Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News

Domain Name Industry News

Featured Domains

register.to

Top .Com domain name registrars

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

Xin Net continues its fall, Key-Systems jumps.

The words "top 10 domain registrars" in purple and yellow text

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers August 2020.

Xin Net continues its precipitous fall in domains under management, likely due to Chinese domain investors not renewing their domains. Also notable this month is Key-Systems making an entry into the top 10 monthly adds with a startling increase in registrations. I will start aggregating CentralNic’s registrars for inclusion in the list if that happens again.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in August:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 970,570 (980,072 in August)
2. Namecheap Inc. 276,557 (281,870)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 245,360 (248,333)
4. Alibaba (HiChina) 221,686 (193,608)
5. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 199,710 (200,407)
6. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 168,619 (169,345)
7. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 108,029 (109,552)
8. United Internet^ 70,580 (71,225)
9. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 68,308 (57,944)
10. Key-Systems CentralNic 62,757

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of August 2020.

1. GoDaddy* 54,215,433 (54,055,970 in August)
2. Tucows** 12,930,920 (12,926,699)
3. Endurance+ 7,183,871 (7,123,142)
4. Web.com++ 7,041,224 (7,035,136)
5. Namecheap 6,338,718 (6,177,045)
6. Alibaba 5,962,510 (5,923,722)
7. United Internet^ 5,554,345 (5,552,903)
8. Google 3,846,200 (3,753,882)
9. Xin Net Technology Corporation 2,539,828 (2,793,597)
10. GMO 2,212,268 (2,249,611)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

How domain stocks are faring in 2020

by — Uncategorized 1 Comment

Endurance leads the way after acquisition.

Picture of stock chart with the words "domain stocks"

It’s been a wild ride in the stock market this year. On March 14, I wrote about how domain name stocks fared during the pandemic market crash up through the close on March 13. I wrote an update in May about how shares had rebounded with the market.

Fast forward to now: The NASDAQ is up 29% for the year, the S&P 500 up 7%, and the Dow is down 2%.

Domain stocks should probably be compared to the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

Here’s a look at how domain stocks have fared this year. Data is based on the closing price on December 31, 2019 and November 4, 2020.

Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN): Verisign is up 6% for the year, closing at $203.39 yesterday. The company is seeing a nice uptick in domain registrations as businesses move online during the pandemic. The market is likely also pricing in 7% annual price hikes for the next four years, with the first kicking in before October 2021.

Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX): Shares in the company that owns Enom have increased 23% this year. The market cheered when Tucows divested its lagging mobile phone business.

GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY): Before announcing earnings yesterday evening, shares were up 17% for the year.  The stock is getting hit today.

Endurance (NASDAQ: EIGI): An acquisition by Clearlake Capital values shares at $9.50 each. They’re currently trading at $9.36, nearly double their closing price on December 31, 2019.

CentralNic (London AIM: CNIC): CentralNic continues its acquisition binge, moving heavily into online advertising. Shares are down 15% for the year.

MMX (London AIM: MMX): An accounting scandal at this top level domain company has pushed shares lower in recent weeks. Shares are down 37% so far this year.

NameSilo (OTC: URLOF): Thinly traded NameSilo is having a rough year on the market. The OTC stock is off 55%.

Clarivate (NYSE: CCC): I didn’t include Clarivate in my analyses earlier this year because domains are just a small part of what it does (it owns MarkMonitor). But it has had a great year on the market; shares are up 80%!

I do not own individual shares in publicly-traded domain name companies to avoid a conflict of interest. Mutual funds I own, including index funds, do hold some of these stocks.

Latest .com rankings report

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

How domain name registrars fared in the most recent monthly data report.

The words "top 10 domain registrars" in purple and yellow text

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers February 2020.

