We have been covering the story of Chicago.com sale of subdomains and email addresses for over a year.
Chicagobusiness.com, did a very nice story yesterday on Josh Metnick and what he has and plans to do with Chicago.com
We have noted that Chicago.com in many ways maybe the first new gTLD as its business plans for the sale of subdomains and email addresses using the vanity Chicago.com is very similar to a new gTLD. The city of Chicago did not apply for a .Chicago new gTLD
Today Chicago.com just sent us a press releasing announcing a multi-year partnership with the Chicago Tribune Media Group to bring hundreds of thousands of dotChicagosm Domain Names and @Chicagosm email identities to market in three auction phases.
Registration for initial bidding started on April 10, 2013, and closes on June 25, 2013. “It is a pleasure to announce our partnership with the Tribune, the largest media organization in Chicagoland, to get the word out about our product offerings,” said Josh Metnick, CEO of Chicago.com. “Chicagoans can now upgrade their Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail and AOL email address to get an exciting new Chicago.com email address, without needing to change their existing email provider. Additionally, we are proud to donate 5% of the gross auction proceeds from the domain name auctions to benefit A Better Chicago.”“We see tremendous opportunity in offering Chicago.com’s innovative products to our loyal readers and users,” says Bill Adee, Vice President of Digital Development and Operations at Chicago Tribune Media Group. “Now, everyone can own a small, digital piece of the greatest city in the world, while benefiting from a simple, memorable email address or website URL.” With a Chicago region MSA of approximately 10 million individuals, and nearly 1 million businesses, Chicago.com is partnering with the largest Domain Name auction platform in the world – Pool.com – to provide the transactional infrastructure to manage the auctions. A significant number of famous Chicagoans and well-known Chicago companies have already purchased their names.
About the Auctions: Phase One release, ending June 25, will open for the bidding of 573 assorted high- demand personal names and business categories.
Phases Two and Three will expand the available inventory of names later this Fall. To learn more about the upcoming auction and how to register and reserve your name, visit https://identity.chicago.com.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE MEDIA GROUP (CTMG) is a media and business services company that publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune
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