According to a Press release just out “”Nations Luxury Transportation, LLC (Nations) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Nations has acquired the domain name http://www.PrivateJet.com, from privately held Don’t Look Media.com, a leading intellectual property holding company, for $30.18 million in cash and stock.””
The domain name PrivateJet.com appears to have been parked most recently according to Screenshots.com, and therefore looks like a pure domain name sale.
Jets.com sold for $375,000 through Sedo.com in 2009
Here is the rest of the press release:
“”The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Nations and Don’t Look Media Group with an official launch for the new website in April of 2012.””
“”The acquisition will increase Nation’s worldwide visibility throughout the entire private aviation sector and will allow it to begin delivering a proprietary medium for jet charter travel and acquisition. “”
“”Through the integration of its patented Jet-Connect Charter Bid System, Nations will deliver the industry’s most efficient platform for worldwide charter, aircraft acquisition and private jet sales.””
“”By the end of 2012, it is expected that PrivateJet.com will be generating over 250,000 unique visitors per month from over 52 countries worldwide and will serve as the destination website for Private Jet Travelers, Pilots, Aviation Brokers and Consumers who prefer to live life without limitations.””
“PrivateJet.com is a phenomenal asset and when integrated with our proprietary technology (which allows charter operators to compete directly for your flight), it will help us revolutionize the super luxury segment of Private Jet transportation,” said Nations CEO Kenneth Starnes. “Together both assets will create the future of real-time private travel so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world in the most efficient manner possible.”
PrivateJet.com will provide 24/7 in depth coverage of everything related to the ultra high net worth lifestyle and will entertain and fascinate thousands of private jet users all around the world with its daily editorials, breaking news and Private Jet Travel Specials. “PrivateJet.com is the one and only place you need to go to for everything private jet,” said co-founder Randall Da Costa. “By developing our proprietary social and trip bidding platforms, we have created synergy where there was none. Clients flock to our portal in droves and as a direct result of that, jet charter operators, aircraft sales personnel and other luxury goods and service providers are clamoring to be a part of it all. This is how you revolutionize a product,” Da Costa said.
“After many seven and eight figure offers for PrivateJet.com, it took the vision and experience that Kenneth Starnes brings to the table to convince myself and our board of directors to more forward with the disposition of this asset,” said Dont Look Media.com CEO Louis David. “Together, we will be able to accelerate defragmenting an industry that is ripe for new technological efficiencies, that will allow a more streamlined process for Private Jet Travel,” David said.
“Louis David has a great track record as a leader and an expert in developing, monetizing and liquefying intellectual property assets, so when we had the chance to have him remain involved with the company and its management team, we felt that his insights would be simply invaluable to Nations,” Starnes said.
Plans are already under way to create a universal media solution, which will include a Private Jet Magazine, Worldwide Lifestyle Events and a vast array of strategic partnerships, that will help PrivateJet.com be recognized as the world wide leader both online and offline.
And coming this Spring, PrivateJet.com will launch its exclusive PrivateJet.com “Carte Blanche Card” that will provide its members with a vast array of exclusive offers never seen before within the ultra luxury segment. To learn more, visit PrivateJet.com and click “Carte Blanche”.””
Wow! Incredible sale for obviously a phenomenal name. Congrat to all parties.
It was also purchased for $30,000 in 2005, according to DNJournal’s historical charts.
However, the true question is what the “stock” is worth. Is there any information about this company “Nations Luxury Transportation” besides this press release?
Working on it George, working on it
but the domain hosts a site … and … who owns PrivateJetS.com ??? 🙂
To followup, if one does a LLC search at the state of Georgia site, one can see that “NATIONS LUXURY TRANSPORTATION, LLC” was only created on October 4, 2011.
So, how they value the deal at $30 million would need further documentation.
George
I already did that search and found the same thing
I have an email out to the buyer
Also the domain is under privacy which seems strange when the buyer just put out a big PR
Also looks like the sale may have happened in December 2011 that when the current whois record appeared
Looking forward to more info on this story as it unfolds. Nice post.
maybe, it’s just viral marketing for the site? … or a joke?
