A Domain Name Just Sold for $30 Million
No, that headline is not a typo. The domain name Voice.com just sold for $30 million cash, a record amount for a single domain name… Cha-ching!
So, who are the folks with the (seemingly) bottomless bank account? It’s actually not a secret. MicroStrategy, a publicly traded analytics company, sold the domain name to a blockchain company called Block.one. They are now all set to use the domain for a social media network that’s based on blockchain.
A New Record
The selling price of $30 million for a domain name shatters the previous record for a publicly-revealed, all-cash domain sale. The previous record was $13 million for Sex(.)com.
According to DNJournal, only 11 domains have sold for $5 million or more (that have been disclosed to the public, anyway). Most large domain transactions are covered by non-disclosure agreements, so people aren’t aware of their terms.
The Value of a Good Domain Name
According to the broker that handled the deal, Block.one planned to release its social network on another domain name but realized getting a great .COM domain name would help its launch.
Credibility is a major benefit of valuable, one-word .COM domain names. As you can imagine, Block.one will face an uphill battle in a social media market dominated by Facebook and Twitter. Using a great domain like Voice.com gives its project instant credibility.
Block.one raised billions of dollars in an initial cryptocurrency offering and is putting some of the money to work by buying this domain.
The Seller Isn’t Done Yet
MicroStrategy’s business isn’t about domain names, but it certainly has a nice portfolio of domains. As an early Internet pioneer, the company registered many domains for future use. Many of these are sitting dormant now.
In case you have deep pockets and want to make a big investment, here are some of the company’s best one-word domains that it is willing to sell:
- Wisdom.com
- Alert.com
- Strategy.com
- Speaker.com
- Hope.com
- Courage.com
- Mike.com
- Emma.com
- Usher.com
- Frank.com
It previously asked $3 million for Emma.com, so the company has big expectations when it sells its domains. The $30 Voice.com certainly sets a high bar!
And now it’s your turn. If you had unlimited resources, what’s the one domain name you’d love to own? Let us know in the comments!
Hi Andrew Allemann,
Few days back I also lost my premium domain to godaddy due to their lust for premium domain name. I renewed my domain name one week before but after one week they rejected my payment on technical basis and now selling the same domain name for 150000 INR
I do understand the value of a premium domain name. But if domain name registrar will acquire premium domain name like this. Nobody is going to invest in good domain name.
Wow! I never thought they would break the old record especially when the one word Business was a previous record holder for a 13 million dollar sale.
I guess the sky is really the limit. On the other hand — when you think that domains truly are Internet real estate, it really doesn’t seem record breaking prices like these are that shocking.
When you base these economics on the supply and demand principles I can only expect to see future values going upward.
Cheers
Chris
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