How much did 360.com sell for?
Speculations are running wild about the sale of 360.com, a perfect, round number; the domain was sold by telecom giant Vodafone to Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd in China.
The buyer, ‘upgraded’ their brand from 360.CN to the globally recognized dot .com equivalent.
George Hong, of Guta.com – a premium domain investor and brokerage firm – was the first to break the news today by announcing the change in the WHOIS of 360.com.
Still, there is no official announcement about the exact amount involved. George Hong mentioned that the transaction was for at least $14 million dollars.
Independently, Drew Rosener of Media Options got on the phone with some Vodafone contacts and mentioned that the sale exceeded $9 million USD, with the asking price being set at $14 million dollars.
As if that were not enough, additional reports raised the cost at $100 million yuan, or roughly $16 million dollars at the current rate. That amount cannot be verified as well.
The current record holder, Sex.com, was sold for $13 million dollars in 2010, and it seems that the record is dangerously close to being obliterated.
Regardless of the price achieved, the trend is obvious: large corporations in many countries want to upgrade to .com.
KC – That’s hardly a new trend. It applies to new market players with ample of financial resources. Large corporations either held the .com since the 90’s, or the ccTLD in their local markets. The difference with China is that it’s crazy about numbers and it’s about to become the world’s #1 economy, surpassing the US.
Gang@
America’s economy is #2
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-official-america-is-now-no-2-2014-12-04
Rich – Thanks. It was projected for this year, it happened a few months earlier.