Looks Like Bankrate.com Is A Huge Domainer Spending Over $90 Million In Domains

Posted on August 23, 2011

According to some SEC filings it appears Bankrate.com apparently is becoming a major domainer having spent over $90 million dollars in domain names.

Actually the total amount spent was Over $170 million but $90 million is what they allocated to the cost of the domain names in acquisitions

Here are some of the domain names they have acquired;

carinsurancequotes.com — “Approximately $7.5 million was recorded as intangible asset, all of which, was for the domain name.”

bargaineering.com —  Approximately $2.8 million was recorded as finite-lived intangible assets consisting of Internet domain name for $2.7 million and non-compete agreement for $140,000.

InsuranceQuotes.com — “Approximately $5.9 million was recorded as intangible assets consisting of Internet domain name for $5.9 million, non-compete agreement for $20,000 and Internet content for $15,000.”

NetQuote.com — ” Approximately $92.0 million was recorded as intangible assets consisting of Internet domain name for $40.9 million, customer relationships for $46.0 million, and developed technology for $5.1 million.”

CreditCards.com — Approximately $67.8 million was recorded as finite-lived intangible assets consisting of Internet domain name for $26.5 million, customer relationships for $39.4 million, and developed technology for $1.9 million.

CD.com — On October 15, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of the internet domain name CD.com from Rick Latona Auctions, LLC, a Georgia Limited Liability Company for $500,000.

CreditCards.ca –On November 23, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of internet domain name CreditCards.ca from an Enterprise Analyticals Modeling and Process,
LLC, for $650,000

Hat Tip: Mr. George Kirikos of Leap.com

34 thoughts on “Looks Like Bankrate.com Is A Huge Domainer Spending Over $90 Million In Domains”

  2. Kevin for sure

    Also not sure what ever happened to the purchase of insure.com for $16m and of course what part of the Insurance.com $50M purchase was considered for the domain

  4. Kevin: CarInsurance.com and Insurance.com were both higher ($49.7 and $35.6 million, respectively). Perhaps QuinStreet will make a filing to see how much was allocated to the domain names for those deals?? (i.e. in my eyes, 100%, but perhaps they filed a lower amount for the domains, and allocated some part of the deals to customer lists, etc.)

  6. Huge overpayments.

    Owning a domain this company wants is like winning the lottery.

    Comparing these purchases to QuinStreet’s is like comparing Paris Hilton’s investments to Warren Buffett’s.

  7. This is a weird way to look at it (domain sales). On one hand, this is how they treated the domains on their balance sheets. On the other hand, all of these businesses had major revenues, clients, etc. Perhaps the straight line depreciation of the domain asset is more beneficial which is why some deals have high dollar amounts assigned to the domains only.

  8. BankRate gets it

    Keep in mind the CEO was a part of geocities back in the day. His record speaks on its own IMO BankRate will probably be another big win.

    Congrats on the awesome domain names and assets!

  10. Bargaineering.com – 2.7M
    NetQuote.com – $40.9M

    Sure. I am guessing the way these were reported is somehow related to accounting tricks.

    Brad

  11. If you read the SEC filing, they explicitly allocated $133.4 million to goodwill, which was separate from the domain name (remember, it was a $202.8 million deal).

  13. The valuation of those domains “on the books” is likely to make little sense to anyone but BankRates’s accounting team.

  14. Maybe its the same buyer who bid on CarInQuotes.com, listed on Latonas at $530,000 reserve:http://latonas.com/web-properties-for-sale/carinquotes-com

    When it was first listed, the site was earning some $500.00/day. Now it is up to $2000.00, according to email blast from Latonas.

    Because it ranks page 1, #2 for the term:

    car insurance quotes

    If Bankrate is the bidder, the strategy might be to take CarInQuotes out, or to duplicate the content for CarInsuranceQuotes, so it has a chance to rank.

  16. CreditCards.ca new headline best cctld sale for this year .. even beats…. beats… oh wait Aktien.de for 725k

    but damn this must be the highest .CA for this year.. go Canada !

  18. And if a headline read Bank spends $92 million for lifetime advertising everyone would be saying “what a steal.” Well domains like these are lifetime advertising!

  19. @ BMugford.

    I don’t know, but when we start going into “accounting tricks”, maybe 50% of business transaction disclosures should be discounted. I say congratulations to NetQuote Holdings for the 40.9 million sale of the domain NetQuote.com. Of course they did what was best for themselves accounting wise. But this IS the market and part of what makes the criteria for assessing domain value . This is part of the market-making process as well. To see it otherwise is trying to pursue an impossible ideal.

  20. @Owen

    Good point. It IS lifetime advertising. Domains are like permanent addresses. Domains will be the portals to all websites for a long time to come.

  22. Just to be clear, folks should read the original source document — the NetQuote.com transaction was worth $202.8 million. $40.9 million of the entire transaction was allocated to the domain name (other allocations were made to goodwill, customer lists, etc.). And so on for the other deals.

  23. “Insurance and credit domains are worth far more than most realize.”

    Good ones are always and will be worth a considerable amount. Bad ones will still be worthless.

  25. ok , so what makes these $92 m worth of lifetime advertising ? hear that sound ? that’s crickets

  26. Nothing is more valuable than insurance names. PPC is one of the highest.

    You take the CPC and times that by the volume. Nothing beats it.

    Always remember, each household in the US or majority probably has at least 2 cars and a house or they are renting. Then on top of that they have life insurance and health insurance. How many polices and or premiums is that per year. 15k or so?

    Attorney names or terms are not more valuable because not everyone is looking for one. Though the CPC is higher. With insurance everyone is looking. Everyone needs it. What is the average client worth for insurance over 10 years to a company. 20k 30k you decide:)

    donny13

  27. The keyword being “allocated for”.

    The various value components assigned were for very specific reasons for the company’s accounting purposes.

  28. @owen frager “Lifetime Advertising! ”
    A quote every bit as good as Marshall Mcluhan. On the money.

  29. Having done business with BankRate.com in the past and selling them a $40 million established business that I had a small interest in, I can assure you that they are smart, aggressive and on top of their game. This being said, for Domainers purposes, it is best not to confuse creative accounting entries with intrinsic stand alone domain name values.

  30. This SEC filing is missing older acquisitions like bankaholic.com for $14.9 million in October 2008. Johns Wu got $12.4 million up front, with another $2.5 being performance incentive over 12 months.

    BankRate.com stock is traded as RATE and this company definitely understands what it is doing. All of these sites I am sure had fantastic cash flow, tier 1 organic rankings, and were very popular in their niches.

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