Two years ago, domain investor George Kirikos, broke the news on the domain valuation of the Cars.com sale.
The overall transaction exceeded $2.5 billion, and the Cars.com domain – an intangible asset – has been valued at $872,320,000 dollars.
Astonishing as it may seem, this valuation has been confirmed in the financial report filed with the SEC; Kirikos once again dug up the numbers.
To many investors and brokers, the 9-figure domain sale seems hard to swallow, but the official report and numbers cannot be disputed.
More pieces of information from the report establish the sales figure, and domain investor Gordon Hayes highlighted them nicely.
First, here is page F-9 from the report, showing the summary grid of assets near the end:
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Second, on page F-2 of the SEC filing, Ernst & Young, an independent firm, has audited the report and signed off on its accuracy:
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
This is just the tip of the iceberg; Cars.com is about to have an IPO, with the parent company, TEGNA, spinning off the brand.
The TEGNA board of directors has approved it, and separation will be completed by May 31st, 2017.
As Gordon Hayes points out:
“The Cars.com IPO is worth tracking, as this provides real ‘mainstream business media’ credibility to the true value of the handful of domain names that are among the most valuable domain names in the world.”
With all that in mind, it seems that 2017 will be a pivotal point for domain investing and domain asset valuation, and the Cars.com sale will be shifting the proverbial paradigm about how domain names are perceived by the corporate world.
Many thanks to George Kirikos and Gordon Hayes for the contributions.
Thank you for publishing this follow-up piece.
This is an amazing story, and one that needs to be disseminated widely, especially by bloggers, registrars, and registries.
There’s only upside in this example for domain name prices; and it even makes some of the other large domain name deals (e.g., the $30mm PrivateJet.com) look relatively minor.