Tag: mike berkens

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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

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News

Two-letter .com domain AY.com receives $100,000 bid on Flippa in no-reserve auction

AY.com

A couple weeks ago, domain blogger Mike Berkens over at The Domains wrote about the auction of the two-letter .com domain AY.com at Flippa, after the owner issued a press release announcing the sale. 

The auction followed the buzz created by news of Facebook purchasing the domain FB.com for $8.5 million. 

Today, the seller of AY.com has issued another slightly different press release, in which he notes that the domain has received 1 bid, for $100,000 in the no-reserve auction which ends 17 days from now, that is, unless the domain sells for the buy-it-now price of $2 million.

Here’s a look at the new press release.

(US NEWS SOURCE) January 31, 2011 – This month, an extremely rare LL.com domain name is up for auction on Flippa.com. The domain name, “AY.com” has a current bid of $100,000, and many domain appraisers feels it’s worth a lot more.

“It could be worth over $1 million if the right entities became interested,” said one domain name appraiser in an email reply. “The value on a domain name as rare as AY.com is based solely on what someone is willing to pay for it.”

So far, one bid has been placed on the LL.com (Letter – Letter .com) internet property for $100,000. The current owner, who purchased AY.com over 2 years ago has set no reserve on the auction.

The auction which can be seen at: https://flippa.com/auctions/120091/AY-com—Rare-Premium-2-Letter-Pronounceable-LL-com-Domain-Name is set to end on the night of February 17th, and will sell to the highest bidder, no matter what the price may be.

There are only 676 possible LL.com possible combinations on the internet for domain names, so this makes 2-letter domains like AY.com extremely rare. So far, according to the current owner, the auction has received over 2,400 views and has been added to 13 different users’ watch lists.

How much will the final sale price be?

“I have no idea,” said Eddie Krassenstein, the current owner. “I feel it is extremely valuable, so we will let the market decide.”

The owner of AY.com is heavily marketing the domain name, taking out a number of press releases and even changing the homepage of AY.com to plug the auction over at Flippa.

When AY.com sells at Flippa, it could be the company’s biggest sale in 2011.  And it could be the site’s all-time top sale to date.  While 2010 had a number of six-figure sales for the marketplace, S9.com at $400,000 was the biggest reported sale, confirmed by Flippa.

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News

Must-see website: Latest offers above $10,000 on domains that were rejected by Worldwide Media

worldwide media

Mike Berkens of the popular domain news blog, The Domains, has launched a new corporate site for his company WorldWide Media – wwmi.com.  According to a brief online interview posted on Elliot’s Blog: “WWMI will be part of a new company that will be announced early in January that will specialize in helping those seeking new extensions into making their extension successful”. 

The website, as it stands today, offers more insight into the domain world of Mike Berkens who owns over 75,000 domain names.

If you browse through through the different pages on the site, you’ll find recent domain sales, a monthly report on offers over $2,500, featured projects, news and more.

One of the most interesting discoveries I stumbled upon was the Recently Rejected Offers sections. 

Here’s a look at 13 offers over $10,000 that were rejected by Mike Berkens’ WorldWide Media.  What’s so amazing about these domain offers is that Mike Berkens had the foresight to buy some of these domains in 2010 for far less, like Kevin.me for $530 which received a $10,000 offer. 

D.tv  $125,000
iBill.com $100,000
VisitBerlin.com  $100,000
345.com  $75,000
Stuff.com $75,000
MotocycleHelmets.com $60,000
RestaurantSupply.com $50,000
Aili.com $40,000
TheTour.com $30,000
Kevin.me $10,000
Ayanna.com $10,000
FreshPrints.com $10,000
BettertoKnow.com $10,000

Interesting Notes

Some interesting notes on the recently rejected offers:

D.tv, if you recall, was hand-registered in March 2010 for less than $22, then acquired by Mike Berkens for $18,000 through Sedo.  

While Mike did turn down a six-figure offer for VisitBerlin.com, he did sell VisitStockholm.com  recently for $77,000.

RestaurantSupply.com was acquired in 2008 at Moniker for $22,500.

Kevin.me sold for $530 back in April.

There have been some great success stories in the Domain industry in 2010.

With Mike Berkens’ new corporate site, and a range of consulting services being offered, 2011 looks to be a promising year for individuals and companies looking for help, particularly for those stepping into new extensions.  In addition to branding and development tools and services, Worldwide Media will be providing consulting on new extensions.