Domain registrar Tucows announced today that it is laying off approximately 15% of its staff, one day after announcing earnings with a small loss for the third quarter. Tucows CEO Elliot Noss blogged about the tough decision:
We decided to take this step because of the uncertainty of overall economic conditions and the fact that our performance has been impacted by a number of unanticipated challenges during the first nine months of the year, including advertising revenues being dampened by the weakness in the economy and by reduced payouts to the domain channel by Google and Yahoo, which is in turn impacting domain portfolio advertising revenues and especially bulk domain portfolio sales.
Sounds like another case of a smart company being proactive in today's economy. While Tucows is hardly a startup, the decision to cut costs and focus on efficiency will bode well for all companies doing business on the Web. It may be the only way to avoid Techcrunch's Death Spiral.
Tucows seeks to make the Internet easier and more effective for passionate Internet users. Our goal is to reduce complexity for our customers as... [more]
Less that 24 hours after I wrote that Toronto's Tucows is divesting its non-core assets and focusing on their domain registration business for 2009, they've proved me wrong. I know that Tucows isn't just a domain registrar and it's also a popular software download site but today's announcement comes as a surprise.
Meet Tucow's Butterscotch.com, a new online video network that offers educational and user-friendly instructional shows designed to demystify technology for the average technology consumer. As with many premium domain name owners, it appears Tucows just couldn't resist the tempation of building out their own online real estate.
Butterscotch.com's Fall lineup features a range of handy tutorials and TV-like shows aimed at making technology fun and easy to understand. Hosted by tech veterans Amber MacArthur, Andy Walker, Sean Carruthers, and Molly MacDonald, Butterscotch.com aims to be the HGTV of the technology industry. The site launched with 35 video tutorials with plans to hit 500 videos by next spring.
Tucows seeks to make the Internet easier and more effective for passionate Internet users. Our goal is to reduce complexity for our customers as... [more]
Toronto's Tucows has announced that it has sold its stake in domain name registry Afilias for $7.4 million. Tucows owned 7.38% of Afilias, which pegs a valuation on the registry of about $100 million. The payments to Tucows will be spread across the next 13 months with $3.2 million now; $2.1 million in June 2009; and $2.1 million in December 2009.
Tucows seems to be refocusing in 2008. In May they sold off their web hosting business to Hostopia and last month announced the launch of YummyNames - a site to sell some of its company-owned domain names. Its portfolio of domain names, many of them acquired after customers failed to renew them, likely represents its biggest opportunity for revenue growth.
Afilias is the registry for .info, but also provides registry “backbone” services for other top level domain names, such as .org. Afilias is in a good position to grow with ICANN’s new top level domain name release as TLD applicants will need a technology provider such as Afilias.
Tucows seeks to make the Internet easier and more effective for passionate Internet users. Our goal is to reduce complexity for our customers as... [more]
We believe that Hostopia is a leading provider of Web services that enable small and medium-sized businesses to establish and maintain an Internet... [more]
Tucows announced today the launch of YummyNames, a new service providing exclusive access to a large selection of premium domain names from Tucows own domain name portfolio. Created especially with marketers in mind, YummyNames allows people to search for and obtain the perfect domain name for their organization from tens of thousands of high-quality domain names.
"It's important for marketers and organizations to realize they don't need to settle on a lousy domain name," said Bill Sweetman, General Manager, YummyNames. "Domain names are a vital component to successfully marketing a brand – whether it's the launch of a new company, website or marketing campaign. A high-quality domain name is short, relevant and most important, easy to remember. We're excited to open the Tucows portfolio of premium domains to the public through YummyNames. We're confident users will find their perfect name."
The Tucows domain portfolio mostly consists of names that were not renewed by registrants, as well as domain names that were purchased as part of the 2006 Netidentity acquisition. According to Frank Michlick of Domain Name News, Tucows portfolio consists of over 70,000 names.
Tucows seeks to make the Internet easier and more effective for passionate Internet users. Our goal is to reduce complexity for our customers as... [more]
Vancouver's Live Current Media announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Palo Alto-based Arbor Advisors, LLC to sell six of its non-core but highly valuable dot-com domain names from the company’s portfolio. Live Current expects to market the domain names for an aggregate amount of $6-10 million and anticipates negotiating transactions for the sale of some or all of the six domain names within 90 days.
Domain Name Wire is reporting that geo-related domains are specifically on the block including Brazil.com, Vietnam.com, Indonesia.com, Malaysia.com, and GreatBritain.com. Considering today's difficult fundraising market, selling off non-core domain names may be a smart non-dilutive form of financing to fund growth.
Disclosure: Geoff Hampson and Boris Wertz are both Directors of Techvibes Media Inc. and Live Current Media Inc.
Live Current builds, owns and operates some of the most powerful and engaging content and commerce destinations on the Internet. Through... [more]
Vancouver's Live Current Media is in the news again today with the announcement that it has signed a letter of intent with Domain Strategies, Inc. to jointly establish a new company for the purpose of building, managing and monetizing the Karate.com domain name.
