We wrote earlier today about GiftCard.com selling according to a press release for $4 million dollars.
The PR chatted about stock plus cash but the buyer of the domain has confirmed that $4 Million in cash was paid for the domain, with the stock being a kicker (extra) compensation.
This therefore becomes the highest domain sale of 2012.
Here is the release:
“”Gift CardLab, a leading online provider of gift cards, today announced the purchase of the GiftCard.com domain. Gift CardLab will now use the GiftCard.com domain as its primary URL, where customers can search for and purchase store Gift Cards, e-Gift Cards, Customizable Gift Cards and Corporate Incentive Cards.”
“According to Domain Industry News Magazine, the most paid for a domain this year through September 23rd, 2012 was personalloans.com for one million dollars. “
“Purchased for over four million dollars, giftcard.com will now go down in history as one of the most expensive domain names ever purchased.”
“The GiftCard.com domain and brand is the crown jewel of the $100 Billion gift card market,” said David Jones, CEO, Gift CardLab. “As we continue our rapid expansion in the gift card industry, the GiftCard.com domain and brand will provide a unique marketing advantage.”
“GiftCard.com is growing at a rapid pace, doubling its staff within the last 12 months and approaching $100 Million in gift card sales.”
“After moving to the GiftCard.com domain, the company expects to reach 100% year-over-year growth, providing the Dallas workforce with new and exciting career opportunities.”
A hell of a lot of Gift Cards will be moving to mobile thanks to Apple’s Passbook, they should have bought mGiftCard(s) / com too!
Nice sale. Hopefully the company will do well and the stock will rise, giving the seller an even bigger payday down the road.
According to CrunchBase, they had received $4.5 million in venture capital funding in 2006-2007, and also raised $3 million in debt this past July. Perhaps a portion of that debt financing was used to acquire the domain name, with equity tossed in to sweeten the deal?
Very good news to see this. The right buyer can surely make it worth that price. And GiftCard.com is an example where I think the plural GiftCards.com would be an even more valuable domain.
Nice!
Someone earns a postcard!
It seems as GiftCards.com ™ is already very well positioned in the market…
Nice to see another .com 7 figure sale for this calendar year…
Nice deal. I’m selling DebitGoldCard(.)com for much less.
one time a fella sent me a gift card for five million dollars… turned out it was a joke… but i figured it was when i got it so i wasn’t that upset. he was a professional comedian for awhile but he gave it up… mostly ’cause his jokes weren’t funny.
I can confirm that $4,000,000 in cash was paid for the domain, the “more” part is the stock, which is hard to place a value on today.
Damn, makes our recent investment in Card.com look absolutely stunning! Big ups to Ben Katz for swooping in & locking in card.com early on
Let me get this straight – A company puts out a news release claiming they purchased something for $Millions. It is “verified” by checking with the company who published the news release in the first place?
What would be the purpose of a company issuing a news release disclosing the purchase price of a domain name?
great news for the market
whoa!
Amazing sale.
Awesome sale. The industry needs a few more shots like this on the year 🙂
Cash or stock? To me, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the word of domains being sold for large (or insanely larger) amounts of money getting out there!
HELP.org wrote:
“What would be the purpose of a company issuing a news release disclosing the purchase price of a domain name?”
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I know, why would a company want any sort of free publicity? 😉
“I know, why would a company want any sort of free publicity?”
Exactly. That is why these types of news releases are questionable because they are meant for publicity.
No company would want to publicize they paid a large sume for a domain because the next time they try to buy a domain the seller may raise the price. This is why these news releases do not make sense and are not credible.
Late yesterday I got an e-mail offering Price.com … for min bid $4.5 Million. What a coincidence!
“Exactly. That is why these types of news releases are questionable because they are meant for publicity.:
And mess with the I.R.S? I don’t think so.
somebody suggested to me this is not strictly a “domain only” sale?
Did include any other assets? or website content? client DB?
“somebody suggested to me this is not strictly a “domain only” sale?
Did include any other assets? or website content? client DB?”
never mind that, they were thinking of the plural Giftcards.com
Help.org wrote:
“No company would want to publicize they paid a large sume for a domain because the next time they try to buy a domain the seller may raise the price.”
——————
What _might_ happen in the future isn’t worth worrying about. What’s important now is getting the word out, and the fact that they disclosed how much was paid brings far more attention and validation to their business. Worrying about any negatives that may occur in the future, caused by what one might do today, is what keeps most people ‘stuck’ in life.
“And mess with the I.R.S? I don’t think so.” there is no IRS regulation about news releases. Do you get to see their tax returns? No. can the IRS use a marketing news release as evidence of a money trasfer? No.
“the fact that they disclosed how much was paid brings far more attention and validation to their business.” Facts? Really? How do you know that? Besides, how many people would go out and buy a gift card from because they heard they paid alot for a domain? It does promote their URL and give some back links but that is what makes the whole thing questionable.
Anyone have an explanation that makes sense?
Unlike traditional real estate domain names are an exclusive investment ! there is only ( “ONE” GiftCard.com ) I think corporations are seeing the unique advantage of this & direct domain bar optimization strategies “DBOStrategies” !
by help.org:
I don’t think so.” there is no IRS regulation about news releases.”
So what you are saying is that perhaps they are stupid enough to lie publicly about the company expenses?
with a P.R. sent to major USA media outlets.?
ah?
Help.org, for some reason, I don’t think any explanation is going to satisfy you. It’s their business why they did it, and it doesn’t affect you in any way, so it probably would be best just to let it go at that.
Andrew from domain name wire had a conversation with the buyer
Its a real deal
http://domainnamewire.com/2012/10/04/4m-giftcard-com-seller-big-ticket-domain-sales/
Congrats to David Jones for his domain http://www.giiftcard.com