According to a Press release just issued, Archives.com was just bought by Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) for $100 million in cash.
“Inflection launched Archives.com, then dubbed GenealogyArchives.com, in July 2009 to satisfy a growing demand for comprehensive online access to historical records. ”
“From humble beginnings, Archives.com rapidly grew to encompass over 2 billion records and generate over 5 million monthly visits.”
“Key partnerships, like those with FamilySearch International and NewspaperARCHIVE, have supported Archives.com’s massive content acquisition effort. Of special note is Archives.com’s partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration to provide free digital access to the 1940 U.S. Census, culminating in the April 2nd debut of 1940census.archives.gov, the most hotly anticipated genealogical record release of the decade.”
“The 1940 census release was an extraordinary event for both Archives.com and family history in general,” said Inflection Executive VP of Business and Corporate Development John Spottiswood. “It spawned a new level of mainstream awareness about family history, and we’re excited that this momentum will only grow as Archives.com joins the Ancestry family.”
“While Inflection was already superbly poised going forward, the sale of Archives.com significantly improves our ability to develop an array of incredible new products for consumers, professionals, and small businesses,” said Brian Monahan, the company’s Co-Founder and Chief Idea Guy. “The Inflection team will continue to be a top destination for technology talent and an industry-leader in data services.”
The sale is an exciting moment for Inflection and the broader family history community,” said Inflection CEO Matthew Monahan. “Thanks to Archives.com General Manager Joe Godfrey’s inspired leadership and our extraordinary team, Archives.com has quickly become one of family history’s most dynamic web properties. Our plan for a simple and affordable family history experience will be accelerated thanks to Ancestry’s deep expertise and resources.”
“Once the acquisition is completed, Ancestry.com will continue to operate and develop Archives.com using the existing Archives.com brand and website. Most of the Archives.com team, including key personnel in leadership, engineering, design, marketing, and business development, will transition to Ancestry.com.”
“The past three years have been marked by tremendous growth for Archives.com, as we’ve focused intently on making family history simple and affordable for millions of budding family historians,” said Joe Godfrey. “The acquisition by Ancestry.com will further fuel this momentum, and the team and I are thrilled.”
I just read about this on TC. Impressive site.
let’s be honest, one-word .com names are to be big business. Let’s stop dreaming and making plans with alternative extensions, usually are few businesses that have been successful.
Just look at the big companies continue to invest in .com names instead of future extensions.
So they bought Ancestry.com, Inc. – not just the .com
i’m a future oriented kinda guy. tje internet is about the future. ancestry is all about the past.
Really, this is a company sale and not domain sale. This is the problem with people reporting sales on domain names for 100 million. Everyone thinks they now have a 100 million dollar domain name.
Then you have people running auctions on all of these sites expecting to get good deals. People if you place your domain name with any broker and they think it is a good deal they will just buy it themseleves.
Stay away from domain brokers and sell the domain yourself.
John: Why on earth would I care if the broker buys it? I don’t know about you, but I set my own prices for my names. I could care less who buys it
The information is very clear that the price was not for the name. Just I suggest you not only read, and if you have other interests involved is another matter.
I have belonged to Ancestry.com for many years. Yesterday I joined Archives.com. to determine if more info was available in my particular search. I found it very difficult to use the sites. I have tried my best to cancel. NO RESPONCE. Since you are one company perhaps you can help. Please cancel my membership to ARCHIVES.com