Welcome to the ever exciting Domain Movers where I detect domain names on the move for one reason or another. The vast majority of these domain name movements are by some of the largest companies in the world! Some are just valuable domain names in general and startups also join the mix!
These are often early detection’s that are being reported for the first time and often lead to new brands, services, products and advertising campaigns.
Here we go!
Vum.com which had a for sale price of $75,000 listed on a for sale lander directly on Vum.com in February 2015 has changed ownership. The domain was last owned by Amaresh Hombal prior to the domain going into whois privacy April 13, 2015 according to whois records.
Several websites reported Vum.com sold in April 2015 for $19,000 on Flippa. It is not clear due to whois privacy who the recent seller is/was.
The domain name now has a website to go with it and a page title of: VUM | eWallet, Cards, Money Transfers.
The copyright on the bottom of the website states, VUM Financial Services Limited. Part of “Finnag”.
There is a remaining Afternic listing for Vum.com, which has a buy now of $40K. The Afternic member is “kiat87” and the domain was listed June 3, 2015. The domain name was using SedoParking at the time of the recent change of ownership.
Branch Banking and Trust Company has purchased CommunitySettlement.com from Mike Mann’s DomainMarket.com. The domain name had a listing price of $10,000 and has been registered since November 17, 2004.
HowStuffWorks.com which was owned by Discovery Communications and purchased the website for $250 Million 8 years ago, sold it for $45 Million to Blucora in April 2014. The domain name has now transferred to Infospace according to whois records.
Infospace changed its corporate name to Bluecora on June 7, 2012.
Why it took over 3 years to transfer the domain names ownership is unknown. Blucora and Discovery both use domain name services of MarkMonitor.
Also to note, Stuff.com, which I reported sold by Worldwide Media Inc. in March 2015 and purchased by Blucora, is redirecting Stuff.com to HowStuffWorks.com.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. likes HOT soccer moms only! (well who doesn’t)
Interesting to say the least but according to whois records and a domain name registration by the company on August 17, 2015, the domain name speaks for itself. HotSoccerMomsOnly.com registered by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. at corporate domain name registrar MarkMonitor.
Since Warner Bros. produces film, television and music entertainment, I naturally did a Google search for Hot Soccer Moms Only Movie, but all returned results were, well… adult industry related.
There are sites like FarmersOnly.com, which is a dating website relating to only, well, farmers… so could that be in the mix for the domains potential use?
Is Warner Bros. getting into the dating scene? They also registered the domain name PlumbersMingle.com on the same day August 17, 2015. The popular website ChristianMingle.com comes to mind when seeing PlumbersMingle.com.
Allergan, Inc. registered TheWhyOfDry.com
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. registered the domain name OriginalOrSour.com
K-Swiss, Inc. has acquired the domain name KSGB.com, a domain name that has been registered since February 14, 2002. The domain was owned by Dave Knorr prior to going into whois privacy on June 17, 2015. The domain name was parked with Bodis.
Time Inc. has taken ownership of CampusRush.com from a Internet Commerce Corporation of Marietta Georgia. The domain has been registered since August 31, 1999.
Herbalife International of America, Inc. has registered the domain name WeAreNutrition.com adding to its domain name portfolio of over 1,100 domain names. The domain was registered prior but expired in January 2015.
Thomson Reuters Holdings Inc. has listed two 3 letter .com domain names for sale, via a MarkMonitor for sale lander on each of LCP.com and TPP.com. Thomson Reuters owns MarkMonitor. Both domains have been registered since 1994.
VisitTheUSA.com has been acquired by a currently unknown MarkMonitor client, as the domain is currently using generic whois data. The domain name was owned by BuyDomains.com prior and had a list price of $4,100.
Envato Pty Ltd, owners of the very popular WordPress related sites like GraphicRiver.net, AudioJungle.net, VideoHive.net, CodeCanyon.net and ThemeForest.net have changed hosting providers to Amazon from Akamai Technologies.
Hasbro Inc. has registered the domain name, NextGreatGameChallenge.com
Protect.com I wanted to mention as it has had some recent changes to it. Did it change ownership? That question remains but I can note that the domain name recently went into whois privacy on July 26, 2015. On August 19, 2015 name servers changed.
Viewing past screen shots of the website on the domain prior was related to identity theft. The current website shows a SafeStreets USA logo, who is an authorized ADT dealer. The site is offering a free quote for home security systems.
Prior to going into whois privacy, the domain name was owned by Jeff Staten of One On One Marketing.
Prelaunch.com something is going on with it. The domain name has been suspended for ownership verification. Whois records did change recently and the President doesn’t appear to be with the company any longer according to his LinkedIn page. It states that Donald Brewer is with Picobrew as VP of Sales & Marketing but he had founded the startup Prelaunch Labs Inc but LinkedIn shows dates from December 2012-January 2015.
I found activity relating to Prelaunch.com dating only a couple month ago with a press release on May 6, 2015 from Epson, a former company Donald Brewer worked for according to his LinkedIn page.
The whois change in question appears to have taken place in May 2015 when street address and email addresses changed but still show Donald Brewer in general. Email addresses changed from [email protected] to [email protected] .
The website is now resolving to a suspended landing page from registrar eNom.
I reached out to Donald for comment but did not reply. The domain name was restored as of August 23, 2015 and the website resolves again.
Avia.com, which was owned by American Sporting Goods Corporation and then Brown Shoe acquired that company in 2011 has had Avia.com registrant information change to “Catch New York” which is an advertising agency using the domain name Catch-NYC.com and are located in NYC. On the Catch New York website, there is a Avia logo displayed.
I had reported on DotWeekly back in April 2015 that Brown Shoe was rebranding to “Caleres”, which they hand registered that domain name.
Brown Shoe / Caleres sold Avia in May 2013 along with the Nevados brand for $74 Million to Galaxy Brand Holdings, Inc.
Almost seems like the domain was forgotten about at this point? since it retained the ASGC brand name until whois data changed to Catch New York on August 20, 2015…
Well, Galaxy Brand Holdings, Inc. was acquired by Sequential Brands Group with that deal closing August 18, 2014.
Thankfully for Avia, that poor little soul, it’s whirlwind ownership party seems to have stopped, as a May 18, 2015 press release from Sequential brands group announced expansion for its AVIA brand with a full line of wearables. Fewww!
So although Catch New York is listed as the registrants for Avia.com currently, it would appear that Sequential Brands Group are the real owners of the domain name? and makes you wonder who was paying the renewals on the domain the past several years…
CBS Interactive Inc. has acquired the domain name TheDriveline.com from DomainMarket.com. The domain name has been registered since January 23, 2010 and Mike let this one go on the cheap? It had a buy now price of $500. Driveline.com has been long owned by a trucking company.
ALittleSomething.com has been acquired by a currently unknown MarkMonitor client. The domain name has been registered since February 22, 2001 and was under privacy protection at Fabulous.com. The domain was owned by iGenesis Limited prior to going into whois privacy on August 12, 2015.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. had purchased the domain name HeadLander.com from HugeDomains.com according to whois records. The domain has been registered since October 21, 2012 and had a buy now price of $2,295.
The domain name is redirecting to AdultSwim.com/games/headlander which is a page of text.
Facebook has registered the domain names LiveRailPlayer.com | .net . Facebook acquired LiveRail in July 2014 according to this TechCrunch article for between $400M-$500M and the service is related to video ads. Facebook now owns over 2,300+ domain names.
