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This is how a healthy new top level domain looks

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.App is a shining example of a healthy and stable top level domain.

One thing that has become clear since new top level domains came onto the scene nearly a decade ago is that you can’t judge a TLD by the number of registrations. Registries have played all sorts of games to make themselves look more successful than they really are. Some gave domains away for free, and nearly all TLDs in the top 10 by registrations continue to offer first-year registrations for next to nothing.

There’s one TLD in the top ten that stands out from the rest: .app.

Google paid $25 million for the rights to the .app domain in 2015. It then observed the market and deliberately launched the domain in 2018.

It priced domains affordably but not cheap. Current prices are about $15-$20 per year. It also required sites using the domain to install an SSL certificate, which adds legitimacy to the namespace and cuts down on people using the domains for nefarious purposes because of the extra hoop they have to jump through.

According to nTLDStats, there are about 750,000 .app domains registered today. The shape of the growth chart is healthy:

Chart showing growth in .app domain name registrations over time

Chart from nTLDStats

There was only a small dip during the “junk drop” anniversary. Growth was particularly strong in late 2019, and I seem to recall some promotions, but certainly not anything like the dollar sales that other registries offer. Regardless, there wasn’t a commensurate drop one year later.

The distribution between registrars is also healthy. GoDaddy has 57% of the namespace. This is a positive sign because you should expect the biggest registrar to have the most registrations, and GoDaddy hasn’t done deep discounting of domains (for the most part). Google, NameCheap, Key-Systems and Name.com round out the top 5.

Aftermarket sales for .app haven’t been particularly strong. Shopify paid $200,000 for shop.app and launched a shopping and payments service through it. 8 other domains have sold for at least $15,000. That’s just public sales, of course. But an aftermarket isn’t the primary sign of a healthy top level domain.

Few companies have the financial wherewithal to plunk down $25 million for a top level domain and then be patient and deliberate in launching and marketing it. But Google deserves credit for how it has managed .app, and it should be held out as an example for the next round of top level domain expansion.

Top foreign brands give clues on investing in .cn domains

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See how these major global brands approach the Chinese market, domain-wise.

Image of hanging lanterns with Chinese letters and .CN

You can learn a lot about investing in .cn by looking at how top foreign brands handle this extension in their domain strategies.

I picked the first 10 foreign brands from the Global 500 list and examined them for this study. The reason is that, as the best global brands, they must have studied the choice of domains for their entry into the Chinese market carefully.

Below are the foreign brands and their Chinese domains.

Walmart is known as 沃尔玛 (Wo Er Ma) operating from Walmart.cn in China. Woerma .cn does not resolve and seems to belong to a beverage company in Henan. Walmart has acquired Woerma.com but it does not resolve either.

Amazon is known as 亚马逊 (Ya Ma Xun) operating from Amazon.cn. The company also owns Z.cn, Yamaxun.cn, and Yamaxun.com but they all forward to Amazon.cn.

Apple is known as “Apple” and no Pinyin name is used. Its main site is Apple.com.cn even though it also owns Apple.cn (which forwards to Apple.com.cn).

Toyota is known as 丰田 (Feng Tian) operating from Toyota.com.cn. The automaker also owns Toyota.cn but it does not resolve. FengTian .cn is for sale and FengTian .com is owned by a fertilizer producer in Jiyuan.

Volkswagen is known as 大众汽车 (Da Zhong Qi Che) operating from Volkswagen.com.cn. The automaker also owns Volkswagen.cn which does not resolve. DaZhongQiChe .cn seems to be owned by an individual and DaZhongQiChe .com is for sale.

Samsung is known as 三星 (San Xing). Although the Korean conglomerate owns Samsung.cn, the domain forwards to Samsung.com hosted in Korea. Its Chinese contents carry an ICP license even though the contents are published outside China. SanXing. cn and SanXing .com are owned by an IT company and a medical device manufacturer in China, respectively.

BP is promoted as “BP” even though it has the Chinese name 英国石油公司 (British Petroleum). Its Chinese contents are published on BP.com hosted in the United States. BP .cn is owned by an individual.

Shell is known as 壳牌 (Qiao Pai) operating from Shell.com.cn. Shell .cn is for sale now. QiaoPai .cn is also for sale and QiaoPai .com is owned by an equipment manufacturer in Liaoning.

Exxon Mobil is known as 埃克森美孚 (Ai Ke Sen Mei Fu) operating from ExxonMobilChemical.com.cn. The company also owns ExxonMobil.cn which does not resolve. Both AiKeSenMeiFu .cn and AiKeSenMeiFu .com are still available for registration.

Daimler is known as 戴姆勒 (Dai Mu Le) operating from Daimler.com.cn. The automaker also owns Daimler.cn which forwards to Daimler.com. DaiMuLe .cn is owned by an individual and DaiMuLe.com is for sale.

What can we learn from these brands about investing in .cn domains?

First, you can invest in English-based .cn domains. None of the brands in this study use Pinyin-based domains for their main sites. This is because English is acceptable in China, and that’s why Apple does not even bother to get a Pinyin brand. The Pinyin domains for Exxon Mobil are still available for registration!

Also, focus on .cn instead of .com.cn. The six brands still using .com.cn probably have done so for the historical reason as explained in “Should you invest in .cn or com.cn?“. They should switch to .cn now.

Investing in .hk domains

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Kassey Lee examines the market for .hk domain names.

