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Ask HN: Big-ticket domain valuation/brokerage? urgent

14 points by joshwa ↗ HN
I have a friend who has been the legitimate owner and user since 1994 of a single-word domain name that collides with that of a giant household-name international media company. That media company is expanding and has finally come calling to buy the name, and my friend needs to know how to value the domain and negotiate the sale.

I think this domain should probably sell for seven figures.

Who handles these kinds of valuations and transactions? Anyone have experience with this?

Comments welcome, and email in my profile as well.

Thanks!

7 comments

[ 1.8 ms ] story [ 25.7 ms ] thread
tzm
I'd reach out to Rick Latona. Ping me if you want a referral or other contacts in the business.
joshwa
Yes please contact me (email in profile).
jjeaff
I'm sure there are some law firms that handle that sort of thing.

The best way to value it would be to find similar names and how much they sold for recently.

Most likely, the domain has little value to anyone except the company that wants it. So it will just be a matter of how bad they want it.

Additionally, depending on the name, it could be that the corporation can take it for nothing as they own the trademark.

Especially if the domain is not already being used legitimately for an existing business or other purpose.

Check out nissan.com to read about that long drawn out saga.

duud
Woo! Finally something that made me comment on HN after years of lurking. I invest in domains and spend way too much time looking at them. Is the domain a common dictionary word? Very few names sell for 7 figures. As an example cowboy.com recently sold for $70k and panda.com reportedly sold for mid six figures... Even if the media company bas a trademark they can't just take it for nothing, they'd need to file a UDRP which costs a few thousand dollars.

Some brokers that would be worth reaching out to if the name really is top quality:

https://www.mediaoptions.com/ https://www.bqdn.com/ https://evergreen.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/devanson https://www.buckleymedia.com/

All of them are well respected in the industry and have experience selling names at the highest level.

Some good resources for info

domainsherpa.com domainnamewire.com namepros.com

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions

tudelo
Is finding domains to invest in a manual process or are there various tools that you employ? (not asking for the secret sauce, just wondering logistically).
joshwa
Hey I can't actually PM you but my email is in my profile.

It's a super-common dictionary word and is the brand of a very-well-known media company.

(my friend has a local business that's been an active and legit user of the name since 1994, and will have to give up serious local SEO/brand value to sell)