The top story in the domain-o-sphere yesterday was that Paul Goldstone, CEO of iGoldrush.com has put his prized two letter .com on the market – CO.com. Being from Colorado (state code = CO) I have always had an affinity for this name! The first time spoke with Paul on the phone, I peppered him with questions about how long he’s owned it, how he acquired the name and what plans he has for it. I think I even tried to buy my email address @co.com 🙂
Paul has chosen to broker CO.com through DomainAdvisors.com and SellDomains.com. Having talked with Paul a few weeks ago while he was contemplating putting it on the market, I am certain he is serious about not letting it go for less than the “multi seven-figure price tag” that is mentioned by broker Tessa Holcomb from Domain Advisors in yesterday’s press release. I think that anything less than a multi million dollar sale would be a steal for this name. I don’t need to get into why this name has so much value, the letters CO speak for themselves. Do you see a buyer emerging to purchase CO.com in this price range??
There has been some talk about the .CO Registry being a candidate for acquisition. It’s possible, but I think if they were a serious player for the name in this price range, the name may not have hit the open market.
While we’re talking about .CO Registry, I want to mention that they are making serious waves in the start up community. .CO is the top sponsor for this year’s SxSWi (South by Southwest Interactive) conference. Juan Diego Calle, Founder and CEO of .CO Internet said in recent news release: “There are huge hurdles that every startup must overcome to succeed in business today; we firmly believe that getting a great domain name should not be one of them. That’s why all week long, we will be supporting startups and entrepreneurs at SxSWi with .CO domain scholarships they can use to bring their big ideas to life.”
.CO Registry has recently launched start-up websites such as StartupLife.co and LeanStartupSxSW.co. I give a lot of credit to .CO for this very clever marketing strategy, they are really getting their product integrated into a lot of start-up movements and projects!
“..we firmly believe that getting a great domain name should not be one of them. ”
Cale speaks rubbish all day long. How anyone can get that great .co`s while top .co`s are taken (over 1mln registrations) left just second class .co`s. Its better buy third class hand reg. .com or buy second class at after-market (they are not expensive) and avoid huge leak to .com which costs a lot of money and frustration.
.Co Registry gave e.g. prize to top10.co or write article about samagra.co (http://www.cointernet.co/blog/meet-startup-samagraco)
Take a look what happened to these websites – There are many examples like those.
Do not forget about http://www.ricksblog.com/my_weblog/2012/03/birdie-in-the-mine-doa-we-now-have-a-cause-of-death.html
Hey Mike, great post! I think another candidate for the domain could be CentralNic, since that’s exactly the kind of domains they based their business on.
Company.com should get it.
This domain has got to be worth $XX,XXX,XXX. What better two letter combination is there?
Thanks Joe, I think CentralNic is certainly interested in this domain. The question is are they willing to pay the asking price.
Company.com doesn’t need to acquire Co.com for millions when their domain is already descriptive and describes their business. In my opinion, the .Co registration is not going to spend 7 figures to acquire the domains when they already have generic dot com and an entire brand to use. It wouldn’t be a wise investment for them.
A good buyer for this domain is a company that uses those initials or an upcoming company with an idea to provide service under this name. Spending millions on this name could cost the buyer a fortune if the domain does little to generate leads.
An 8 figure price tag is too much. It takes a buyer with a mega idea to invest that much money into a domain such as Co.com domain. It is a great domain, but the asking price is steep and people are usually cautious of how much they spend.