A picture of Hong Kong's skyline with .HK

Being born and raised in Hong Kong, I’m aware that money and investing are part of the social fabric of this great city. In this article, I want to explore the topic of investing in .hk domains.

The .hk extension was released in 1990 while Hong Kong was still a British colony. Since 1997 when the city was returned to China, companies there have the advantage of operating from a domain in the .hk, .cn, or both extensions. This gives them the flexibility to target different audiences.

Take the example of Asia Business Centre, a Hong Kong-based provider of business management services such as company formation, offshore bank accounts, accounting, and virtual office. In addition to its English website developed on the AsiaBC.co domain, the company also uses AsiaBC.com.hk to provide content written in the traditional Chinese language (for Hong Kong audience) and AsiaBC.com.cn in the simplified Chinese language (for the mainland China audience).

Hosting a .hk (or .cn) website in Hong Kong has one advantage over doing that in mainland China –- no ICP license is required. Therefore, you can register a .hk domain and launch its website on the same day to start your business in Hong Kong. (All websites hosted in mainland China must carry an ICP license.)

How do you register a .hk domain? According to Wikipedia, direct registration of .hk domains is open to “local or overseas individuals or entities,” but .com.hk is limited to “commercial entities registered in Hong Kong.” Therefore, the shorter and direct registration of a .hk domain is the way to go.

Many registrars offer .hk domain registration. For English-speaking investors, you can try EuroDNS, 101 Domain, or Crazy Domains for between $30 and $80.

There is little secondary market activity for .hk domains. Some firms offer brokerage services, but I think they serve mostly buyers. Namepros.com is the only venue where I have found investors selling .hk domains. There are only 34 .hk sales recorded at NameBio.

Another issue in selling .hk domains is the difficulty in domain ownership transfer. It may involve tedious steps, requirements of other documents, and additional charges. For example, Hong Kong Domain Name Registration Company, a registrar which specializes in .hk domains, requires you to fill out an online form, submit additional documents, and pay a fee of HK$500 (about US$60).

The extension had 166,724 domains registered in January of 2014 and 211,847 domains currently, giving a mere 3% annual growth. In a city of 7 million, the .hk market size is small with limited potential.

So, before you decide to invest in .hk domains, consider its small market size, lack of an active secondary market, and the tedious steps involved in domain transfer.

MMX returns £58.0 million to shareholders after GoDaddy deal

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Fully subscribed tender offer returns cash to shareholders.

MMX (aka Minds + Machines, AIM: MMX) has completed a tender offer and returned £58.0 million to shareholders.

The tender offer was initiated to return capital to shareholders after GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) paid approximately £88 million for the majority of its assets. MMX is (was) a top level domain name company and sold all of its remaining top level domain names to GoDaddy. Its assets included names such as .vip, .works and .xxx.

MMX bought back and canceled 69.0% of the company’s outstanding shares through the tender offer at a price of 9.6 pence per ordinary share. Shares are now trading for about 8.5 pence.

The company is now providing support services to GoDaddy for a limited time.

Some “meaningful” numeric domains sold in September

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Kassey Lee reviews some recent numeric domain sales and what they could be used for.

Five pound number signs in blue on a yellow background

Numeric domains up to 4N are used in corporate China because they are relatively short and easy to remember. Some also have good Chinese meanings, such as Alibaba’s 1688.com site, which means “Making a fortune all the way”.

Namebio reports ten 3N domains and eighteen 4N domains sold in September. Below are some of them which are meaningful in Chinese.

4656.com sold for $12,362 on September 30. 4656 rhymes with Si Lu Wu Liu (丝路物流) which means “Silk Road logistics”. Obviously, the domain can be used for a logistics business.

6046.com sold for $9,299 on September 13. 6046 rhymes with Liu Ling Shi Lu (六铃石路) which means “A stone path lined with six bells”. Since the meaning is generic, the domain can be used for a variety of purposes, such as tourism, restaurant, or beauty salon.

596.cc sold for $7,626 on September 2. 596 rhymes with Wan Jiu Le (玩久了) which means “Playing for a long while”. The domain can be used for games.

1119.cc sold for $1,500 on September 24. 1119 rhymes with Yao Yao Yao Jiu (邀邀邀酒) which means “Invite (3x) to drink wine”. The domain can be used for wine-related businesses.

7891.cc sold for $830 on September 27. 7891 rhymes with Qi Ba Jiu Yi (奇吧酒意) which means “An unusual bar giving you a tipsy feeling”. Obviously, the domain can be used by a drinking bar.

1099.io sold for $305 on September 2. 1099 rhymes with Yi Liao Jiu Jiu (医疗舅舅) which means “Uncle of medical services”. The domain can be used in the medical field.

9811.net sold for $247 on September 2. 9811 rhymes with Jiu Ba Yi Yi (酒吧依依) which means “A drinking bar which you don’t want to leave”. The domain can be used by a drinking bar.

6898.net sold for $145 on September 30. The numbers 68 and 98 are liked by Chinese people. 6898 rhymes with Liu Ba Jiu Ba (68酒吧) which means a drinking bar named “68”. Obviously, the domain can be used by a drinking bar.

.Cc is an interesting extension. It was once promoted as an extension meaning “Chinese Company” even though it is actually the country extension for Cocos (Keeling) Islands. I have seen some use of it, such as QSbank.cc, a commercial bank with registered capital of about $600 million. In the domain industry, Wanmi.cc (玩米网=Site for playing with domains) is a domain marketplace that offers comprehensive services including data on domain sales.

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