Ranking Domain Name Stocks in 2009 -
Mixed results for domain name stocks in 2009.
The U.S. stock markets returned about 35% in 2009. Domain name stocks were a mixed bag, however. Here’s how six publicly traded companies fared last year, based on the closing price December 31 of 2008 versus 2009.
Tucows (AMEX: TCX) – Up 106% – Tucows aggressively bought back shares in 2009, reducing its shares outstanding and thus increasing their price. But the buybacks only tell part of the story; the company ... read more ...
Tag Archives: dark blue sea
Tue 5th January 2010
Sun 29th November 2009
Dark Blue Sea Accepts PGA Buyout, What Does it Mean for Fabulous? -
Photon Group to acquire Dark Blue Sea.
Does a nickel make all the difference in the world?
Dark Blue Sea has accepted (pdf) Photon Group’s takeover bid after Photon upped its offer from 30 cents per share to 35 cents per share. In a joint statement, Dark Blue Sea Chairman Vernon Wills stated “We are pleased with the increased offer. It is in the best interests of DBS that this transaction is concluded as promptly and efficiently as possible.”
Let’s rewind ... read more ...
Fri 30th October 2009
Photon Group Submits Formal Takeover Offer for Dark Blue Sea -
Group submits plan to takeover Fabulous’ parent company.
Photon Group has submitted its formal share purchase statement (pdf) for its planned purchase of outstanding Dark Blue Sea shares. Dark Blue Sea is the parent company of domain name registrar and parking company Fabulous.
Photon owns almost 30% of the outstanding shares in the company. In a letter to shareholders, Photon Group Executive Chairman Tim Hughes says the offer represents a premium to the average ... read more ...
Tue 6th October 2009
Dark Blue Sea and GoDaddy Get Back Together -
Australian domain company signs new sales agreement with Go Daddy.
Dark Blue Sea, parent company of Fabulous, has had a rough year. It probably hit bottom back in July, when GoDaddy pulled out of a sales distribution agreement with the company.
Perhaps it’s one of those on-again, off-again relationships, as the two registrars have inked another sales agreement. This is good news, given that an outside investor is currently trying to takeover the company.
I ... read more ...
Thu 1st October 2009
Takeover Bid Launched for Dark Blue Sea -
Photon launches takeover of Dark Blue Sea.
Photon Group has launched a takeover bid for Dark Blue Sea, parent company of Fabulous.
Photon currently owns 30.55% of all issued ordinary shares of Dark Blue Sea. The company is offering to buy outstanding ordinary shares for 30 cents per share, which it says is a 56% premium to the average share price over the past month.
Dark Blue Sea’s second largest shareholder, Huon Capital, says it intends to accept the offer ... read more ...
Wed 30th September 2009
Domain Distribution Network Partners with Moniker -
Sales network picks up inventory and distribution.
Dark Blue Sea’s Domain Distribution Network (DDN) has partnered with Oversee.net and its Moniker and SnapNames divisions.
Customers that have their domain names at Moniker and list them for sale can have the domains syndicated through Domain Distribution Network’s partners. If a domain sells, fulfillment will be automatic and not require any action from the domain seller.
Other distribution partners currently ... read more ...
Mon 31st August 2009
Dark Blue Sea Profit Plummets 74% -
Company’s portfolio still profitable, but challenges abound.
Dark Blue Sea has reported its annual results for the period ending June, and it isn’t pretty.
The company reported profits plunged 74.38% to only $695,955 AUD for the year. This is well below the company’s guidance just a couple months ago. In the prior year the company earned $2.72M. Revenue fell 14.9% to $26.65M. Working capital fell from $5.18M at the beginning of the period to $4.1M at the ... read more ...
Mon 17th August 2009
Dark Blue Sea Hires Advisor, Defeats Board Resolutions -
Domain company wins board battle but hires outside firm to consider strategic options.
Dark Blue Sea has hired an advisor to explore the company’s strategic options, and has won a challenge to its board makeup.
The company, which operates domain registrar and parking company Fabulous, hired mid-market advisory firm Allier Capital to help it “explore a range of strategic options”, the company announced. The company has been shopping around its service businesses ... read more ...
Mon 10th August 2009
Photon Group Continues to Buy Dark Blue Sea Shares -
Battle over Fabulous’ parent company continues to escalate.
