New TLD portfolio company adds four domain names to its portfolio.
MMX (also known as Minds + Machines) announced today that it is acquiring ICM Registry, which operates the .xxx, .adult, .porn and .sex top level domain names.
MMX will pay $10.0 million cash plus 225,000,000 shares, which have a value today of $31.0 million. The shares are subject to lock-up periods and will not all be issued at once.
ICM Registry reported net sales of $7.27 million and net income of $3.5 million on its 2017 tax return.
.XXX is a sponsored top level domain name that was introduced in 2011. .Adult, .Porn and .Sex are part of the new top level domain program.
The acquisition concludes MMX’s strategic review, in which it was determining if it made sense to be acquired or to acquire other assets.
Here are some notable points about the deal:
- ICM Registry founder Stuart Lawley will now be the biggest shareholder of MMX with about 15%.
- Afilias was a large shareholder in ICM and will now become a notable shareholder of MMX. Keep in mind that MMX recently went with competitor Nominet as the backend for its TLD portfolio. Afilias will continue to be the backend provider for ICM’s four top level domains.
- The deal will help MMX’s profitability. The company plans to begin a dividend plan within the next 18 months.
Until this announcement yesterday, MMX seemed like a good candidate to be acquired by a cross-town buyer who recognized the value proposition offered by MMX’s personnel roster. Now, however, MMX’s acquisition of ICM makes an acqui-hire less likely. If nobody wanted MMX badly enough, their only other option was to grow.
.VIP is a strong asset for MMX, and rightly so. The strength of that nTLD could have contributed to MMX’s price expectations for buyout offers for the company as a whole.