Just very recently, someone managed to snag the highly coveted two-letter domain name, IT.com.
Two-letter .com domain names have always been in high demand, unobtainable for most thanks to their value and scarcity. With Facebook previously paying $8.5 million for FB.com and domains such as WE.com sold for $8 million, these two-letter domain names can be hard to acquire, even for end-users.
However, just recently, one end-user managed to snag the highly coveted two-letter domain name, IT.com.
In this article, we discuss everything you need to know about it – how IT.com domain sold at $ 3.8 million USD, who bought it, terms of payment, the business model of IT.com, previous “IT” domains purchased by the buyer, and more!
IT.com Domain Sold at $ 3.8 Million USD
Who Bought It?
In the tech world, the recent news that the IT.com domain sold at $ 3.8 million USD is a fairly big deal; after all, it is the highest publicly reported price for a domain sale so far this year.
The question is: Who bought it?
According to reports, IT.com was purchased by Intis Telecom. IT.com’s acquisition was facilitated by domain broker James Booth and the buyer was represented by Igor Furdyk who, in addition to being a veteran domain broker, is a Project Manager at Intis Telecom (the domain buyer) and also Head of Sales for the new domain registration service that began operations on IT.com.
About the Buyer of IT.com: Intis Telecom
So, who exactly is Intis Telecom?
Intis Telecom is a telecommunications company that provides business mobile messaging services.
The company provides multi-purpose SMS software that allows its customers to run SMS campaigns and engage with their clients. It allows service traders, system administrators, retailers, marketers, department heads, business owners, and many others to send messages about their products, services, events, and other company news to their customers in order to increase business turnover and profits.
Intis Telecom was founded in 2010 and is based in London, United Kingdom.
“Our focus is on the rapid and accurate delivery of your content via SMS globally.
SMS is the best digital channel for delivering your Marketing, Transactional and Informative content – 98% of successfully delivered SMS are read, the majority in the first 5 minutes. No other digital channel drives this level of engagement.
With an intuitive, easy to use web-based interface, high throughput capabilities, and our own gateway API to make connectivity with us a whole lot easier, Intis Telecom will have you up and running, putting together and initiating the sending of your own messages, within a matter of minutes.”
IT.com Terms of Payment
According to reports, the full payment for IT.com is being made over a 3-year period that follows a $1.5 million down payment. While this $3.8 million deal is the biggest domain sale publicly reported so far this year, sales aren’t officially charted until payment has been fully completed, so Hippo.com at $3.3 million will remain at the #1 position in the 2021 YTD Top 100 Sale Chart.
But, IT.com is truly a great acquisition for UK-based Intis Telecom and a major accomplishment for brokers James Booth and Igor Furdyk.
Business Model of IT.com
According to reports, IT.com will follow the model that CentralNic has used for years with top tier two-letter .com domains – which is using them as the base to sell third-level sub-domain registrations. For instance, with the IT.com site now open, names like dnjournal.it.com can be registered at a retail cost of $49.
IT.com is launching an ambitious marketing campaign including a high-profile presence at the 2021 WebSummit conference in Lisbon, Portugal that runs today (November 1) through Thursday.
Previous “IT” Domains Purchased by the Buyer
Intis Telecom also owns several other “IT” domains, including UK.IT. Moreover, throughout this year, the company has been buying up two-letter IT domains in other extensions including.tn, .ae, .to, .ax, .sb, .hn, .uy, .by, .kz, and .broker with the prices they paid for IT in those TLDs ranging from $2,000 up to $25,000. The new 3rd level registration service will be offered on all of those extensions as well.
Moreover, while Intis Telecom is a telecommunications company that provides multi-purpose SMS software, IT.com has nothing to do with the SMS business. Instead, the company is offering subdomains like example.it.com, with an emphasis on action words like explore.it.com and remember.it.com.
The company plans to do this with lots of other domains. Over the past ten months, Intis has acquired 10 “IT” domains in various extensions; however, IT.com remains its biggest investment. Before this domain, the most it had paid was $25,000 for IT.kz (the country code for Kazakhstan) this year. Last year, the company paid $235k for IT.co.uk.
Is There Other “IT” Domains Available in the Market?
The answer is a BIG YES!
Check this domain IT.PN. This particular domain name is still available as of the date of posting this article.
Intis Telecom still has to acquire the other “IT” domains in the market, if they really wanted to have a full control of the business potential of these remaining “IT” domains like IT.PN which is now selling at $15,000 USD Buy It Now Price.
IT.PN domain name is just one of the most elusive 2 Letter Generic Domain Names that are still available for sale on the No1.io online domain store website.
The Most Expensive Domain Names Ever Sold
The fact that the IT.com domain sold at $ 3.8 million USD might sound unbelievably expensive to most people; however, it is actually far from the most expensive domain name ever sold. In fact, some other domain names have sold for hundreds of millions of dollars!
Below, we list down some of the most expensive domain names ever sold:
- Business.com – $345 Million
In 1999, the $7.5 million spent on purchasing Business.com makes it one of the largest domain name sales in history. However, no one could have predicted that this domain would be worth 47 times more in a period of just 8 years!
The value of Business.com spiked considerably after Dow Jones and The New York Times tried to buy the domain in the years following 1999. Finally, in 2007, the domain was sold to RH Donnelly for a whopping $345 million! Unfortunately, this particular domain name sale didn’t bring much luck to the buyer. The 3rd-largest print and online Yellow Pages publisher in the US declared bankruptcy just two years after buying the domain.
- LasVegas.com – $90 Million
LasVegas.com was purchased in 2005 by VEGAS.com, LLC which wanted to pair up the two domains to guarantee that both search terms directed online traffic to the travel agency from Las Vegas. The huge $90 million sale guarantees that this will always be remembered as one of the most expensive website purchases.
The previous holder of the domain, Stephens Media, agreed to a contract that started out with an initial $12 million payment. The remaining sum for this domain sale is payable until 2040.
- CarInsurance.com – $49.7 Million
QuinStreet purchased the domain CarInsurance.com at $49.7 million! This domain was already a highly profitable consumer website for researching and shopping for auto insurance policies, making it QuinStreet’s crown jewel. With that single purchase, the company solidified its place as a market leader in online insurance at a time when internet shopping was taking off.
- Insurance.com – $35.6 Million
This high-value domain name was also purchased by Quin Street. Similar to CarInsurance.com, this online platform was regarded as valuable because it was a popular destination for comparing insurance rates on health, car, life, home, and renters insurance.
On Insurance.com, you can compare insurance rates, view options instantly, save money on coverage, and see private info. The domain name is well worth $35.6 million because insurance is such a popular keyword on search engines and the site also hosts informative and useful content that is sure to attract a large audience.
- VacationRentals.com – $35 Million
Did you know? VacationRentals.com was purchased solely to prevent a different competitor from buying it first! In 2009 Brian Sharpies, the CEO of HomeAway, managed to purchase the domain after he found out that his rival company Expedia was planning to do so. Before the purchase, VacationRentals.com was already an active site. Now, it represents a marketplace for vacation deals around the globe.
Sources:
https://www.intistele.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/intistelecom/
https://financesonline.com/top-10-most-expensive-domain-names-in-the-world-insurance-rentals-private-jets/
