Publicly traded VipShop.com (NYSE: VIPS) whose site is VipShop.com has quietly acquired the domain name VIP.com.
The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion dollars.
It appears according to DomainTools.com the company acquired the domain just a few weeks ago at or around September 24th, 2013.
I haven’t seen any announcement on the sale and VipShop.com has not issued a press release.
The domain name has been held under privacy since 2008 except for a short time in 2010 when the owner was shown to be VIP Management Services NV.
According to its site VipShop.com “is China’s leading online discount retailer for brands.”
“The Company offers high quality and popular branded products to consumers throughout China at a significant discount from retail prices.”
“As compared to conventional on-line marketplaces or large-scale multi-category online retailers, Vipshop has successfully created and proven there is a third e-commerce model that can provide tremendous scale and profitability.”
“By providing special offers and deep discounts on branded products, the Company has pioneered the online discount retail model in China and become the expert and leader trusted by our customers and brand partners alike.”
“Since its founding in August 2008, the Company has rapidly built a sizeable and growing base of customers and brand partners.”
“As of December 31, 2012, the Company had approximately 4.9 million cumulative customers and partnerships with over 5,800 domestic and international brands.”
By the way there are 9 applications for the new gTLD .shop and 5 active new gTLD applications for .VIP although none of them have been filed by VipShop.
