Beenz.com domain name sells for $20,000.
Are we about to see a rebirth of online currency Beenz?
A European company, Beenz Europe BV, has purchased the domain name Beenz.com for $20,000 and placed a “coming soon” page on the web site. The domain purchase was made through domain aftermarket Afternic.com.
Beenz.com was one of the most spectacular dot.com failures to lose its, um, beenz in the dot.com bust last decade.
Beenz rewarded web surfers with a virtual currency called beenz when they did things like visit certain web sites, by things online, etc. These beenz could then be cashed in for merchandise at various online retailers.
After raising nearly $100 million in venture capital, the company wound down operations in the bust. The purchaser of its assets let the Beenz.com domain name expire and the domain transferred owners multiple times after that prior to the recent sale. (The fate of rival Flooz and its domain name Flooz.com has been similar. It’s currently parked.)
Will we see a rebirth of the beenz concept a decade later?
Maybe. There’s scant information about Beenz Europe online, but there are some job listings that give a clue:
Beenz Europe B.V. is a start-up developing innovative customer relationship management and customer loyalty tools to be deployed by on-line and brick and mortar merchants.
The business was funded by successful serial internet entrepreneurs. Our product is being developed by an outstanding team of engineers, we are financially well funded, have already secured our first Italian customer and look forward to bringing aboard many others. We are headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jeff Edelman says
Ah, I remember the glory days of Beenz. Saw them at Internet World in NYC right before the bust. Those were fun times.
Gene says
When I saw this sale I thought that was one-in-the-same name (wasn’t sure if it was a typo, though). Wow, that was an excellent purchase, considering the zillions in marketing that went into it during the glory days.