Domain name company Communicate.com (OTC: CMNN.OB) posted record earnings for the most recent fiscal year.

Communicate.com is a profitable, debt-free emerging growth eCommerce company that owns and operates some of the Internet’s best domain names, such as Perfume.com, Stereos.com, GreatBritain.com, Karate.com, Boxing.com, Brazil.com, and Importers.com.

Here are Communicate.com’s 2004 Financial Highlights:

· Record net income of $498,097, an increase of more than 95%
· Record revenues of $3,515,451, an increase of more than 180%

When Dotster launched its domain name registration service in 2000, it radically changed the domain registristration market by offering registration for around $15. I was one of the first to flock to Dotster (I think my receipt number was something like purchase #21). The market has changed since then, as domain registration has become a low margin business and add-ons make most of the money for registrars. Dotster has been undercut by lower-priced registrars like GoDaddy. I personally transfer domains away from Dotster to GoDaddy before they expire to take advantage of lower pricing.

Dotster has bled enough, and is offering a special to customers that transfer domains away to GoDaddy. In the past they sent a message to people as they transferred a domain away, stating that they could renew the domain being transferred at a lower price. But now they are offering permanent lower prices to select customers. It’s unclear what triggers these lower prices, but at a minimum it involves transferring domains to low-priced registrars. It might require a number of transfers before the new prices kick in. The prices are $8.95 for new registrations, $8.95 for renewals, and $6 for domain transfers. That compares to their regular prices of $14.95 for new/renewals and $8.95 for transfers.

Yahoo’s Overture unit sent out its latest newsletter today, and it vaguely hints that Yahoo’s “Adsense”-like program will launch in mid-April. According to this article, the terms and conditions for advertisers will change in mid-April. It says that this is for a couple reasons, most notably because Overture is changing it’s name to Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions. But it also mentions that some other changes are in the works. Maybe I’m reading into this, but this could be a major clue as to Yahoo’s imminent launch of an ad syndication product for smaller web sites.

GoDaddy, perhaps the most vocal opponent of the recent decision to nix proxy registrations of .us domain names, has created an information site and petition in favor of keeping private WhoIs registrations. You can visit the site at TheDangerofNoPrivacy.com.

There are two reasons GoDaddy is upset about losing the right to proxy registrations for .us domain names:

1. I think GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons really believes in the right to privacy, as he invokes images of the constitution and freedom.
2. If the proxy ban is extended to other domain extensions, GoDaddy looks to lose revenue. This revenue is minimal to GoDaddy, but they do need to protect their interests.

The Pool drop service finally got back into action this week, snapping TiltPoker.com for $46k. Heaven help the person who neglected to renew this domain! Other top sales this week, according to DNJournal’s sales list, include Medals.com at $22k and Cabalas.com at just over $15k. This week also saw a high .us domain name sale with Dividends.us selling for $2,943. Go to DNJournal to see all of the details!