Canadian Domainers Feel Pain of Rising Loonie
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Rising currency values can actually hurt Canadian domainers.
Canada has launched its share of superstar domainers including Kevin Ham and Adam Dicker and domain companies such as Tucows (AMEX: TCX) and Live Current Media (OTCbb CMNN.ob). You’d think they are happy that the Canadian Dollar, also known as the loonie, has met parity with the U.S. dollar. But that may not be the case. Consider that they generate revenue mostly in depreciated U.S. dollars but have to pay employees in appreciated Canadian dollars. Ouch.
You’ll see this affect in border towns between The United States and Canada. It used to be that Americans would cross the border to buy cheaper goods up north. Now that the loonie is strong, Canadian border towns are suffering as people cross over to the U.S. to buy goods.
It reminds me of a problem Canadian National Hockey League teams have faced. For years, they have paid players in greenbacks while generating ticket revenue in Canadian dollars. After many years of suffering, that would actually be a good situation for these teams now (I’m not sure if this arrangement has changed since the last decade).
There’s a silver lining, however. Canadians can now buy domain names from Americans for a relative bargain.
Further Reading:
Tags: adam dicker, communicate.com, exchange rates, kevin ham, live current, Tucows
Interesting post about the Canadian $