6th March 2009
Toys R Us buys Toys.com for over US$5 million
Domain name news brought to you by DescriptiveDomainNames.com
Last week, one of the fiercest ever bidding wars for a generic domain name took place as two organisations with very different agendas battled it out for a slice of highly-valuable internet real estate.
During the closing day of the auction, which was overseen by UK domain name seller Sedo, a battle of wills commenced as bidders were whittled down to only the most sturdy, serious and financially-endowed - Toys 'r' Us and National A-1 Advertising.
Frank Schilling, a figure known for his impressive domain name investment portfolio, was one of the hopefuls to abandon the fierce bidding war, signifying the great value and high level of demand for the premium domain name.
With the price almost hitting the three million mark, the major players gunning for ownership of the generic domain name were international children's chain Toys 'r' Us and domain name investors National A-1 Advertising.
Domainers blog DirectNavigation.com, which kept track of the suspense-filled proceedings from this point onwards, relates that the next move was a $3,050,000 bid from Toys 'r' Us, which was thereafter beat by National A-1 before the firm gained a foothold again with a further bid of $3,125,000.
A short break ensued during which both parties consulted their bankruptcy lawyers in private, the blog reveals. The recession ended with the news that all bids had to come in denominations of $5,000.
Before the next break, Toys 'r' Us and National A-1 continued to outbid one another by $5,000 a time.
Once the price hit £3,255,000, in National A-1's favour, there were just five bidders standing in the auction, all of them "holding their cards very tight", according to the blog.
A similar situation ensued following the next short break, with both companies sweating it out for ownership of Toys.com, all of them desperate to conceal how high they were willing to go for the name.
After another break resumed at around 17:00, Toys 'r' Us flexed its financial muscles by raising its own bid from $4,300,000 to $4,500,000.
This move, however, did not completely throw National A-1, which then responded by hiking up the price to $4,505,000. At this point, all other bidders seemed to pale into significance, gradually dropping out of the running for Toys.com.
Dusting itself down, Toys 'r' Us threw another $20,000 on to the table, with a faltering National-A1 raising it by just $5,000.
The situation began to slip further for National A-1 as Toys 'r' Us attempted to thwart its rival with a $4,815,000 bid.
Responding to a subsequent raise of $5,000, Toys 'r' Us showed its mettle with an impressive bid of $4,915,000, which caused A1-National to request a ten-minute break in the proceedings.
National A-1's swansong in the war for Toys.com was a bid of $5,000,000 - a fee which Toys 'r' Us topped and with an extra $100,000, bidding its way to generic domain name victory.
Last Friday's auction, more than anything, bore testament to the value of generic domain names and how far the biggest and best companies will go to acquire them.
For firms such as Toys 'r' Us, which owns 1,500 stores across 32 countries globally, it is clear that when it comes to solidifying its online presence, only the best premium domain name would do.
See also: Latest News,
High Value Sales News, News Archive and Resources
«Previous Next»
|