Sedo to Hold Four Letter .COM Domains Auction

Afnic to Attend the 3rd Edition of the RINDD

Afnic,the company behind .FR extenion announced that it will attend the third edition of the RINDD on 10 and 11 October,2013 in Paris .

You can read the announcement after the jump :

“The 2013 edition of the RINDD (Rencontres Internationales des Noms de Domaine) will focus on “New gTLDs”

This important event for players on the French domain name market is organized by Mailclub, an Afnic-accredited registrar, on 10 and 11 October in Paris. Structured around 8 round tables, attended by experts and professionals in domain names and branding, these meetings target portfolio managers, legal managers, intellectual property consultants, attorneys, PR agencies, etc., all of whom are concerned by domain name-related issues and upcoming market changes.

Afnic, the Registry for .fr domain names and a strategic player on the sector, will be giving several talks on both days of the event.”

More information on the 2013 RINDD

Montevideo Statement on the Future of Internet Cooperation

The leaders of organizations responsible for coordination of the Internet technical infrastructure globally have met in Montevideo, Uruguay, to consider current issues affecting the future of the Internet.

The Internet and World Wide Web have brought major benefits in social and economic development worldwide. Both have been built and governed in the public interest through unique mechanisms for global multistakeholder Internet cooperation, which have been intrinsic to their success. The leaders discussed the clear need to continually strengthen and evolve these mechanisms, in truly substantial ways, to be able to address emerging issues faced by stakeholders in the Internet.

In this sense:

They reinforced the importance of globally coherent Internet operations, and warned against Internet fragmentation at a national level. They expressed strong concern over the undermining of the trust and confidence of Internet users globally due to recent revelations of pervasive monitoring and surveillance.
They identified the need for ongoing effort to address Internet Governance challenges, and agreed to catalyze community-wide efforts towards the evolution of global multistakeholder Internet cooperation.
They called for accelerating the globalization of ICANN and IANA functions, towards an environment in which all stakeholders, including all governments, participate on an equal footing.
They also called for the transition to IPv6 to remain a top priority globally. In particular Internet content providers must serve content with both IPv4 and IPv6 services, in order to be fully reachable on the global Internet.

Adiel A. Akplogan, CEO
African Network Information Center (AFRINIC)

John Curran, CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers ( ARIN )

Paul Wilson, Director General
Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre ( APNIC )

Russ Housley, Chair
Internet Architecture Board ( IAB )

Fadi Chehadé, President and CEO
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN )

Jari Arkko, Chair
Internet Engineering Task Force ( IETF )

Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO
Internet Society ( ISOC )

Raúl Echeberría, CEO
Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry ( LACNIC )

Axel Pawlik, Managing Director
Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre ( RIPE NCC)

Jeff Jaffe, CEO
World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C )

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To read this announcement in Spanish, please visit: www.icann.org/es/news/press/releases/release-07oct13-es
To read this announcement in French, please visit: www.icann.org/fr/news/press/releases/release-07oct13-fr
To read this announcement in Arabic, please visit: www.icann.org/ar/news/press/releases/release-07oct13-ar
To read this announcement in Russian, please visit: www.icann.org/ru/news/press/releases/release-07oct13-ru
To read this announcement in Chinese, please visit: www.icann.org/zh/news/press/releases/release-07oct13-zh

This announcement was sourced from the ICANN web site at:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-07oct13-en.htm

AutoWeb acquired AutoWeb.com with trademark for $1,5 million

According to a press release,Autoweb has recently acquired the domain name Autoweb.com and related trademarks from Autobytel for $1,5 million .

You can read the press release after the jump :

” Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL), the company dedicated to helping automotive consumers and dealers connect online, announced it has invested $2.5 million in cash to help build, launch and grow AutoWeb, Inc.’s pay-per-click (PPC), auction-driven automotive advertising marketplace, which is scheduled to go live in early 2014. Autobytel has an option to invest an additional $2.5 million as AutoWeb grows.

As part of the agreement, AutoWeb has acquired the AutoWeb trademarks and domain name (www.AutoWeb.com) from Autobytel for $1.5 million in AutoWeb stock. As a result of the initial investment, Autobytel now owns approximately 16% of AutoWeb. Jeffrey Coats, President and Chief Executive Officer of Autobytel, has joined AutoWeb’s Board of Directors.

