In an article appearing the the NewYorkTimes.com today, actually an interview of K. Thomas Elghanayan a real estate developer, he was asked about the domain name his company used, Rockrose.com to which he was asked:
“””Q. Speaking of names, how did you and Fred decide on one?
A. It’s hard to find a name because most are taken, and with the Internet there’s a whole industry of people who just claim names. In fact, when we had Rockrose, we had to buy the domain name from someone. We paid him $150,000 or something.””
Wow
$150,000 for the domain RockRose.com.
Looks like they have owned the domain since 2002 as it was going to a company called Allegiance Telecom, Inc., which appeared to be parking the domain in 2001.
So is this one of those unreported sales that you hear about years after? or was the guy trying to “boost it up” in discussing the domain they acquired?
Right now we don’t know, but if the statement is accurate, I’m sure we will all agree that $150K for the domain RockRose.com was one hell of a good price for the seller.
Any good size and profitable company should be willing to pay that much for their name .com, particularly payable over 10 years. What’s $15K a year to any real company comparable to the value of having their name .com.
Rock Rose is a huge Manhattan real estate company. They obviously forgot to register it and they got pretty big. Fortunate for the seller the buyer must have forgotten about his TM rights LOL…
The rents here are still pretty crazy and they’ll make it back quickly.
<- Manhattan real estate broker
MHB,
Not so surprising. These type of sales happen all the time unreported. A good friend of mine sold a good name for $100K last year that most would have thought was worth $10K-$30K. Hell, The domain king sold iReport.com for $750,000 to CNN for the same reason. They had to have it. No matter how you look at iReport.com, it is a substandard domain, even if has been registered for years. Would you have believed it if it was never made public and CNN.com later admitted to paying $750K?
End users determine what they are willing to pay for the domain that delivers success to their business online. If they can’t negotiate a price, they simply file a WIPO or UDRP….lol
I agree with you, one hell of a profit for the domain RockRose.com. But really, all domains that sell are at one hell of a profit when you consider it was only registered for the max of $100. 😉
Read that today too . . . Ironic that a firm like this would say something like “there’s a whole industry of people who just claim names.” Aren’t they just a group that just “claims a bunch of property assets” ?
ok everybody!
its time to start selling domains to end users, and make big money! GO GO GO
I agree with Steve M. You may have an unattractive and worthless domain name in the domain industry but if an end user with capital determines that that domain name fits their business model perfectly, it will sell.
So, always look outside the domain industry for potential clients. You never know who may want your domain name.
Go find them!
Rafael
Rock Rose has an enormous portfolio of prime Manahhtan real estate. If these brothers aren’t billionaires, they are close to it. $150,000 to you an I is chump change to these guys.