Highest Recorded Sale: Insure.com Sells for $16,000,000

[Gerry]

For those who doubt it's a "domain sale," this is why I believe it is:

1) The company who sold Insure.com is publicly traded and plans to continue operations under a different name.
2) Press release announcing the sale was titled, "Insure.com Announces $16 Million Asset Sale" with the asset being Insure.com.
3) The company is retaining virtually all assets: “The Company will retain all of its remaining balance sheet assets, national brokerage contracts with 25 leading life insurance companies, 50 fully licensed insurance agents, call center operations, customer and prospect lists, and nearly all of its current inbound affiliate and traffic partnerships."

This was indeed a domain sale.

And I love seeing the mainstream financial wires and the press release calling this an "asset".

 

[ok10]

For those who doubt it's a "domain sale," this is why I believe it is:

1) The company who sold Insure.com is publicly traded and plans to continue operations under a different name.
2) Press release announcing the sale was titled, "Insure.com Announces $16 Million Asset Sale" with the asset being Insure.com.
3) The company is retaining virtually all assets: “The Company will retain all of its remaining balance sheet assets, national brokerage contracts with 25 leading life insurance companies, 50 fully licensed insurance agents, call center operations, customer and prospect lists, and nearly all of its current inbound affiliate and traffic partnerships."

That is exactly right. "The Company will retain... nearly all of its current inbound affiliate and traffic partnerships" is the key to the sale not being website sale.

 

[Soofi]

insure,com & lifequotes,com.. both are down! so I wonder how they're going to operate, bounce back into biz

something I'd like to quote from yahoo: link, how they say "Insure.com name and specified website content"

"We have sold our Insure.com name and specified website content in a significant cash transaction that we think is in the best long-term interest of our shareholders," remarked Robert Bland, chairman and CEO of the Company.

 

[stewie]

nice sale :yo:

 

[victornumber]

nice sale but don't think many customers know of this sale and thus customers would be lost to the new owner.

 

[ksinclair]

Customers, meaning people who have already bought a policy, just pay their renewal; they dont go to a domain name. Established insurance firms make most of their money from their large collection of existing, renewing customers.

They must have done a lot of planning and already migrated all their brokers and other relationships to their new domain. They could then track traffic and track new customer acquisition to see where they stand.

But none of that matters to us, on the forum. We just care that its a huge sale, with good press - and hopefully, our own domains then go up in potential value.

Kevin

 

[Gerry]

insure,com & lifequotes,com.. both are down! so I wonder how they're going to operate, bounce back into biz

something I'd like to quote from yahoo: link, how they say "Insure.com name and specified website content"

I have looked at both sites and both sites are identical.

Yes, it is a nice sale but if this is not only your domain name but also your corporate name and image, then how on earth you bounce back?

The news broke on Friday. The biz says it plans on sharing this sale proceeds with it shareholders. That's fine. But it would be interesting to see how their stock does over the next few months.

If you sell your corporate name, identity, etc, there are so many other factors to consider. Will they now be delisted on the exchange? Surely they will not be able to continue to be listed under the current name. So much at risk in such a decision.

Rather than measure the dollars gained, is this a good business decision for the company, its 151 employees, and its stockholders.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Sounds like an idiotic move to me, and probably has little to do with hardwork. That might be the case if they sold the business. Brand? Well, it is a generic so I am not sure branding has much to do with it? If the business, was going that well the chances are that this is value destruction and a desperate move as a consequence of current market forces. But then what do I know?

Probably a good price for the domain though, although not greatly out of line with what one might expect. Big insurance companies are also desperate for greater market share, and whilst things may not be good $16 Million is chump change.

Are well we all see this and it keeps our dreams alive that the hard work will pay off!

Sale of company name and domain name confuses the issue of the value of the domain value but as the domain name is the company name I think we can accept the sale as being a branded domain name sale.

 

[britishbulldog]

No this is a company sale not a domain sale,i class a domain sale as just the domain not assets nothing.......so sex.com is still the highest imho.

 

[Rubber Duck]

No this is a company sale not a domain sale,i class a domain sale as just the domain not assets nothing.......so sex.com is still the highest imho.

Do you have some evidence of that or did you just not bother to read the thread?

 

[Gerry]

No this is a company sale not a domain sale,i class a domain sale as just the domain not assets nothing.......so sex.com is still the highest imho.

The company sold the domain name and the rights to it.

Had this been a company sale, we would be looking at a several hundred million.

The Company will retain all of its remaining balance sheet assets, national brokerage contracts with 25 leading life insurance companies, 50 fully licensed insurance agents, call center operations, customer and prospect lists, and nearly all of its current inbound affiliate and traffic partnerships.

The company posted revenue of 15.77 mil for the year end Dec 2008

 

[britishbulldog]

Do you have some evidence of that or did you just not bother to read the thread?

You are some kind of idiot or what ?

The company sold the domain name and the rights to it.

Had this been a company sale, we would be looking at a several hundred million.

The Company will retain all of its remaining balance sheet assets, national brokerage contracts with 25 leading life insurance companies, 50 fully licensed insurance agents, call center operations, customer and prospect lists, and nearly all of its current inbound affiliate and traffic partnerships.

The company posted revenue of 15.77 mil for the year end Dec 2008

Well if its just the domain and nothing else it's a crazy price imho

 

[Rubber Duck]

You are some kind of idiot or what ?



Well if its just the domain and nothing else it's a crazy price imho

Merely asking you to substantiate your assertion. If there is "some kind of idiot" on this thread, I don't think it is me.

 

[britishbulldog]

Merely asking you to substantiate your assertion. If there is "some kind of idiot" on this thread, I don't think it is me.

I think it is you...big time!

 

[Rubber Duck]

I think it is you...big time!

If I valued your opinion, I guess I should feel insulted.

 

[PRED]

if it is a domain sale, then great news for everyone. but what do they mean , assets etc?

what, apart from the domain, rights and brand comes with it? web content? goodwill? what?

you could say im officially 'confused.com' :smilewinkgrin:

 

[Focus]

I think it is you...big time!

nah dude, it's definitely not the rubber ducky...it's you.

lol

 

[britishbulldog]

nah dude, it's definitely not the rubber ducky...it's you.

lol

Grow up children !

 

[Gerry]

if it is a domain sale, then great news for everyone. but what do they mean , assets etc?

what, apart from the domain, rights and brand comes with it? web content? goodwill? what?

you could say im officially 'confused.com' :smilewinkgrin:

Assets of a company are usually listed as tangible.

This is an intangible asset.

I recall seeing the toys.com sale and other sales being listed as company assets.

This is actually great news for the credibility of domain names and domain name ownership.

It will still be a while before the banking and loan sector recognizes this as such, but still very welcome news from a financial and investment side of things.

The down side - don't show this thread to wife or significant other. If divorce lawyers catch wind of this, you will be forced to liquidate your assets.

 

[HomerJ]

if they're retaining the business it doesnt seem that bright to give up all the natural traffic that domain must be getting. unless they needed that money real bad for something