Autobytel will become the first automotive publisher to benefit from AutoWeb’s PPC platform, receiving a share of the revenue generated by click-throughs at Autobytel’s websites. Autobytel said it believes the arrangement could represent a significant revenue opportunity over the next several years.

AutoWeb’s proprietary technology and unique PPC business model, which analyzes web traffic and adjusts advertiser costs accordingly based on traffic quality, sets it apart from standard pay-per-click models. The business model behind this innovative marketplace helped its original creators, Matias de Tezanos, Julio Gonzalez-Arrivillaga and Jose Vargas, build and grow BrokersWeb Inc., an insurance-based PPC advertising marketplace, from $1.0 million to $55.0 million in revenue over a three-year period until it was acquired in 2011. The group has worked closely together for nearly 15 years and has created, grown and sold several successful technology companies in the hospitality, online ad network and email marketing industries. Combined revenue of the companies founded by the group totaled more than $300 million.

How the new AutoWeb will work:

AutoWeb attracts high-intent, high-volume, content-oriented automotive publishers to its network.

AutoWeb’s platform helps publishers monetize traffic that has previously been under-monetized.

In-market car shoppers researching specific vehicle brands at publisher sites are presented with highly relevant display ads and benefit from an online experience that delivers the perfect vehicle to meet their needs.

Auto manufacturers benefit from gaining access to serious, in-market car buyers at the right price. AutoWeb’s platform enables manufacturers to fully optimize their ad campaigns in real time by model, zip code and demographics.

AutoWeb generates revenue for every click on the ads it delivers and shares a portion of that revenue with its publisher partners.

AutoWeb uses proprietary technology to evaluate traffic quality derived from the source and click-to-conversion data and adjusts advertiser costs accordingly to provide more clicks at the right price and quality.

“We believe our investment in AutoWeb will not only create substantial opportunities to deliver serious car buyers to our customers and a personalized online experience to consumers, but will also increase monetization of our website traffic,” said Coats. “The AutoWeb team has proven experience developing successful pay-per-click marketplaces. As the auto industry continues to exceed growth expectations – August SAAR surpassed 16 million units – and automotive advertisers continue to transition to digital media, the timing is perfect for introducing a first-class product that will benefit all marketplace participants.”

Strong and Growing Automotive Marketplace

The automotive market has now reached pre-recession levels, with August vehicle sales reaching 1.5 million units, a gain of 17% from August 2012. In a recent automotive advertising outlook study, Borrell Associates, a leading research firm, noted that new car sales should grow more than 54% this year, up from 10.4 million in 2009. At the same time, advertising spending is shifting from newspapers, television and radio, to online and mobile. According to the study, by 2018, total online spend by auto manufacturers and dealers is anticipated to grow to more than $20.0 billion, up from $14.0 billion in 2013.

“Our goal is to create a new client-driven advertising platform never before available in the automotive industry, focused on significantly enhancing client ROI by reaching consumers with the highest purchase intent,” said de Tezanos, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AutoWeb. “The automotive industry requires advertising innovation and efficiency to capture the opportunities presented by the transition to online advertising, which now accounts for more than 20% of the total $33.0 billion spent on automotive advertising in 2013, according to Borrell. We are honored to partner with Autobytel, the leader in helping manufacturers and dealers sell more cars. We are confident that AutoWeb will quickly be established as the premier advertising solution for the growing automotive industry.”

About Autobytel Inc.

Autobytel Inc., an online leader offering consumer leads and marketing resources to car dealers and manufacturers, and providing consumers with the information they need to purchase new and used cars, pioneered the automotive Internet when it launched its flagship website,www.autobytel.com, in 1995. Autobytel continues to offer innovative products and services to help consumers buy, and auto dealers and manufacturers sell, more used and new cars. Autobytel has helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers; and helped every major automaker market its brand online. Through its flagship website, network of automotive sites and respected online affiliates, Autobytel continues its dedication to innovating the industry’s highest quality Internet programs to provide consumers with a comprehensive and positive automotive research and purchasing experience, and auto dealers, dealer groups and auto manufacturers with some of the industry’s most productive and cost-effective customer referral and marketing programs.

Investors and other interested parties can receive Autobytel news releases and invitations to special events by accessing the online registration form at Autobytel Investor Alerts.