According to a Press Release by the UK Seller of the domain name Gambling.com, Media Corp, the domain was sold for just $2.5 Million.
Not often do you see a domain selling for just a fraction of what it previously sold for.
The owner was carrying the value of the domain at $4.25 Million on its books, so the domain even sold for below book value.
“””The Board of Media Corp, a leading advertising network and online gaming group, is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed the sale of www.gambling.com for $2.5 million (£1.5 million) in cash.
Following an extensive auction process that was handled by Sedo, the World’s leading domain marketplace, the transaction formally completed on 27 April with the receipt of funds and transfer of the domain name.
Since its acquisition, Gambling.com has generated significant revenues and earnings as set out below:
Search Focus Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary and the owner of Gambling.com), Profit and Loss accounts. (USD’s)
| Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Unaudited | Total | |||||||||
| Year ended Sep |
Year ended Sep |
Year ended Sep |
Year ended Sep |
Year ended Sep |
Year ended Sep |
||||||||||
| Year | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |||||||||
| $’000 | $’000 | $’000 | $’000 | $’000 | $’000 | ||||||||||
| Turnover | 2,490 | 5,771 | 2,096 | 817 | 833 | 1180 | 13,187 | ||||||||
| EBITDA | 1,772 | 5,308 | 1,687 | (308) | (605) | (40) | 7,814 |
“Overall, considering the impact on both the profitability and the value of Gambling.com resulting from the US online gaming ban, to have generated $13.2 million (£8 million) in revenues and a further $2.5 million (£1.5 million) for the sale of the domain, taken together the Directors consider the sale and realization of cash to be a satisfactory result.”
“As at 30 September 2010 Gambling.com was valued on the Group’s balance sheet at $4.25 million (£2.6 million), meaning that the sale will result in a one off loss in the profit and loss account for the current financial year of $1.75 million (£1.1 million).”
“The transaction includes only the Gambling.com domain name and website. ”
“The Group has retained ownership of a number of significant assets relating to the business of Gambling.com including intellectual property, customer databases and infrastructure. It is anticipated that these assets will be of significant economic benefit to www.purplelounge.com, the Group’s online gaming business.”
Justin Drummond, CEO, Media Corporation plc, commented:
“The sale of Gambling.com brings a significant boost to the Group’s already substantial cash reserves; we have recently seen a number of exciting acquisition opportunities in the online gaming and online advertising space. The successful sale of www.gambling.com has given the Group more than adequate financial resources to pursue these acquisition opportunities aggressively.”
Liesbeth Mack-de-Boer, CSO at Sedo, commented,
“The high sale price paid for Gambling.com is a real confidence booster for the global domain name industry and demonstrates the value companies are still prepared to place on their digital assets.”
Really?
I don’t think this is a great sale nor do I think its proof of “real confidence booster for the global domain name industry”
The domain sold below book value, well below the previous sale and for just about 20% of the asking price.
The results are far from great.
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Looks like someone is dumping gambling domains–fast.
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Never liked that domain anyways. It suits more the needs of a Gambling organization or Commission. Like giving away gambling permits etc…
Such domains selling for millions will always be an eye catcher for all domainers, however looking at the details like you said, it’s not a great sale at all.
Cheers
it was a no brainer for the buyer.
Don’t understand why the Seller sold the domain for this price since they are remaining in the gambling business.
“The Group has retained ownership of a number of significant assets relating to the business of Gambling.com including intellectual property, customer databases and infrastructure. It is anticipated that these assets will be of significant economic benefit to http://www.purplelounge.com, the Group’s online gaming business.”””
I don’t like this domain, the word ‘gambling’ has a negative connotation IMHO.
I think your logic is slightly flawed. You can not base what the company paid and how they accounted its value for evaluting the overall domain market. Just because this company listed its book value at 4.25 million does not mean its real value is that and sold cheaply. I mean, who would have paid 20 mil to begin with? The 13 mil was revenue and not profit…HUGE differance.
Steven
All I’m saying is if you buy something for $20M, then put it up for sale for $9M and wind up taking $2.5M for it, well its not a great sale
I think it was a great buy also nice will the website and revenue included, Some big investors would call it a steal.
Tim
The business. clients etc were NOT included in the sale:
“The Group has retained ownership of a number of significant assets relating to the business of Gambling.com including intellectual property, customer databases and infrastructure. It is anticipated that these assets will be of significant economic benefit to http://www.purplelounge.com, the Group’s online gaming business
so goes with sex….another lackluster domain name.
online sex is boring.
any word with sex/gambling will be banned anyway, so it is kinda of “useless”-take a big chunk of the market share
proof positive that money is flowwing into:
.CO
domains
@ Robert
And yet Gambling.co did not even get an opening bid for $37,000 @ TRAFFIC last October.
Brad
Silly no? considering Slots sold for $5 mill. It’s a bad climate to be selling gambling related domains, but… that is about to change…
How can they retain the executives at the company for losing them more than $6million ? Looks like an executive change is necessary.
They should be fired, not patted on the back.