Article details how domain company beat out media behemoths for cricket contract.
An article in today’s Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest newspaper, details how Live Current Media (OTCbb: livc.ob) acquired the web rights to Indian Premier League (IPL), a new cricket league. Live Current beat out large media companies, and the article points out that the company’s Cricket.com domain name got it in the door:
Mr. Hampson, chief executive officer of Live Current Media, a Vancouver-based website developer, had an hour to persuade Mr. Modi that he should sell the Web rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) to Mr. Hampson’s 30-person firm rather than to one of the global media giants that Mr. Modi had short-listed for bids.
Mr. Hampson had one major ace: His company owned the domain cricket.com, which it intended to develop into a global portal. He and his staff had picked it as the next URL likely to develop into a “destination hub,” meaning an e-commerce portal with the potential to draw a large, passionate audience.
Live Current won the deal, which requires it to pay a whopping $5 million a year for 10 years. But it also generates content for the company’s Cricket.com web site, for which Live Current keeps all revenue. (The IPL web site at the center of the deal is IPLT20.com.)
The company has essentially bet itself on cricket, a sport that Live Current CEO Geoffrey Hampson admits he knows little about. The bulk of Live Current’s revenue still comes from its Perfume.com site, which the 30 person company probably spends much of its resources on. The company recently announced plans to sell 6 of its premium domain names to raise $6 million to $10 million cash.
Mike says
Quiet a commitment… I hope they know what they are doing.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out over the new few month’s.