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In
3Q-2007, just four names accounted for more that $5
million worth of that quarter's sales (the pair of
CreditCheck.com and FreeCreditCheck.com at $3
million,
Chinese.com at $1,120,008 and Poker.de at
$957,937). In
the leaner times that overshadowed 3Q-2008, only one sale
broke the seven figure barrier - and just barely when
Invest.com changed hands for $1,015,000 in the final week
of the quarter.
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If
you look beyond those five sales (four last year
and one this year) at the ultra high end, the rest
of the market was down only slightly from the same
quarter a year ago. This is better illustrated by
the median sales price for individual domains (the
price at which half of all sales were higher and
half of all sales lower). In 3Q-2007 the median
sales price was $2,950. In 3Q-2008, the median
price was a bit lower at $2,788.
The
transaction volume year over year was also
virtually unchanged. In 3Q-2007 3,823 transactions
were reported at the levels we track ($2,000 and
up for .coms and $1,000 and up for all other
extensions). In 3Q-2008, 3,863 transactions were
reported - 40 more than last year. As you would
expect with more high dollar sales last year, the
average sale price was higher then - $7,892 vs.
$6,356 this year. |
One
more interesting bit of data, especially given that this
year has been much more challenging in the overall economy
than last year, is that the total volume of Year To Date
reported sales is still running slightly higher this year
than they were at this time last year. In the first three
quarters of 2008, total reported sales were $87,426,600, a
hair above the $86,716,020 reported in the first three
quarters of last year.
With
confidence in the economy at such a low ebb now, we will
almost certainly finish the year with a slightly lower
sales volume total than we saw in 2007. However with
domain aftermarket values holding up as well as they have
against such daunting odds, I think we have much to
be thankful for, especially when so many others are
dealing with far greater difficulties than we are. |
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The
big difference we have seen this year is less activity at
the very high end of the market while the mid to low range
has remained largely unaffected. With the huge drop in PPC
revenues over the past year, domains sold on the basis of
their PPC revenue have obviously dropped in value but
existing revenue is a non issue for the small to medium
sized business market. Those SMB end users continue to be
as active in the aftermarket as ever and there is little
reason to believe that will change. At a time when every
dollar counts, a cost efficient web platform is more
important to business success than ever before.
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The
Domain Industry's Good Doctors, Ham and Hartnett,
Graduate From the Harvard Business School |
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Dr.
Chris Hartnett and
Dr. Kevin Ham
at Harvard Business School graduation
ceremony October 24 in Cambridge, Mass. |
Domain industry leaders
Dr. Kevin Ham and Dr. Chris Hartnett
reached another major milestone in their
illustrious careers a few days ago when they
received diplomas for completing the Harvard Business
School's
prestigious Advanced Management
Program, the highest level executive program offered by
the school.
Chris and Kevin
had joined 177 other executives from 45 countries around the world for the intensive two-month program that had them sequestered in a classroom 14 hours a day, six days a week. They successfully completed the rigorous course
and graduated October 24. Dr.
Hartnett and Dr. Ham are close friends and
Hartnett serves on the board of the company Dr.
Ham founded, Reinvent
Technology. Both were featured in DN
Journal Cover Stories ths year, Dr. Ham in May
and Dr. Hartnett in June.
Hartnett told us,
"Without a doubt, it was one of the hardest
things I have ever done. Financial and Business
Boot camp it was, of the highest degree. We studied
in great detail over 200 global
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| companies
from all angles ranging from their Finances to
their Strategy, Marketing and Personnel. On many
days, we would finish with our learning and study
groups at 1:30am -2:00am and be up and
showered and ready for more studying and
classes at 7am the next day. We did this 6
½ days a week for two months. The last two weeks,
I don’t remember getting more than 4-5 hours of
sleep on any one night.
The work load was
unbelievable but the teachers where absolutely world
class and the other 177 students were
literally world leaders (27% from North
America and the rest from around the globe
with strong concentrations from Australia, China,
Japan, Singapore, Britain, Norway
and 30 other countries). They represented all the
very top Global Companies: eBay, Xerox, Nissan,
Reinvent, Renault, Lenovo, IBM,
Northrop-Grumman’s, Goldman Sachs, Mitsubishi,
BP, EMC, Wal-Mart and Flextronics. There were also
Generals from the Australian Army,
Government Officials from China and many other
countries such as Bhutan and Mauritius,
not to mention leaders from the banking and
financial worlds."
Kevin
and Chris in their Harvard classroom |
Dr.
Hartnett added, "This all was happening while Harvard
Business School was celebrating its 100th Anniversary
with guest speakers and classroom guests such as
Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Meg Whitman,
The Chairman and CEO of Intel, the Chairman of BP,
the Chairman and CEO of GE and the list goes on and
on. It was literally the Who’s Who of the global
business world past, present and future. We also had the
great pleasure of having visitors from the domain
world’s elite such as Zappy Zapolin and Andrew
Miller (also Harvard Alumni) and Hitfarm’s illustrious
Don Ham
. It was very, very cool and this was all happening while
the entire global economy, as we knew it, was melting down
right before our eyes! Chris
closed by noting that he and Kevin were able to serve as
evangelists for the entire domain industry while
going through the Harvard program. "All the major
companies of the world now know what a “Domain” is and
also have a new found appreciation for their value,
traffic and future development potential!," Dr.
Hartnett declared. 
Chris
and Kevin on their graduation day at Harvard Business
School Oct. 24 *****
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