The Lowdown
Feb-March 2025 Archive

Welcome to the 
The Lowdown from 
DN Journal - your source for notable news and information from all corners of the global domain name industry! 

The Lowdown is compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher 
Ron Jackson.

Extraordinarily Comprehensive 2025 Global Domain Report from InterNetX and Sedo Sheds Light on Every Corner of the Industry

Every year since InterNetX and Sedo began jointly releasing their annual Global Domain Report in 2020, I have looked forward to seeing a new one come out. The just released 2025 edition was certainly worth the wait.  This year's edition presents a treasure trove of data and information in a beautifully designed format that makes every one of the 80 pages a sensory delight and a breeze to digest. 

As you read through it your appreciation for the work that went into it multiples as you see just how much ground it covers to illuminate what is happening in every conceivable corner of the industry. By interviewing experts from around the world, the report gathered information on everything from the latest trends in registrations, aftermarket sales, results from specific TLDs and the explosion of and AI to where key opportunities are now, security issues that concern all of us, what to expect in the upcoming new round of new gTLDs, Web3 (and a lot more in between those topics).

A screenshot from the 2025 Global Domain Report (above) provides insightful details from Sedo's huge aftermarket sales platform, including what the average sales price was there ($2,345) and well as the median price ($549), the number of different TLDs sold (350!) and the percentage of names that sold at a Buy It Now (BIN) price (69%). That is a lot of useful information in a single graphic and it is a good example of how well the report presents valuable information of all kinds that will benefit industry professionals, as well as anyone from outside the industry who wants to learn more about it. It's a great educational tool and it comes tuition free!

I could give you many more examples but your time would be much better spent grabbing a copy of the full report and exploring it for yourself. You can do that here.

(Posted March 18, 2025) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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Taku.com Arrives with an All-Star Team That Gives the New Domain Registrar and Marketplace Instant Credibility

The world of domain name registrars is a crowded and competitive one. Over 2,400 ICANN-accredited registrars currently exist, so if you are going to launch a new one, you had better find a way to stand out in that enormous throng. Fortunately, if you wanted a blueprint to guide you, the GMO Internet Group just provided it when they announced the launch of new registrar Taku.com during the ICANN82 meeting that is currently uinderway in Seattle.

GMO Hiro Tsukahara gave the new enterprise instant credibility by bringing in some of world's most well-known domain industry veterans to run the show. That group includes Claus Barche, Christian Voss, Michael Piotrowski, Birgit Berger and Frank Michlick. Hiro also knew that you have to offer more than just domain name registrations. So, in addition to secure domain name registrations across a wide range of TLDs, including ccTLDs (with a focus on Asian markets to connect businesses with the world's fastest-growing markets), Taku will also provide this comprehensive suite of services:

• Domain marketplace: Buy, sell, and manage digital assets seamlessly on a secure and intuitive platform, with access to exclusive domain portfolios

• Domain traffic monetization: Turn unused domains into revenue streams through advertising, parking, or sales.

•  Domain management: Manage all aspects of your domains, from registration and renewals to DNS settings and security.

Hiro Tsukahara
CEO, GMO Internet Group

Now that you have an all-star team of people who can deliver the most desired services, there's one more thing to remember. You only get one chance to make a good first impression. Taku took care of that too by throwing their launch party at the ICANN meeting, putting them in front of industry movers and shakers from around the world.

Above: Guests at the Taku.com launch party held Sunday night, March 9, 2025 during the ICANN82 Meeting in Seattle. 

Above & Below: GMO Internet Group CEO Hiro Tsukahara speaking to the crowd that turned out for the launch event in Seattle.

Above: The Taku.com leadership team (left to right): Christian Voss, Claus Barche, Hiro Tsukahara, Michael Piotrowski and Frank Michlick. Birgit Berger (not shown) completes this accomplished, highly experienced group. Hiro said, "Our team of distinguished domain experts, combined with the strength and resources of GMO Internet Group, allows us to offer exceptional value and support to our customers as they navigate the dynamic global digital landscape.”

Taku will be launching a closed beta program in the coming weeks, providing early access to its platform and services. Interested parties can visit the Taku website at konnichiwa.taku.com to learn more about the company’s vision and express their interest in participating in the beta program.

(Posted March 12, 2025) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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Sedo's 1-2 Domain Sales Punch - Almost $1 Million Yesterday - Over $1 Million Today

When you're hot, you're hot - and Sedo is off to a blazing start this week! Yesterday we told you about the $980,000 sale of Double.com posted by Sedo Premium Broker Mark Ghoriafi. Today, the sun had barely come up before Sedo announced on X.com that  they have sold GX.com at a Buy It Now price of $1.2 million!

That is the second highest publicly reported domain sale of the year to date, eclipsed only by the $2.2 million sale of Commerce.com last month. We will be adding the GX.com and Double.com sales to our charts when we do our next bi-weekly domain sales report on March 19. 

