Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Zynga next Social Company to File IPO

DomainReport.ca

I'm seeing news out today that Zynga is the next online company in the social space with plans to come out with an IPO.

Zynga has been in domaining news off and on for the past year or two because they have bought some of their game domains in the aftermarket, for prices under $1000 to in the tens of thousands of dollars.  Two examples are CityVille.com and Yoville.com.

Online game creator Zynga plans to file for an initial public offering shortly, in a new test of US investors' appetites for Internet companies, media reports said on Tuesday.


The maker of FarmVille and other popular games is seeking a valuation of between $15 and $20 billion, CNBC television and The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources close to the deal.

Link to Zynga IPO article:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/game-maker-zynga-file-ipo-reports-224732115.html

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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Ready.ca Registrar launches Affiliate Program

DomainReport.ca

Do you have Canadian web traffic?

Ready.ca is a domain registrar based in Ontario, Canada.  They offer domain registration, web hosting, .ca drop catching, minisites, and templates.

Their affiliate program has been in beta testing but I just got an email notice today that the program has launched.  Visitors you send to the site are tracked via affiliate link, which is normal for affiliate programs, but they also track your visitors through coupon codes.  Everyone loves using coupons these days so it's a nice feature to have.

To find out more info about Ready.ca, go to:

http://www.ready.ca/02722d/

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I noticed there was one .ca domain sale in the latest http://www.dnjournal.com/ report.

telemedicine.ca  -  $1,250  sold at Sedo

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Other recent news that most have heard about, is that Adam Dicker at http://www.dnforum.com/ has launched ShowcaseManager.com .  This is a new domain sales site where you can list your domains for sale.  Instead of charging a commission based on the sales price, members pay a fixed membership fee per year.  No matter how many names you sell, the annual fee is fixed.  First Frank Schilling started a new PPC service that pays domainers more, and now a new sales site made by a domainer.  It is great to see sites like this run by people in the domaining world.

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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Fashion Star - New Media needs New Domains

DomainReport.ca

New media needs new domains.

When you register a domain name, you never know if the word or term will have different or new meanings in the future.  Or if a company or tv show will pop up at some point using the same name.

Fashion Star is going to be a new tv reality show for NBC.  The domain FashionStar.com was registered back in 2001 and is currently owned by a person in Korea.  The domain is on a Sedo landing page.  You'd have to think the traffic to this domain is going to increase once this new show debuts.  Fashion Star is a good brandable term, and it also looks like there is an online game called Fashion Star.  Will NBC want to acquire this domain name?

The new show will involve Jessica Simpson in a mentor role, and Elle McPherson as host.

The network said Monday that Simpson will help guide contestants in the series "Fashion Star" as they compete for a multimillion-dollar contract to launch their own brand.

Elle McPherson will host the show, which NBC promises to be a "true spectacle" taped in front of a studio audience and featuring music, dancers and models along with weekly challenges for the contestants.

"NBC is delighted to work with singer, designer, actress and pop culture icon Jessica Simpson," said Paul Telegdy, NBC and Universal Media Studios executive vice president. "With an almost billion-dollar lifestyle brand under her belt she is sure to be an excellent mentor to our up-and-coming designers."

Producers of "Fashion Star" include former NBC executive Ben Silverman, and Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves, original producers of "Project Runway."

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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Cloud usernames on Twitter

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DomainReport.ca

Ever since learning about Tweet Claims, a service that checks for Twitter usernames and alerts you if they become available, I've had a list of usernames with them to check.  None have come available yet, but a popular username being checked by many people is cloud.

Since I opened an account a few weeks ago, the username cloud was listed as an inactive Twitter account.  The last tweet they did was June of last year.  However, today when I logged in this username was now showing as an active account.  The language they use isn't english, and the website link for the page is for a company with cloud in the name, but it doesn't look like a cloud computing company.

You'd have to think that the username cloud would be very popular for any cloud computing company today.

After sorting that out, it made me think to look up the username icloud to see if Apple was using it.  No, they aren't.  It's another active Twitter account by someone (again not english) who has some posts that mention Applie, iTunes and icloud.

None of the usernames I'm checking have come available yet, but most of them are inactive accounts.  No one has yet figured out how Twitter drops the usernames.  After contacting Tweet Claims, they said they sometimes find 10-20 usernames in one day, and sometimes only 1 or 2.  The names drop in cycles but no one has figured out how the cycles work.  Tweet Claims has over 8400 accounts right now of people looking for Twitter usernames.

If there is a Twitter username you want, say your company name or personal name (e.g.: DaveWoodward), there is a quicker way to possibly get it if the current user account is inactive.  There is a way to contact Twitter and let them know you have a claim for the name, and it could possibly be released to you within hours or days.  Check out the blog post about it here:

http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com/how-to-get-a-new-twitter-name/

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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The $4 Billion Groupon man

DomainReport.ca

As Groupon prepares their IPO, they've released information on their largest shareholder, 41 year old Eric Lefkofsky, who owns a whopping 21% of Groupon shares.  This is 3 times as much as Andrew Mason, the CEO and brains behind the outfit.

Lefkofsky's initial investment in Groupon was a cool $1 million back in 2008.  At the current IPO price range, this investment could end up being worth in the $4 billion range now.

This isn't Lefkofsky's first investment or company either, he has been involved in a number of tech companies through the years and still has investments in other start ups.  He met Andrew Mason when Mason worked for one of his other companies.

To read more about Eric Lefkofsky, click the link below.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/112867/how-to-earn-4-billion-on-coupons-wsj

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