Key Australian internet assets to be sold

March 5, 2013

Key Australian internet assets to be sold

sydney.com.au, melbourne.com.au, brisbane.com.au, adelaide.com.au, auction.com.au

The most important parcel of Australian websites and domain names to come onto the market are being offered for sale.

The websites sydney.com.au, melbourne.com.au, brisbane.com.au, adelaide.com.au and the domain name auction.com.au are for sale on the website http://www.namesell.com.

The sale is being brokered by Brisbane-based company Domain Guardians.

Mike Robertson from Domain Guardians said the sale presents an opportunity for a major player to own the commercial domain names mirroring four of Australia's five largest capital cities.

“These domains/websites could provide a local entity or leading international corporation with a unique opportunity to become the dominant online player in Australia.

“There is no other situation in the world where a company or individual owns 85% of the country's capital city domains. In the US, most leading corporations are lucky to own one two capital city domain names.

“Sydney.com.au is the No.1 ranked website in the Google.com.au search results when you search on the word 'sydney'.

“When you consider the Sydney economy in 2011 was worth $342 billion, what price then do you put on the commercial value and importance of sydney.com.au when the website comes up first in the Google search results?”

Mr Robertson said a global marketing campaign begins this month pitching the domains at leading local and international companies in the media, real estate, retail and travel industries.

Mr Robertson said sydney.com.au and melbourne.com.au are lightly developed as tourism websites and already generate attractive revenue streams.

He said there is huge scope to broaden the websites to include residential and commercial property sales, car sales, job listings, auctions, travel, tourism, accommodation and entertainment and make these the stand-out websites for Sydney, Melbourne,

Brisbane and Adelaide.

“All traffic coming to the site is organic and free – grown from strategically placed backlinks dating back to the '90s. The owners have never spent a cent driving traffic to sydney.com.au or any of the other city domain websites. “

He said domain names mirroring the names of leading cities are being acquired by wealthy individuals and big corporations, including some of the world's leading media corporations.

“The New York Times Company owns Boston.com, MediaNews Group owns LA.com, Entertainment Benefits Group owns NewYork.com, and Advance Publications owns NJ.com and Cleveland.com.

“In July last year, the CEO of a Denver real estate company paid a seven figure amount for denver.com and plans to develop it as an online hub for Denver.

“Denver has a population of about 600,000, and its economy is small compared to that of Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

“Imagine the commercial potential for someone owning all four Australian capital city domain names, with a combined population of around 10 million.”

Mr Robertson said the domain name Auction.com.au is also for sale, either as part of a bundle with the city websites or as a separate sale.

“The domain name auction.com.au, commercially developed, could be one of the biggest online sales platforms in Australia.

“The equivalent website in the United States, auction.com, is geared solely to the sale of residential and commercial real estate. In 2011, it generated sales of more than $US7.6 billion of residential and commercial real estate.”

Mr Robertson said the sale is one that is unlikely to present itself again.

“Once these domains are sold, I doubt if they will be offered for sale again. They are too important - you rarely get an opportunity to acquire Internet assets of this type.”

About Domain Guardians
Headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, Domain Guardians is a privately owned and operated domain name company providing personalized, trusted and effective domain name services, including Legacy, Brokering, Management and Recovery. For more information, please visit www.domainguardians.com.

ENDS

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