According to his LinkedIn profile, Kenneth Starnes does appear to have some association with thegreenjet.org, however that domain is now unregistered. He does have an active website at KennethStarnes.com, showing he’s in the private jet industry. Some legal case matches, too. Also a “Jet Charter, Inc.” based in Florida (search sunbiz.org) which is inactive.
Incredible. I wish I’d have picked it up back in 2005. Brilliant, magical sale (if it’s true).
Here’s a way to see if it’s legitimate — take a look at the tax return of the seller. 🙂 If he paid taxes on a $30 million deal, that’d be a multimillion dollar tax bill from the IRS.
Both NationsLuxury.com and NationsLuxuryTransportation.com are unregistered, as of this post.
Hmmmm. I wonder what the stock portion of the deal represents. If true then congrats to all but as one who has been privy to other world record breaking deals sometimes the stock valuation is the “gotcha” part of the deal. Sounds like a brilliant PR move to get some publicity though.
George
How do you get to look at someone’s tax return?
Mike: They’d have to volunteer it, of course.
I’d like to announce the $100 million purchase of TheDomains.com — $10 per year for 10 million years. 🙂
Wow, now this is something that will get the domaining world talking and thinking. Nice sale! Congrats to both the seller and the buyer.
It would be nice to see proof of the sale though.
PrivateJet.com FaceBook page has 13 likes. Says founded in 2004.
The principle has been out of Florida most of his career according to LinkedIn.
Someone must know someone who has worked or knows him …
Call me a realist but this stinks way more than jet fuel. $100,000 in cash and $29,900,000 in stock is my best guess 😉
Very, very hard to believe that this is legit. Perhaps a different currency or a few zeros mistakenly added.
Amazing sale. If everything’s confirmed, it might be a new, important milestone for the whole industry.
My bet is Dustin is not far off on that one although it might be realistic to see a few more hundred K in cash for it. I wonder who owns the domain in the other gTLDs and the English + translated equivalents in the top 20 ccTLDs? Anyone paying that kind of money (gold, cows, stock or whatever) better have done their due diligence on that one.
Even if it’s true, I would never spend that kind of money for a domain name. There are
many others that could have been bought a lot cheaper!
If it’s true then it’s the best domain sale ever.
Something tells me there is more to this story than we know yet.
This is either:
A: a great sale
or
B: a great way to put yourself on the IRS’s radar 🙂
Someone will come to collect – soon.
I’ve got to agree. The figures probably won’t get disclosed but it’s probably not something we should all get excited about. It’s a great domain, but as a name outright, it surely could not be pegged higher than mid-six figures. Even that price sounds optimistic.
LOL come on guys get real.
Great deal! Makes me happy to own PrivateJetCost.com and to of turned down a few offers recently. It’s a high dollar industry which means more value per visitor.
HAHA. Good stuff. Someone is going after some links for sure on this one.
btw, wasn’t business.com sold similarly, as the most expensive domain in the world and had a bunch of stock tied to the actual sale just like this ? Value of stocks could be set to anything right ?
@dustin makes an accurate assumption…ie marijuana.com
however stock has value if liquid and tangable marketable assets are behind the stock.the domains needs to do follow up interviews on this sale…like how many 7-8 figure offers were turned down?
on the surface it makes since the visitor is directionaly porportional to the domain…however the value seems too far out of line…..to be believed….
i love the “domainers” who are always around to comment on every post with their third rate domain that contains the word of a recent big sale. nothing alike, and, on top of that, this sale is pure linkbait.
@Bruce
There is a reason your domain was available to register in 2010. And no you haven’t had to “turn down” offers. Your domain is crap.
@Berkens
You find out any more on the validity of this sale? Inquiring minds, you know.
@Jacob….hey man, want to buy my new domain ….. TheVeryBestPrivateJetAroundTown.com ?
It’s got to be worth at least 10K, based on this sale.
Great sale.. Price for my PrivateBanks.com just skyrocketed 🙂
Actually “adult” you are completely wrong, i don’t have the energy to make up offers like many so get over yourself.
