ICANN released its "compensation practices" today (pdf file) and for an organization that is "non-profit" there is some serious money being made by the insiders. According to the document, CEO Rod Beckstrom entered in to a three year employment agreement effective 1 July 2009 with a base salary of US$750,000 per year. Right. 3 years @ $750K per Guaranteed. In the height of the … [Read more...]
Archives for February 11, 2010
TechCrunch: Google Buys Social Networking Site Aardvark For $50 Million
According to a report in TechCrunch, Google has acquired Aardvark, a San Francisco start-up whose service melds Internet search and social networking for an estimated $50 million dollars. Aardvark, which counts two ex-Google employees among its founders, has pioneered a new type of Internet search dubbed "social search." Instead of looking at Web pages to find answers to search queries, … [Read more...]
Company That Bought Insure.com For $16M; QuinStreet Fails To Impress Wall Street On IPO
The highly-anticipated QuinStreet IPO received a lukewarm reception on its trading debut on Thursday. The company, which competes with Google and Yahoo to sell advertising, raised $140 million selling 10 million shares for $15 each. This was below its expected range of $17 to $19 a piece. Shares of QuinStreet which is trading under the symbol QNST traded down $.06 to close at $14.94 after … [Read more...]
Afilias Buys The .Mobi Registry
Afilias Limited, an Irish Limited company, and the registry operator for .INFO, announced today that it acquired all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of mTLD Top Level Domain Ltd. (known publicly as dotMobi) the registry which owns the .Mobi TLD, and plans to continue operating dotMobi as a wholly owned subsidiary. From the Press Release: “Afilias has long been a leader in … [Read more...]
MediaPost: “”Marketers Might Pay Just About Any Price For A Solid Domain Name”””
You have to check out a very positive article about the value of domains, written by Laurie Sullivan for Media Post today. She wrote in part: """Marketing and advertising agencies looking to strengthen campaigns might pay just about any price for a solid domain name if it means building a better relationship with consumers."" ""Companies can build the greatest campaign in the world, but … [Read more...]
WSJ: Covers VeriSign, The No Bid Contract To Run The .Com Registry & What Happens After 2012
The Wall Street Journal had an article discussing VeriSign today and its contract to run the .com registry "The domain name business remains the subject of a lawsuit originally filed in 2005, by a group calling itself the Coalition for ICANN Transparency - arguing that VeriSign's deal with ICANN violates antitrust laws, while artificially inflating prices." ""The lawsuit had been dismissed, … [Read more...]