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Domain News Updates: Zynga, Frank Schilling, 2011 Top-selling domain, Worldwide Media, Internet Gaming

 postboard

Here are a few quick updates on stories posted here on Fusible in the last month. 

Gamegos, buyer of $500,000 domain Gamesforgirls.com– Gamegos, which I revealed last month as the buyer of the top selling domain name in 2011 so far to date, finally has a landing page online for its prized domain.  Well, sort of.  The one-page website says nothing more than, “Games for Girls -gamesforgirls.com”.  Garry Chernoff who sold the name, also had the top publicly reported domain sale for Feb. 28, 2011 – Sun. March 6, 2011, according to DN Journal, with the sale of doorhardware.com for $85,000.  While it may be old news to you, what you might not know is that Garry’s company NetIncome Ventures purchased doorhardware.com for a mere $15,655 back in 2008 via NameJet.

Zynga breaking stories– As a blogger, I like to look for breaking stories, and Zynga has been a source of many breaking stories here on Fusible.  My story on Zynga filing for a trademark on the word “ville” in the European Union got lots of reaction online with several major news sites and technology blogs picking  up the story – ranging from CNET to Wired and TechDirt to Games.com.  Hundreds of people have retweeted the story on Twitter and “Liked” it on Facebook.

The latest updates on New Jersey Internet Gambling Bill– Though Governor Chris Christie, vetoed what could’ve made New Jersey the first U.S. state to make online gambling legal, there’s still hope. “Sponsors of the legislation are talking about massaging the language to make it more acceptable to the governor rather than circling the wagons for an override vote, and everyone seems to think the issue is headed to New Jersey voters in the fall,” writes Larry Josephson for Covers.com.

Frank Schilling’s NAMedia updates its social networking experiment, again– I’ve been reporting on Frank Schilling’s social media experiment for months now.  The web app has changed names one time already from note.com to chatr.com.  Now this week, the website has changed names again – this time from chatr.com to postboard.com.

Mike Berkens’ Worldwide Media sells VisitBerlin.com for $230,000, sitting on a gold mine– As reported in February, domain investor and blogger Mike Berkens has sold $725,300 worth of domain names recently.  And those are just the sales that don’t fall under an NDA (non-disclosure agreement).  But his portfolio could be worth a whole lot more.  Earlier this month Mike wrote a story about Sony’s announcement of Move.me, it’s Move development platform.  But as he noted, Sony doesn’t own the domain, he does.  Move.me was acquired for just $4,200 during Sedo’s November .ME auction which netted over $400,000 in sales.

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News

Worldwide Media sells nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in domains

VisitBerlin

In total, of the most recent domain name sales which are not subject to a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), Mike Berkens’ Worldwide Media has sold $725,300 worth of domain names.  This is the total for just the publicly reported sales.  Sales are probably much higher for Worldwide Media, because as you may well know, some of the biggest domain sales never get reported due to non-disclosure agreements between the buyer and seller, that protects information one or both of the parties wants to remain secret. 

The website, located at wwmi.com, which launched in Dec. 2010, is the new corporate face for Mike Berkens’ Worldwide Media, which owns and operates over 75,000 domain names.

Operating costs for Worldwide Media

If you recall, back in early January Mike Berkens wrote a story about what it costs to operate such a large portfolio of domains. 

“We own around 75,000 domains and with a carrying cost of lets just call it an average of $10 a year meaning that we will owe $750,000  in registration fees in 2011,” wrote Mike on The Domains.

However, if the numbers are right, Worldwide Media is already off to a good start with the cost of registration fees just about covered based solely on publicly reported sales. 

Worldwide Media’s Recent Sales

The biggest sale to date of the recent domain sales (many of which go back to Dec. 2010), is VisitBerlin.com for $230,000.  Worldwide Media turned down several offers on the name, including offers for $100,000 and $150,000, before agreeing on the price for the domain which was purchased by Germany-based Berlin Tourismus Marketing GmbH.  The name which changed hands earlier this month, now re-directs to VisitBerlin.de.

Other sales included PeacefulProtests.com for $10,000, at a time when protests are spreading across the Middle East world.  Smokebreak.com sold for $20,000 to Dr. Carl E. Olson who is helping to market a quit-smoking device. 

Here’s a complete rundown of sales not subject to a NDA.

VisitBerlin.com $230K
VisitStockholm.com    $77,000
DiscountBags.com $50,000
BornRich.com    $42,000
MyRecovery.com $40,000
ReverseMortgageCalculator.com   $40,000
TheTour.com $34,000
Holland.net  $32,000
TheMeditator.com  $30,000
SmokeBreak.com $20,000
MakeupyourMind.com $17,500
OnlineCollegeRankings.com  $17,500
GotoCanada.com $13,500
BostonLuxuryApartments.com   $11,500
TalkOver.com $10,000
PeacefulProtests.com  $10,000
Tyrian.com  $7,500
KillerPrice.com   $7,500
HornyGoat.com $6,500
ChicagoFuneral.com $6,000
TradeTunes.com $5,500
indianheadpenny.com $5,500
MonsterSquad.com  $5,000
21seconds.com   $3,800
OperationalExcellence.com $3,000

If you think these are interesting sales, check out some of the other sections on Worldwide Media’s website, like Recently Rejected $10K & Above Offers or the Monthly Report – Offers At Or Above Minimum ($2,500).

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News

After turning down low six-figure bids, Mike Berkens’ Worldwide Media sells VisitBerlin.com for $230,000

Worldwide Media Inc.

Popular domain investor and blogger Mike Berkens, launched his corproate web site Worldwide Media Inc. in December. 

Using the web address wwmi.com, the web site provides information on the company’s business, projects, consulting, and still one of the most interesting sections is the Domain Name Sales & Acquisitions section, which  describes a handful of the more than one hundred thousand domain transactions that Worldwide Media has been involved in since the nineties.

The last time I wrote about Worldwide Media, there were 13 offers listed in the Recently Rejected $10,000 and above section, including one offer for VisitBerlin.com for $100,000. 

Since then, at least one more offer of $150,000 for VisitBerlin.com was rejected, but now it appears the buyer and Worldwide Media have finally agreed on a number:  $230,000.

According to the most recent domain name sales section which are not subject to a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), Worldwide Media has sold the domain name for nearly quarter of a million dollars.

Here’s a look at all the offers over $10,000 that were rejected by Mike Berkens’ WorldWide Media.  The ones in bold are new since my last story.

VisitBerlin.com $150,000
D.tv  $125,000
iBill.com $100,000
VisitBerlin.com  $100,000
345.com  $75,000
Stuff.com $75,000
MotorcycleHelmets.com $60,000
RestaurantSupply.com $50,000
Aili.com $40,000
TheTour.com $30,000
RugbyNews.com $20,000
Dirty.com $15,000
Kevin.me $10,000
Ayanna.com $10,000
woodmere.com $10,000
FreshPrints.com $10,000
BettertoKnow.com $10,000
BankAccounts.com $10,000