The majority of domains are crap, which by the intelligence of your comment I am sure most of yours are so you don’t believe people actually receive offers.
No reason to comment back, I took more time out of my day to respond to your ridiculous comment than I should of.
Super sonic private jets are coming out in 2014 London to New York in 4 hours price tag $80 million. I own Private-Jets.com any idea on valuation if PrivateJet.com sold a $30 million surely this must be worth $1 million to a end user ?.
Adult
So far no word from the buyer
The seller told me he is letting the PR speak for itself:
“The PR statement is accurate”
@Bruce
You’ve already proved me correct. Thanks. I’m here to find out more about this sale. Not look at your privatejettonowhere.com and hear fairy tales.
Good luck with them though.
Cheers
@Berkens Thanks for the reply.
What is the stock part in this deal? Is it a public company? If not, then how is it being valued? If it’s private does it trade on SecondMarket or another private exchange? If not, then valuation of private corp compared to public corps is a moving target.
I don’t want to ‘rain on anyones parade’, if it is a legit sale,
but honestly… privatejet.com @$30mn.. does it really seem
likely?!
My money says that this is PR link bait. There’s no way someone paid $30M for this domain.
George please correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you have to disclose stock purchases / private equity investments to the SEC once they’re over a certain amount?
Even if the deal is $29.5M in stock and $500K in cash I think that they’ll need to register this with the SEC.
Additionally who would form any kind of business partnership with this kind of value associated with it and presumably serious financial backing and have it be an LLC instead an S-Corp and C-Corp? There are limitations to an LLC and most often when an enterprise has got this kind of money involved it quickly becomes a corporation.
Is this a “BullS” joke?
Someone must be drinking too much on Mardi Grass
Well, if this is their website, http://www.dontlookkmedia.com,
then I don’t hold out much hope of this story being true.
The site shows just a basic WP theme, that looks like it
was made in about 5mins.
Not terribly confidence inspiring…
It’s legit.
John
Well one thing we do know is the company that acquired the domain is not publicly traded
If it’s legit Beauty truly is in the eye of the Beholder.
Tier 1: I don’t know the exact rules on that. I know there are rules governing mandatory disclosures once you reach a certain number of investors, but they seem to be well below those limits.
George
I believe the number of shareholders is 500 going back to the Facebook story
Jet4.Me and Jets4.Me are still available.
I smell BS.
There are suitable alternative domains for 1/100 to 1/1000th of the price.
If a company actually paid $30M for this domain, it would really make me question their company. I would not want stock in this type of company.
Brad
““After many seven and eight figure offers for PrivateJet.com”
Yeah right. Nothing about this story is believable.
Brad
What will be cost of PrivateParts.com with this recent sale? 😉
Seriously not every domain with the word “private” has now changed in value even if this sale is what they claim it is
“Seriously not every domain with the word “private” has now changed in value even if this sale is what they claim it is”
Every sale results in people listing related (and normally worse) domains.
People need to understand every sale is one of a kind.
One isolated sale does not bring instant value to domains that are barely related.
Brad
This sale could very well be legit. If the new owners plan to sell a product that costs $5-$50+ million to own — why should the category killer domain for that industry not sell for 8 figures?
Right now, a 2011 Dassault Falcon will run you about $40-$50 million to own.
Looks like the new company wants to become a lifestyle business for that consumer base, can you imagine the revenue stream opportunities within that target audience?
Seems like a win/win deal for both parties, cash + stock. The domain could quickly and easily pay for itself with a well executed plan and the new owners are on the right path with going beyond just brokering/chartering and stepping into cultivating that audience by building a lifestyle brand around the domain.
Disclaimer: I don’t know the players involved with PrivateJet.com, but I understand & cater to that same sector. Additionally, I would’ve loved to acquire that domain for cash+equity. It truly is an amazing domain. But knowing that a real enduser owns that organic traffic and the “brand”, has made them a more formidable competitor.
.
Your worthless opinion in every thread gets old. Day trading or poker ? What did you do has been or should I say who datdog who would go on amd on about how great his portfolio was how are your domain sales ?
