UBM Confirms Data.com Domain Name Sale at $4.5 Million
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
Financial report mentions sale of “portfolio” of domains for $4.5 million.
We basically already knew that Salesforce.com paid $4.5 million for the domain name Data.com. But if you’re looking for a little bit more proof of the transaction price, you’ll find it in the seller’s 2011 first half financial report.
On page 35 of UBM Plc’s report it states:
On 2 June 2011, the Group sold a portfolio of domain names for total consideration of $4.5m (£2.8m). Profit after directly attributable costs of £2.5m was recognised on disposal.
The sale of Data.com was completed in the first week of June.
I find it interesting that the company refers to this as a “portfolio of domain names”, which means that more than just Data.com changed hands. But any other domains sold have negligible value compared to Data.com.
According to Fusible.com, Salesforce was also the $2.6 million buyer of Social.com, which was listed at the same Moniker auction. I’m surprised about this given what I had heard about the buyer. But that would mean the company spent $7.1 million on domains brokered by Moniker.
Tags: data.com, Moniker, salesforce.com
I’ve heard (reliably) that Salesforce.com wasn’t the buyer of Social.com.
@ Kevin M – if it is Salesforce then I wonder if it was through an a couple intermediaries, because it certainly conflicts with what I was told by people close to the situation.
Andrew & Kevin – Thanks for the information. I’ve updated the story.
@Andrew – I concur. The original and current, may now be different.