back to article GoDaddy buys 200,000 domains for $28.1m – that's $140 a piece

GoDaddy has bought the entire domain-name portfolio of mobile advertising company Marchex for $28.1m (£18.67m). With 200,000 domain names in the deal, more than three-quarters of them dot-coms, that equates to $140 (£93) per name. GoDaddy intends to put them all up for sale on its NameFind website, and examples include: …

  1. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Does this seriously mean telemarketing?

    "A significant and growing majority of the consumer engagement and sales driven by mobile advertising happens offline, such as through phone calls,"

    Does the current CEO of Marchex seriously think that telemarketing will work? Honestly, a) Lots of people are on the Do Not Call list (they aren't planning to join the greasy greasy, degenrate scum of the earth ILLEGAL TELEMARKETERS I hope? Great way to get a huge fine.) b) Nobody else says they enjoy getting telemarketing calls either... maybe in the past they'd buy stuff anyway, but these days? Who buys stuff via a phone call any more? c) Last I heard (thankfully) the telemarketing market was in a rapid decline (probably due to these two factors among others.)

    As for selling the domains... I think that's a good move. For GoDaddy, they provide plenty of online services so the domain goes with it. For Marchex, it'll be increasingly hard to get good money for just the domain (no value added services like GoDaddy has) when there are so many new TLDs.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Does this seriously mean telemarketing?

      Short answer... it appears that it does mean that.

      The problem as I see it is that Do Not Call list is patently ignored or subverted. The callers are using number and IP spoofing, even TOR to hide themselves. Obviously it's still big business or it wouldn't be done and the marketers wouldn't be going to such great efforts to hide themselves.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Angry, Angry, Angry

    I do not undestand why these companies are allowed to massively buy domains like this, other than for yet another example of corporate greed...

    I have just spend 3 days looking for an available name and almost 90% of what I was looking for was available for sale, by SEDO et al......

    This is a not a democratic or freeworld attitude, it is a greedy bastard attitude which I thouroughly loathe... I hope one day that some of these bastards require something that I have bought for cheap and that I sell to them at an unreasonable price.....

    They are stifling business......

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Angry, Angry, Angry

      The internet has turned into a marketing machine, nothing more, not a damn thing more. So buying .com's is exactly the same thing as buying billboard space...anyone can do it.

      The internet is a mall with infinite parking and no handicap spots, but it certainly has VIP parking.

  3. tin 2

    It's wrong and they are all bastards, but how in the hell do you police it?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Limiting the number of domains an entity can own - 200,000 aren't a bit too many? Forcing to release those you don't use and are just parked? For example in many airports airlines can't keep forever slots they don't use just to avoid competitors get and really use them. There is no an unlimited number of useful domains, so some rules about their proper use should apply. See also the RSA2015 speech about how cybercrooks exploit the easy availability of domains.

      If somebody would like to act, he or she could, but because advertising agencies and the like are often very useful to politicians as well when time comes to mass-spam the "electors", it's better to have a friendly approach to them....

  4. Unlimited

    The brewery owns all the pubs*

    Didn't there used to be a rule that registrars were not allowed to own large numbers of domains themselves?

    Did that get changed or has it just been so widely flouted that now the flouting is put into press releases?

    *or insert your own preferred failed analogy. something something cars. something something real estate.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: The brewery owns all the pubs*

      I think you're right on that. But it's all irrelevant since corporate greed is running things. The days of getting a dot com and having fun are over. Pretty sad, if you ask me.

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