Looks like a fake sale.
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
Absolutely hilarious
For those of you who believe this I have some great swamp geo domains
Unbelievable. Guess this blog is frequented by dreamers and nubes
Pass the bong
I wanna be where you are
Had to check the calendar and make sure it wasn’t April 1st. Too funny…
Yes; pay would I $30 million as well:
$1 down and $1/month for life.
Do not try.
Do or do not.
I think this is bullshit too. I also think I’ll register PrivateJetOnline.com and TopPrivateJet.com. I can surely get $20M for these super premium names. Ka ching ka ching.
How is the stock in the private company being valued? The exact search numbers on this aren’t big at all. Purely a name sale in my opinion.
so we can conclude the press releases on prweb are not fact-checked and can never be trusted without checking the source?
it’s just far to easy to generate “bullshit press releases” in the internet age.
i recall reading about some guy, just out of the military, who started a company to sell a book on the internet about how to create internet hype, primarily using press releases. of course he used the same methods in the book to hype the book itself and the company. he sold the company for over a million and retired.
A
I did speak to the seller who said the the PR was accurate.
Beyond that he would not furnish any details.
Anyone who knows the seller, knows that he would never make something like this up. If you choose to be a disbeliever, so be it. Sales like this open doors for all.
not to imply this is a “bullshit press release”. (though there are plenty to be found on prweb every day.)
only to point out that it could be, and we have no way to verify that it is not.
that hurts sellers.
if a seller points a buyer to this sale as some sort of indication of domain name values, the buyer need only ask for a verification of the sale.
when seller cannot provide one, the door shuts and the buyer becomes justified to ask for a lower price.
no details, no dice.
negotitation 101.
When I was a little boy, I used to play ‘business’ and write out stock certificates on lined notebook paper (yes, I was an unusually smart little boy).
I mostly tried to sell them to my parents or neighbors, who would chuckle and would give me a couple bucks for a 25% interest in a dishwashing enterprise, or a 10% stake in a kitchen trash removal service.
One day, I made up a stock certificate for a “Lawnmowing Business” and offered 1/2 the company to my dad for $5. For some reason, he took a keener interest in this proposition than he usually did, asked me to clarify some terms and then promptly handed over the five spot.
Under risk of losing my Apple IIe that had been pledged as a performance security, I spent the rest of that summer mowing lawns and trimming bushes for neighbors and wouldn’t you know, that bastard motherfucker took half of every dime I earned before letting me off the hook. He had to have made a couple hundred bucks there. In the process, taught me a ten million dollar lesson about ‘valuation’.
interesting who the Registrar is, eh Mike?
At first I was surprised at the price, however after trying to figure it all out, I can actually see why it’s worth that much to an end user. See, no one outside venture capital ever believed Facebook would be worth it’s current valuation. I actually remember a VC partner involved in Facebook go into deep detail why he thought Facebook would be worth many billions and that was back in early 2007 when I read his blog. Well, the rest is history, whether we agree with a Facebook IPO valuation of $100 billion or not, that is what it is.
So, with regards to PrivateJet.com, I’d look at it this way as an investor with deep deep pockets… the world is now on the verge of great and massive instability because of the economy and geo-global events. We could also I hate to say be on the verge of a global war, I still refrain from saying WW3. I actually suspect there is going to be huge demand for private locomotion to get from a to b as things disrupt much further. I hear rich folks use helicopters to move around Sao Paulo for instance. So if you actually put 2 and 2 together, this deal makes perfect sense! Remember we are only the 99 percent and the 1 percent have obscene amounts of money and getting richer as i write this. There is more to this deal than what you see. Besides, Michael has also pointed out he spoke to the seller right? If I suggested gold would be worth circa $3000 to $7200 an ounce within 10 years, would you believe me? Read currency wars by James Rickards, a Wall Street Pedigree and Pentagon insider and make up your own minds.
I just bought HireMyJet.com lol!
I brokered the sale of this domain name in 2006. The buyer — turned seller — is a cut-above businessman who is perfectly capable of negotiating a top-shelf sale.
