According to PublishersWeekly.com, all the Intellectually property of Borders may be auctioned off as soon as September 14th including the domain name Borders.com
“If the sales procedure is approved at the next hearing on August 10, a bid deadline will be set for September 8 at 5 p.m., followed by an auction on September 14 at 10 a.m. for all of Borders trade marks, trade names, logos, Internet domain names, and customer information, including e-mail addresses and purchasing history.
“Borders’s attorneys say that they “contemplate a straightforward sales process and auction.” of all the Intellectual Property.
“There will be a cap of $250,0000 for reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses for a qualified stalking horse bidder.”
Amazon could buy the domain and easily monetize the traffic.
Yes, I believe Amazon is most definitely taking a look see.
who may wish to pay an high price for the domain of a failed company?
You have to consider who else might benefit from this type of traffic. I’d say that other book selling outfits such as Barnes and Noble could very well make use of it.
That said, they could truthfully state “Barnes and Noble has acquired Borders.com”, to make it look like Borders is still in existence.
Otherwise, I could picture an immigration agency getting their hands on this, or perhaps a deep-pocketed affiliate of some sort who would set up an Amazon aStore on it.
Regardless, its bound to get some solid bids. I would estimate that the domain on its own is worth mid-high $xx,xxx. However, all the customer information and trademarks will easily pull this into the mid $xxx,xxx, if not higher.
Prediction:
The intellectual property of Borders, including the domain “Borders.com” will sell for greater than $2.5 million.
How about Apple:
http://www.itproportal.com/2011/07/31/apple-looking-barnes-noble-acquisition/
Apple has $76 billion of cash
If the past results of the auction of the IP and related assets of Circuit City was a good indication (and it is), I’d look for this basket of assets to go out for US $10+ million.