At the moment, little is known about who acquired GX.com as the domain is under WhoIs privacy at GoDaddy. What is known is that someone just acquired one of the premier 

assets on the Internet at a very good price. Two-letter .coms are very prestigious - and very expensive. With only 325 two-letter combinations even possible, and few of those for sale at any given time, multi-million dollar prices are not surprising for these rare birds. That is why they are typically owned by large corporations with deep pockets.   

After this start, we can't see what the rest of the week has in store for us!

(Posted March 11, 2025) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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Sedo's "Mr. Premium" Mark Ghoriafi Strikes Again With $980,000 Sale

Sedo Premium Broker Mark Ghoriafi, AKA "Mr. Premium", has gotten the new year off to a red hot start. Mark has just closed his latest blockbuster deal, a $980,000 sale of Double.com. Coupled with his $600,000 sale of Pack.com in January, Mark now has two of the four biggest publicly reported domain sales year to date (only one, Commerce.com at $2.2 million, has been bigger than Mark's latest headliner). We will be adding Double.com to our 2025 YTD Top Sales chart in our next bi-weekly update March 19. Mark's  2025 sales ledger also includes Weights.com,  Weights.net, Quiche.com, AZ.ai, GN.co.uk, to name just a few.

Image from Bigstock

(Posted March 10, 2025) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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Surprising Run For .Fun Highlights Radix's Premium Domains Report for the 2nd Half of 2024

Radix has released their latest semi-annual report on the registry operator's premium domain registrations and renewals across the 10 TLDs they administer. While Radix no longer includes total revenue numbers in these reports, their H2-2024 Premiums Report (.pdf file) provides a lot of interesting insight into how their top TLDs are performing. 

Their 1H report showed their top three premium TLDs in terms of both the number of premiums registered and revenue were, in order, .tech, .online and .store. However in the second half, especially Q4, .fun, for whatever reason, broke out of the pack to win the premium registration race by a wide margin as you can see in the graphic below.

The graph below gives you a clear illustration of the extraordinary fourth quarter surge that pushed .fun to the head of the Radix premium domain pack. 

The .fun run wasn't the only reason Radix had to celebrate though. Their total number of premium registrations across all of their TLDs in 2H-2024 was 2,179 - the most they have ever had in one half. That represent an 11% jump over the same half from the previous year (and .fun was up an astonishing 331% from the TLD's  2H-2023 total.

There is much more data of interest in the full report, including a breakdown of premium domain renewals that also surged, rising by 16% above the previous year's number for that half with .tech being the biggest winner in that metric, producing 29% of Radix's premium renewal income in 2H-2024.

(Posted March 7, 2025) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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Domain Cost Club Adopts WebUnited's Domain Mirroring Service Allowing Any Domain to Add Web3 Services

A number of new companies have been hard at work developing ways to build a bridge between the traditional domain name system and Web3 and the additional feature set it brings to the table. I spoke with representatives from several of those companies at the Internet Commerce Association Annual Meeting in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, including Lars Jensen and Kathy Nielsen from WebUnited. We have a profile of the company in the works and coincidentally they are also in the news today with an announcement that Domain Cost Club now has WebUnited's domain mirroring service live on their platform.

The thing that most impressed me about WebUnited's solution when Lars and Kathy told me about it, was how easy it is to apply. It allows any traditonal DNS domain name, regardless of extension, to be seamlessly mirrored onto the blockchain through WebUnited's technology. This innovation makes it possible for registrars like Domain Cost Club (DCC) to offer customers Web3 capabilities without altering the existing Web2 domain functionality.

The Web3 functionality can be added during DCC's checkout process where taking the mirroring option will allow registrants to use their domain name on Web3. They can then connect their domain to a crypto wallet for payments and digital identity, use it for Web3 email or to publish a Web3 website. In their press release, WebUnited stated "domain mirroring allows registrants to future-proof their domains, giving them new functionality that goes beyond what's possible in Web2 and paving the way to use domains in the fast-growing world of Web3."

Paul Apanowicz, Director of Project Management at Domain Cost Club, said "This is the easiest way for anyone to future-proof their domain. Any domain can now instantly become a Web3 asset. This is a massive leap forward for the industry, and we're proud to be at the forefront."

For more information on how you can resell domain mirroring, write to write to hello @ webunited.com. To mirror a Web2 domain to Web3, visit www.domaincostclub.com/web3.  

(Posted March 4, 2025) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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AI.com Broker Larry Fischer and the Domain's Owner Comment on Potential for Industry's First 9-Figure Sale  

Over the weekend TheInformation.com published an article titled AI.com Is for Sale. Asking Price? $100 Million (subscription required to unlock the story) by Akash Pasricha. It was about pioneering domain broker Larry Fischer (GetYourDomain.com) being selected by the domain's owner to handle a potential sale of what is probably the most valuable domain name one could imagine at this point in time when artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the world we live in. 

