TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:THINK you have a good handle on the Internet economy? Try this one.

What Internet business has raised $120 million in financing in the last year, owns 725,000 Web sites, and has as its chief executive the former head of Primedia and International Data Group?

If you guessed NameMedia, a privately held owner and developer of Web sites based in Waltham, Mass., you take the prize. Otherwise, consider reading on.

According to Kelly P. Conlin, the chief executive of NameMedia, the company’s business is best seen as an online property developer...

Quote:The pioneers in this business have long preached that one day the corporate world and Wall Street would discover the untapped power in high quality domain names and make their move on this space. That day is here. A handful of well-financed new domain conglomerates recently arrived and they are now busy reshaping not only the landscape of this industry but that of the entire media world. Using  domain names as their attack vehicles, they have started a long march that could eventually leave them in command of the high ground in global advertising.

Perhaps no company personifies the new wave better than Waltham, Massachusetts based NameMedia. The roots of this company actually date back to 1999 when Michael Mann (the subject of a September 2003 Cover Story in DN Journal) and Brian Taff led a group that founded BuyDomains.com to create a secondary market for premium domain names. In early 2005 BuyDomains was acquired by venture capital firm Highland Capital Partners and private equity firm Summit Partners. The company changed its name temporarily to YesDirect but was re-christened as NameMedia last year with the launch of a strategy to dramatically expand both their marketplace and media businesses...