Welcome to Domain Movers. In this series I do the heavy digging and discover domain names that are on the move! The vast majority of the domain names in the following list have been either registered, acquired or simply moving for one reason or another, mostly by large companies.
These are often early discoveries and may lead to insight into new brands, services, products, companies and new websites. Here we go with the latest domain movers.
Battlecast.com has been acquired on behalf of a currently unknown MarkMonitor client from a Sue Bell. The domain name had a listing price of $14,500. The domain has been registered since 2005 and was registered with Fabulous and has since transferred to MarkMonitor. The term is pretty heavily related to “games”, so Riot Games is a potential buyer with League Of Legends.
LEGO Juris AS went on a domain registering rampage prior to a press release cover by TechCrunch and registered a lot of new domains. Lego-Dimensions.com / .net, LegoBreakTheRules.com / .net, LegoDimension.com / .net, LegoDimensions.net, LegoDimensionsGame.com /.net, LegoDimensionsService.com /.net, LegoDimensionsSupport.com /.net, LegoDimensionsVideoGame.com /.net, LegoMashupGame.com /.net, LegoMashupVideoGame.com /.net, LegoToysToLife.com /.net.
AutopartsMatter.com, CarPartsMatter.com and PartsMatter.com have been registered by a currently unknown CSC Corporate Domains client.
Allstate Insurance Company has registered the domain name MapYourGood.com
TUI UK Limited registered the domain names NaughtyWeekender and TheNaughtyWeekender.com
EverydayEscapes.com has been acquired for a currently Frito-Lay North America, Inc. The domain has been registered since 2004 and was owned by a Patrick Hartary and was using DomainNameSales.com at the time of the domain sale.
Welch Allyn has acquired the domain name Retinavue.com. The domain was registered with Uniregistry and using DomainNameSales.com at the time of the domain sale. The domain was registered on 1/31/2014 at GoDaddy under privacy and transferred on 3/9/2015 to Uniregistry and Welch Allyn has since transferred the domain back to GoDaddy. The domain was registered in 2007 by “RetinaCheck.com”, at GoDaddy but expired just one year later in 2008 and remain unregistered until 1/31/2014.
TheEllipse.com has been acquired from HugeDomains.com for a currently unknown CSC Corporate Domains client. The domain had a $2,495 buy it now price.
CBS Radio Inc. registered the domain name CBSPulse.com and acquired the domain name PulseRadio.com from a Pete Lucas of Masters Of My Domain LLC. PulseRadio.com has been registered since 1999 and was owned by Pete for a long time.
Microsoft has registered the domain names KeepCalmAndOffice.com / .net and KeepCalmAndOfficeProPlus.com / .net. They also registered HoloLensEvents.com / .net.
Facebook appears to have started a new company called Parse, LLC. That company registered the domain names ParseLink.com .net | .org all the domains are using the [email protected] registrant email address.
Digging a bit further, Parse.com was owned by Kevin Lacker (with a website on it) but come out of whois privacy on September 3, 2013 under Parse, LLC and with the FB.com registrant email, so they also own that domain. Forbes reported on April 25, 2013 that Facebook acquired Parse for $85 Million in a part cash, part stock deal. Parse is a mobile app platform.
To note, Kevin’s name appears in whois records on October 18, 2012 from a Tikon Bernstam but dns was the same since 1/3/2012. Tikon founded Parse and Scribd. Tikon’s name first appears in whois for Parse.com on June 15, 2011 when the domain was likely acquired. Kevin Lacker is also a founder of Parse. They had $7 Million in funding before being acquired by Facebook. Parse was founded on June 1, 2011 (according to CrunchBase)… so they acquired Parse.com 14 days after being founded according to whois records.
ForceForChange.com was acquired from BuyDomains.com on May 22, 2014 by Disney. They put the domain name to use right away with a website that was a contest to shoot a scene for Star Wars: Episode VII. CD from Colorado was the winner. The site still resolves but the contest is no longer available. The site was part of the Omaze.com charity effort.
TalentWise has acquired the domain name Kennect.com from LoveLogo.com for an undisclosed amount. The domain has been registered since 2001. According to TalentWise.com, they are a technology company that has completely transformed one of the most critical tasks that every company depends upon for success – hiring new employees. TalentWise automates the hiring process from start to finish with compliance built in, allowing HR to manage offers, screening, and onboarding activities with just a single solution.
Shoes.com which was sold in December 2014 by Brown Shoe Company with the online business to SHOEme, has transferred ownership and now resides behind the name SHOES.COM Technologies Inc. and uses a onlineshoes.com registrant email address.
Hightail, which was known as YouSendIt before that… acquired the domain name Hightail.com on April 17, 2013 from a Sara Ruiz. Hightail.net was acquired on July 1, 2013 with the help of CSC Corporate Domains. Hightail/You Send It is a file sharing service. YouSendIt announced the rebranding on July 10, 2013. 3 Months after acquiring the .com and 9 days after securing the .net. Here is a nice blog post by the COO, Mike on the rebranding and does have a bit of domain talk in it, which I think is worth the read, as it shows what the company was looking for.
Chalk.com has been acquired by Vetica Interactive, which is a new startup. The domain name was owned by RIM (Research In Motion). Chalk is an education startup.
Google Inc. has registered the domain names ChessGamery.com, DiyChess.com, FamilyBraniacs.com and ChessNewbies.com. GoogleWalletGo.com was also registered… Google owns Wallet.com.
Much.com has been acquired with the help of BrandCertified by Bell Media Inc. BrandCertified shows up in whois records on September 22, 2013 and then goes to the generic DNStination Inc. in whois. Bell Media appears in whois on 12/17/2015. It appears they may be getting ready to do something with the domain name as they have set domain name servers to a hosting provider but the site doesn’t resolve yet. Bell has the brand “Much Music” which it has named it simply “Much”. They also own Much.ca but it redirects to MuchMusic.com, so Bell may be getting ready to switch to Much.com from MuchMusic.com.
Guts.com didn’t change ownership but it may appear that way in whois. Registrant details changed from Guts Gaming Limited to MT SecureTrade Limited but retained registrant email address and the website remains the same.
Technology.com may have been sold? The domain was using InternetTraffic.com / DomainNameSales and has since switched to a website.