Before the article came out I spoke with both Larry (who has been a friend for over 20 years) and Akash, who wrote an insightful biographical sketch about Larry that made it easy to understand why he was chosen to the market this unique asset. As big a name as this is, it's not Larry's first rodeo as Akash noted, writing "Fischer has spent nearly 30 years buying, selling and brokering deals for marquee internet domains. On top of Messenger.com, his greatest hits include selling Skincare.com to L’Oréal in 2015, selling Teams.com to Microsoft in 2020 and selling Chat.com in 2022 to HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah, who quickly flipped it to OpenAI."

Of course, everyone in the domain business, already knew Larry was one of the small handful of super brokers that the greatest names tend to go to. So, no surprise AI.com would end up with him, but the eye-popping potential of this domain leaves a BIG question in everyone's mind - just how high can it go? The highest publicly reported all-cash domain-only sale (no business or other assets included) on record is Voice.com at $30 million. Larry has no doubt that AI.com will blow that number away and he confided that he has already received higher offers since the news broke that AI.com is available.

Image from Bigstock

Larry Fischer
GetYourDomain.com

It's no longer a question of whether or not it would be a record breaking sale - it is a question of could it be one that defies gravity and launches a domain asset into an entirely unprecedented nine-figure orbit. Larry thinks it could happen and told me the reasons why.  

"Potential buyers are those who crave exclusive ownership of something unparalleled,"
Larry said. "Imagine a crypto mogul like Justin Sun or a tech titan like Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk seizing this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For them—or any visionary Tech or AI company—acquiring this domain isn’t just a purchase; it’s a power move. It transforms them from being one of many to being the only one. This is a trophy piece. Once it’s off the market, it’s gone forever. Years from now, people will look back and say, ‘Can you believe they secured AI.com for just nine figures?’"

For more infomation on the availability of AI.com, your first stop should be https://linktr.ee/larryfischer. Serious inquiries and offers for AI.com can be directed to: [email protected] and Media Inquiries can be made to Jeffrey Fischer at 718-285-0808.

(Posted March 3, 2025) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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Larry Fischer & Ari Goldberger Close Multi-Million $ Sale of Commerce.com to Claim New Year's Top Sale to Date

With this post, the first publicly reported 7-figure domain sale of the new year is now on the record. Industry pioneers Larry Fischer (GetYourDomain.com) and Ari Goldberger (ESQwire.com) teamed up to close a $2.2 million sale of Commerce.com set a new high water mark for 2025. It is no surprise the dynamic duo were the ones to do it as they have been closing high altitude deals for more than 20 years now.

An especially interesting twist to this sale is that it is the second time Larry & Ari have been involved in a sale of Commerce,com. Back in the early 2000's they were on the buyer's side of a transaction in which he helped Anything.com acquire Commerce.com in the first place. That deal was the first six-figure sale done at Sedo.com and in the same week, they closed a second Sedo transaction at that level for Woman.com. Six-figure sales were still a novelty in those days so the deals brought Sedo a lot of positive publicity that helped jump start their rise to prominence and status as an industry institution today.

Most of the high end sales Larry and Ari have done over the years have been subject to NDAs, but they have been cleared to release enough of them to make their appearances on our charts commonplace. Larry, for example. had one of last year's Top 10 sales with Rural.com at $550,000. Commerce.com will takes its place at the top of our 2025 leader board when our next bi-weekly domain sales report comes out tomorrow evening (Wednesday, Feb. 19).

Larry Fischer (left) & Ari Goldberger

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New Verisign Report Shows .Com and .Net Registrations Down Again in 2024 -  ccTLDs and Non .Com gTLDs Both Up

 VeriSign, (the administrator of the .com and .net TLDs) has released their latest quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) covering the 4th quarter of 2024. This update showed that the total number of domain registrations across all TLDs worldwide ended the most recent quarter at 364.3 million. That is up 4.4 million registrations year over year representing a 1.2% increase. Almost half of that jump came from a surge in the final quarter of 2024 when 2 million domains were added.

.Com remains, by far, the dominant TLD on the Internet but .com's total number of registrations continued a recent trend of slipping from the previous year. With 156.3 million domains at the end of 4Q-2024, .com was down about 3.3 million from the same point in 2023 - a 2% decline. .Net has slowly ebbed as well. .Net was down by 400,000 domains YOY to 12.7 million at the end of 2024, a 3% drop.

ccTLDs finished 4Q-2024 with 140.8 million registrations, 2.5 million more than a year ago, representing a 1.8% increase YOY. New gTLDs enjoyed the largest jump but, being newer, they are working from a much smaller user base than the .coms and ccTLDs. Still, by adding 5 million domains the new Gs hit 36.8 million domains at the end of 4Q-2024, giving them an impressive 15.9% increase year over year.  

For legacy gTLDs not including .com and .net, registrations stood at 17.6 million at the end of 2024, an increase of 535,000 domains year over year, a 3.1% increase for that group.

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