Photon Group Limited, which is trying to force out the Chairman of the Board of Dark Blue Sea and place two of its own on the board, continues to buy shares in Dark Blue Sea.
According to a regulatory filing (pdf), Photon has acquired nearly 1.8 million shares of Dark Blue Sea (DBS.AX) on the open market since the beginning of July. The biggest acquisition was 1.227M shares on August 5 for 25 cents each. ... read more ...
Fri 17th July 2009
GoDaddy Delivers a Blow to Dark Blue Sea -
End of sales agreement could have broad implications for Australian domain company.
It’s been a rough year for Dark Blue Sea (ASX: DBS), parent company of Fabulous. Its profits are down by three quarters, it has cut half its staff, and one of its biggest shareholders is trying to oust its Chairman. But the news got worse yesterday, as reported by Domain Name News: GoDaddy terminated its sales agreement with the company.
This is a big deal. Dark Blue Sea was ... read more ...
Thu 9th July 2009
Board Battle Erupts during Dark Blue Sea -
Outside shareholders push to remove Chairman.
A battle over domain company Dark Blue Sea’s (ASX: DBS) Board of Directors has erupted, with a significant shareholder calling for an Extraordinary General Meeting to remove the existing Chairman and insert two of its own to the board.
Photon Group Limited, which owns about 28.25% of the company, called for the meeting and election. The group cites a nearly 75% drop in year-over-year profits for pushing for the change. ... read more ...
Tue 7th July 2009
Most Domain Stocks Down in First Half of 2009 -
Domain stocks fail to keep up with broader technology index.
The NASDAQ was up 16% in the first half of 2009, but the rally didn’t extend to most domain name companies. Here’s a look at how they fared.
The Winners
Tucows (AMEX: TCX) jumped 27% to 42 cents a share at the close on June 30, 2009. The company stabilized over the period, but the stock jump was aided by aggressive stock buybacks.
AdLINK (DUS: LKI), the parent company of Sedo, saw its price increase ... read more ...
Tue 9th June 2009
Domain Industry Blog Watch -
A look at what domain bloggers and news sites are writing about this week.
Various domain news sites and bloggers have written some great articles this week that are worth referring to.
Demand for new gTLDs – Michael Berkens beat me to writing a story about ICANN CEO Paul Twomey’s comments about new gTLD demand. Twomey refers to demand as demand by people who want to launch new TLDs, not people who want to actually register them.
Change your Passwords – Elliot ... read more ...
Thu 2nd April 2009
Moore Stepping Down as CEO of Dark Blue Sea -
CEO Richard Moore not renewing contract.
Richard Moore is stepping down as chief executive officer of Dark Blue Sea (ASX: DBS) effective at the end of June. Dark Blue Sea is parent company of Fabulous, a popular domain name registrar and domain parking service for domainers.
According to a press release (pdf), Moore will work part time with the company in an executive director role. Moore has been CEO of the company since 2001.
The company has promoted current ... read more ...
Wed 11th March 2009
Domain Name Industry Acquisition Watch -
2009 could include more mergers, acquisitions, and outright closings.
Domain name companies including registrars, parking companies, and portfolio holders are considering their strategic options in 2009.
Domain Name Wire has learned that Dark Blue Sea (ASX: DBS) has been shopping its services businesses, including Fabulous parking and registration. Dark Blue Sea CEO Richard Moore wouldn’t comment directly on what the company is considering, but he did refer me ... read more ...
Mon 2nd March 2009
Dark Blue Sea Profit Down 80% -
Domain company sees profit plummet as revenue slips 6%.
Dark Blue Sea ASX (Code: DBS), parent company of domain parking provider and domain registrar Fabulous, reported that profits for the second half of 2008 plummeted 80.5% compared to the same period in 2007 as revenue dipped 6.3%.
Revenue totaled $14.56M compared to $15.53M in the second half of 2007 (All dollar figures in Australian Dollars). The company blamed a weakening United States ad market for the revenue ... read more ...
Mon 29th December 2008
The Perils of Trying to Go Public -
NameMedia’s withdrawn IPO more painful than it looks.