Namecheap had the second most new .com registrations during the month. It’s funny to think that it used to be a reseller of Enom (now part of Tucows), which landed in third for the month.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 970,641 (1,060,845 in January)
2. Namecheap Inc. 203,248 (197,210)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 189,784 (205,518)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 174,972 (140,818)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 132,513 (138,028)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 91,190 (116,153)
7. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 75,407 (77,686)
8. United Internet^ 68,936 (71,196)
9. Chengdu West 61,674 (n/a)
10. West 263 61,482 (73,295)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of February 2020.

1. GoDaddy* 52,296,013 (52,061,831 in January)
2. Tucows** 12,791,432 (12,807,781)
3. Web.com++ 7,121,051 (7,137,113)
4. Endurance+ 6,851,967 (6,810,266)
5. Alibaba 5,747,031 (5,852,372)
6. United Internet^ 5,512,155 (5,507,431)
7. Namecheap 5,431,296 (5,322,270)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,961,980 (4,136,931)
9. Google 3,282,713 (3,199,382)
10. GMO 2,304,518 (2,296,219)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Domain stocks rebound with the market

by — Domain Registrars 5 Comments

Many domain name companies are faring well during the pandemic.

Picture of stock chart with the words "domain stocks"

On March 14, I wrote about how domain name stocks fared during the pandemic market crash up through the close on March 13. The market wasn’t done capitulating, but stocks have rebounded nicely since then. The NASDAQ is up 17% since I wrote that story, the Dow is up 4% and the S&P 8%. Still, all three of the indexes are off their 2020 highs.

No domain names stocks have returned to their high prices of earlier this year, but two are up for the year: Verisign and GoDaddy.

Here’s a look at how domain stocks have fared this year.

Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN): Verisign is up 10% for the year and is down just 2% from its high earlier this year. .Com has proven resilient in the face of the pandemic, even getting a lift from Covid-related registrations and businesses transitioning online. It doesn’t hurt that ICANN agreed to let it raise prices 7% a year for the next four years.

Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX): Shares in the company that owns Enom have dropped 16% from their peak on January 16 and are down 10% on the year. The price has rebounded 18% from when I published the earlier story.

GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY): Go Daddy-O! Shares have surged 37% since March 13 and are up 11% on the year. They are down just 4% from their 2020 high.

Endurance (NASDAQ: EIGI): Shares are down 48% on the year and 53% from their 2020 high but are up 7% from the close on March 13.

CentralNic (London AIM: CNIC): I hesitated to include CentralNic and the next two companies in this post. They are thinly traded so changes might not reflect the current market. But CentralNic’s shares are now even for the year and off just 4% from their high at the beginning of the year. The stock is up 27% since the last story.

MMX (London AIM: MMX): New top level domain operator MMX (Minds + Machines) has seen its stock fall 26% from its peak on February 7. It’s down 8% on the year and down 1% since the last story.

NameSilo (OTC: URLOF): Shares in this registrar are down 54% since January 9. The stock is down 50% on the year and has dropped a further 9% since March 13.

I do not own individual shares in publicly-traded domain name companies to avoid a conflict of interest. Mutual funds I own, including index funds, do hold some of these stocks.

Top domain name registrars

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

A monthly look at the latest .com data

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers January 2020.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 1,060,845 (904,896 in December)
2. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 205,518 (165,119)
3. Namecheap Inc. 197,210 (162,806)
4. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 140,818 (154,234)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 138,028 (127,652)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 116,153 (155,992)
7. Dynadot 82,150
8. Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) 77,686 (64,869)
9. West 263 73,295
10. 1&1 71,196

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of December 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 52,061,831 (51,788,723 in December)
2. Tucows** 12,807,781 (12,837,586)
3. Web.com++ 7,137,113 (7,154,081)
4. Endurance+ 6,810,266 (6,807,222)
5. Alibaba 5,852,372 (6,014,079)
6. United Internet^ 5,507,431 (5,508,700)
7. Namecheap 5,322,270 (5,232,862)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 4,136,931 (4,286,667)
9. Google 3,199,382 (3,109,392)
10. GMO 2,296,219 (2,278,000)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!