The partnership will see Live Current contributing the domain name Karate.com to the new company in exchange for a 50% interest, plus a distribution and liquidation preference of $500,000. Domain Strategies will earn 50% of new company by investing $250,000 in cash to be used for website construction and operations, business development, marketing, public relations and strategic expertise services in the operation of the business. Domain Strategies will be entitled to a second distribution and liquidation preference of $500,000 that will only be paid out after Live Current Media has received the first $500,000.
If after three years from the date of formation, the new company has not achieved the annual financial goals as set by management and approved by the Board, Live Current has the right to terminate its participation in the ew company and ownership of the domain name Karate.com will revert back to Live Current. In the event Live Current is the terminating party, Domain Strategies will have the right but not the obligation to purchase Live Current's interest in the new company, including the domain name for $1 million within 60 days of termination.
Live Current's strategy is to prioritize building businesses around their top two domain names - Perfume.com and Cricket.com - and to look for alternative methods of monetizing the other domain names in their portfolio. Partnering with a proven developer of web properties for high-value domain names like Karate.com is one option and will likely be the model for future partnerships. However, that doesn't rule out selling select names from their portfolio as well.
Disclosure: Geoff Hampson and Boris Wertz are both Directors of Techvibes Media Inc. and Live Current Media Inc.
Live Current builds, owns and operates some of the most powerful and engaging content and commerce destinations on the Internet. Through... [more]
Domain Strategies is a pioneering leader in the field of internet domain development. The company partners with domain owners, visionary... [more]
Reinvent Inc. is a private online media and advertising company with a strong track record of continual growth and profit. We own and manage one of the largest portfolios of web domains in the world and we aim to rethink, reconnect and redesign technology and business today. We work closely with the largest search engines to distribute paid search listings, making us one of the top partners in the $15b per year pay-per-click advertising industry. We are also developing many of our domain name properties, including Vancouver.com, where we are seeking a Managing Editor to lead in the growth and development of the site.
Located right in downtown Vancouver, with a killer view of the North Shore mountains, our space is filling up with a passionate, creative group of people who all set their alarms on Monday morning to get up for something more than just a pay cheque. We don’t just care about the work, we care about the people we work with. And pool. And hockey. And hockey pools. Go figure.
The Managing Editor will play a key role in defining the relevance and brand value of Vancouver.com. The incumbent will assume overall responsibility for editorial content, target advertising, data analysis, and will be positioned as an industry expert and spokesperson for the site.
Your Key Responsibilities:
Your Experience:
At Reinvent Technology, our goal is to transform our direct navigation business into a cutting edge media company by leveraging new technology,... [more]
A former University of British Columbia staff member is being honoured today for creating the .CA domain that put Canada on the Internet map. The Demco Student Learning Centre in the Department of Computer Science will be named after former computing facilities manager John Demco for his volunteerism and foresight in conceiving the .CA domain two years before the emergence of the World Wide Web.
Demco conceived the .CA domain name in 1987 and managed a group of volunteers who recorded requests and granted applications by hand. By 2000, almost 100,000 dot-ca domain names were registered by UBC volunteers. In December 1998, CIRA, a not-for-profit corporation was created to manage the dot-ca registry.
"John administered the dot-ca registry using UBC facilities and equipment for more than 10 years and played an important role in the establishment and governance of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)," says Computer Science head Bill Aiello. "His vision and dedication is an inspiration to students, faculty and staff at Computer Science and UBC."
Interesting fact: Most of the first .CA domain name applications were from universities, including University of Prince Edward Island, McGill, Ryerson, University of Western Ontario, Carleton, Queens and UBC and the first domain registration was for upei.ca on January 12, 1988.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is a not for profit Canadian corporation that is responsible for operating the dot-ca Internet... [more]
Finally Canadain domainers can attend a domain name industry conference without crossing the border. Domain Convergence, a conference focusing on domain monetization and portfolio management, will be held in Niagara Falls, ON, from October 6-8th. Domain Convergence is limited to 70 attendees so it won't attract the masses from the US like the mammoth T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference - but that's not a bad thing from a networking perspective.
Domain Convergence is meant for domain portfolio owners that want to do more with their domain names. There will be sessions on parking versus development, development tools and techniques, and domain name owners’ rights. Well known Canadian Domain Industry verteran Frank Michlick (of SharedReviews and DomainCocoon) is Chairman of the conference.
Early bird registration is available for $500 through September 10th.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority's Annual General Meeting is in Vancouver at the Pan Pacific Hotel on September 10th. It's a marathon 4.5 hour event but scheduled in such a way that attendees not interested in the official business can show up for just the keynote speaker:
CIRA members get free parking (vouchers will be available), a complimentary 1GB memory key and an opportunity to win some great door prizes (Apple MacBook Pro, a 42" LG Widescreen LCD HDTV, a Canon EOS Rebel Digital SLR Camera, and two 15GB iPod Touches). Online pre-registration for the 2008 AGM is open until 5:00pm on September 9, 2008. Registration will also be available on site.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is a not for profit Canadian corporation that is responsible for operating the dot-ca Internet... [more]