It may appear that NameMedia’s decision last week to to drop its planned initial public offering is just a temporary setback. Aside from the costs of filing its S-1 to go public, going on the investor roadshow, and obliging quite period regulations, did it really cost the company anything? The answer is yes. And it’s not the time, money, or decreased morale that hurts the most. It’s the disclosure.
By ... read more ...
Tue 28th October 2008
Exchange Rate Swings Mucking Up Domain Market -
Rapid changes in exchange rates affecting domain name transactions.
The value of the U.S. dollar has soared in recent months compared to the Canadian Dollar, British Pound, Euro, and several other currencies. There are winners and losers.
How much has the value of the dollar changed?
Two months ago a Euro would buy about $1.60 USD. Now it buys $1.25 USD. That’s down 22%.
Two months ago a British pound would buy almost $2.00 USD. Now it buys $1.56. That’s ... read more ...
Tue 14th October 2008
Value Your Domain Names a Dark Blue Sea Way -
A look at how Dark Blue Sea values domain names.
Dark Blue Sea (ASX: DBS.AX) is one of the world’s largest holders of domain names, with over 550,000 domain names in its portfolio. It’s also a publicly traded company, which helps us peer in to see how the company works.
Only a small percentage of DBS’ domain names are profitable, in that domain parking revenue covers the approximately $7 per domain it costs for annual registration. The company holds on to ... read more ...
Mon 13th October 2008
DBS: Domain Name Sales Up -
Domain name company sees robust domain names sales.
I’ve written several times about how Dark Blue Sea (ASX: DBS.AX), parent company of Fabulous, has seen a massive drop in domain parking revenue. But what I haven’t highlighted is growth in the company’s domain sales. I’ve dismissed it somewhat because its latest financial year’s sales include a couple large portfolio sales. But the numbers are too much to ignore.
In its most recent annual report for ... read more ...
Tue 7th October 2008
Domain Stocks Pummeled -
Domain name related companies get pummeled on Wall Street.
Google’s 52 week stock performance(from Yahoo.com)
The stock market is in a free fall, and domain stocks are no exception.
Shares of Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) dropped 12.5% yesterday to close at $8.28. At one point it dropped to $7.75. It’s down 27.5% since the beginning of September.
Tucows (AMEX: TCX) shares continue to drop, and closed at just $.35 yesterday. The stock has been as high as $1.00 over ... read more ...
Mon 4th August 2008
DBS: Domain Parking Continues Downward Spiral -
Dark Blue Sea reports another drop in domain parking revenue.
Australian domain name company Dark Blue Sea, which runs Fabulous, reported another drop in domain parking revenue in its latest quarterly update. Just two months ago Domain Name Wire wrote about how the company’s parking revenue from its 600,000 domains was down 18% in just one quarter.
The news isn’t getting better. In the quarter ending June 2008 the company earned $1,003,000 from its company owned ... read more ...
Thu 17th July 2008
Domain Name Stocks Pummeled in 2008 -
Stocks of domain name companies take beating with the market — and beyond.
It’s been a rough year for stock markets, and domain name companies’ stocks are having a tough run as well. The good news is that two “pure play” domain companies’ stocks are performing much better than the market overall. Here’s a quick run down of domain related stocks and how they are doing year-to-date as of yesterday’s close. For comparison, the SP 500 is down 15% this ... read more ...
Tue 6th May 2008
DBS: Domain Parking Revenue Plummeting -
Domain company reports sharp drop in domain parking revenue.
Domain name portfolio holder, registrar, and parking company Dark Blue Sea today reported a massive drop in parking revenue compared to last quarter. The company generated $1,370,000 from parking its own portfolio, down from $1,661,000 last quarter. That’s an 18% drop in just one quarter. A year ago in the same quarter the company pulled in $1,949,000 from parking its own portfolio of domain names.
Customers ... read more ...
Mon 31st March 2008
Dark Blue Sea: Domain Portfolio Worth $600 Million Retail -
Company values retail value of portfolio at approximately $1,000 USD per domain.
A Dark Blue Sea investor presentation (pdf) suggests that the retail value of its 570,000 domain portfolio is about $600 million. The presentation also provides a wealth of other statistics and details on its deal with domain registrar GoDaddy.
Dark Blue Sea, an Australian company, is well known to domain name investors for its Fabulous domain registrar and domain parking services.
As ... read more ...