class and would use that mindset going forward.

Toofun told the buyer that we needed more than $3 million, and that there was another potential buyer at the same price. The buyer than came back with an offer at $3.1 million! That was a perfectly fair deal for me, and it was $100,000 more than the Vodka.com deal of 2006. I told Toofun to close the deal, but the buyer required an indefinite NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) on the transaction. There was no way I would accept a permanent NDA. These days, there are a lot of great .com deals that no one knows about, and this deal was going to be different. I told the buyer that, if there was an NDA, then there was no deal. I was willing to let the $3.1 million go. He offered that his countrymen wouldn’t like the fact that they were spending this kind of money, and I told

him that a name like Whisky.com not only made his market local, but global. The buyer eventually agreed to a two month NDA. Our lawyers drew up contracts, and the money was wired on January 2nd, 2014.

The deal ran smoothly. I, as the seller, felt the name was worth more, and the buyer felt the name was also worth more. As I told the buyer, the right person bought it at the right time. Whisky.com is now owned by the largest supplier of whisky in Europe, and I believe that with this name, they will soon be the largest supplier of whisky in the world. I believe the English language is the language of commerce. We use words to command our computers, phones, and televisions. To own a word that can command a thought, product, or service, is tangible and invaluable. You have your own distribution network that is pre-branded. That saves global businesses millions of dollars in marketing.

I want this story to be told because it is a great “rags to riches” story. It is an adventure that will only get better as we transition from an industrial economy to a name economy. Toofun made a $310,000 commission from just one sale. He went from selling four-figure names to seven-figure names in only seven days. It still amazes me how much power and leverage these names
command!”

Congratulations to both the seller and the buyer.