However, tonight, after pausing to reflect upon a series of conversations he and I had about a year ago, observing that he is identified and quoted with a pseudonym in the news release, and knowing with certainty that several representations contained in the release are wildly overstated, it seems apparent that PrivateJet.com and its press representative are flying high without oxygen.
I find it puzzling, as well, that the buyer would shell-out $30 million for this anchor domain name, then balk at investing another $500 to more institutionally announce the acquisition via PRNewswire or Businesswire.
While I will reserve public comment on the reported $30-plus million cash/equity price tag, I’m pretty comfortable in observing that the news release doesn’t appear to pass the sniff test.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37732787/PrivateJet_com%202006.jpg
… And then, there’s the company’s corporate offices, as displayed at http://www.privatejet.com/contact. It struck me as odd that Nations Luxury Transportation would operate from TWO prestige office towers in Atlanta, located less than 5 miles apart. A little digging reveals that both HQ addresses are virtual office executive suites. Oops, not exactly characteristic of a company likely — let alone able — to spring for an 8-figure domain name for a brand launch.
Sniff … sniff … pffftttt.
$30M for a name, but $0 for a professional website???
Pure Fake!
Stupid WordPress Site full of ads, which tries to generate traffic with a fake Press Release… nothing more.
L –
Thats a great story, love it.
To everyone else –
I havent seen people be rude to each other on this site like now for a while. Its a bit pointless slagging each other off.
On another note and back to the story at hand, if I was this company (who may or may not have the dough quoted here) I would have applied for .PrivateJet, given every airfield their geo their own address that I would run Miami.PrivateJet etc and given every client their own email address to correspond with MichaelBerkens.PrivateJet .
Either that or I would have paid $20m and just bought the .Co 😉
Interesting to see what unfolds.
As for comments. Why are some people always so negative and angry?
If true this would place it as number one in the guinness world records for most expensive domain name in history, (publicly known that is).
To note Gary Chernoff’s sitting on privatehelicopter.com so I’d imagine this sales could be sweet news to him. 😉
Wow . . how can they get ROI?
Picked up a few just in case this is happens to be true….
LuxuryPrivateJet.co
ReservePrivateJet.com
Cartoonz
I was pretty surprised to see the registrar as well.
I don’t run it or do anything for it, so had no idea.
True or not i’m picking up a few “Jet” related domains….
LuxuryJetliner.com – couldn’t believe this was still available
HURRY!
MUST ACT FAST!
JET NAMES, HOT HOT!
AVAILABLE DOMAINS:
3dPRIVATEJET.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PrivateJetCLOUD.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TABLETPrivateJet.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PRIVATE-JETS.co!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HURRY!
HURRY!
So does this get reported on DNJournal.com? I think its BS. I hope it does not get reported.
@ Linton
LOL so true. The dreamers are out in force no doubt.
Anyone check to see how many “jet” domains have been reg’d so far.
@Eric without proof it won’t make DNJ.
I can evaluate my private company however I want. I can say my shares are worth 29.9 million dollars and give that to you in the deal along with 100k in cash. It doesn’t mean $30 million dollars actually exchanged hands.
It’s a PR stunt and it worked.
@Linton
That’s why I reg’d HireMyJet.com last night… wicked!
@ LSmorgan
That made me laugh hard.
I would not have paid that kind of money knowing that someone else has privatejets.com, which would have been a better marketing tool.
Anyway, someone yesterday registered nationsluxurytransportation.com and it was’nt the buyer of privatejet.com
Any thoughts on whether this is a UDRP waiting to happen?
Will this appear in dnjournal ???
Business
Ron addressed that in his weekly sales report
Money laundering ?????
well.. i ‘hope’ it is a real deal… just curious why they wouldn’t just go for jet.com or jets.com for that kinda investment…
read the details, it’s a smart marketing strategy………
I have heard of domain names going for high prices, but this is in a different league. An expensive domain for an exclusive service…
Wow they must saved all other TLDs from everywhere in the world.
privatejet.se is for sale right now!!!!Just search for the domain…