1&1 Mail & Media GmbH, whose parent company is United Internet AG, just withdrew its application to operate the new gTLD .Mail.
I think this is a very meaningful withdrawal because of the fact that as the applicant owns Mail.com and stands to be the biggest benfificaly of having the .Mail new gTLD and the most at risk for loss of business to a .Mail new gTLD.
.Mail for this particular application, would have be a either big business opportunity or a big defensive play and they simply withdrew their application.
Besides this company has a huge customer base and would be very well positioned to market a give a lot of exposure to new gTLD’s in general.
It should be pointed out that both the United States Postal Service and the Universal Postal Union, filed formal objections to all .mail applicants.
There are still 6 other applications for .mail including one’s filed by Google, Amazon and Donuts.
The application had a prioritization number of 254, meaning that there application would have come up for Initial Evaluation in the next two weeks through ICANN and by withdrawing now got a 70% refund rather than a 35% after IE was released.
This becomes the 44th new gTLD applications to be withdrawn and arguably the most important to date.
Here is some more information about the company from their application:
“”1&1 Mail & Media GmbH (Mail&Media in the following)
With over 32 million customers Mail&Media covers nearly 50% of the German Webmail market. With its brands, Mail&Media is the largest free email provider in the German speaking countries of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.
Mail&Media under its brands WEB.DE, GMX and MAIL.COM, provides email solutions for home users, as well as small and mid-size enterprises.
Mail&Media Brands
WEB.DE
WEB.DE was launched in 1995 as the first commercial German Internet catalogue. Today, with its Web services focusing on communication, information, entertainment and search and with 16.36 million users per month, WEB.DE has become one of the biggest Internet portals in Germany (AGOF internet facts 2011-10).
The WEB.DE portal offers over 40 different Internet information, entertainment and communication products including news, shopping, games as well as free and premium webmail. The portals provide a one-stop site offering all the relevant services our users need.
With over 15 million registered email customers, WEB.DE is the second largest email provider in Germany.
GMX
With over 15 years of expertise in Internet communication, the email pioneer GMX (global message exchange) is one of the most successful communication services in the German-speaking Internet today.
GMX offers high-performance, innovative mail and messaging solutions for the digital communication for each private and semi-professional customers. Embedded in the country-specific portals GMX Germany, GMX Austria and GMX Switzerland with their country-specific content and services, GMX is the digital home base for 15.3 million Internet users in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
MAIL.COM
The acquisition of MAIL.COM in 2010 marks the starting point in Mail&Media’s international success story. Within one and a half years, MAIL.COM has attracted over 2 million customers predominantly in the U.S., United Kingdom and France. With county-specific products in 15 languages, MAIL.COM aims to participate in the growth of emerging markets such as India and Brazil.
Again email is the core focus of MAIL.COM but additionally the portal provides an up-to-date international news and information service supported by global news agencies.
These three brands, WEB.DE, GMX and MAIL.COM, boast over 30 million active users worldwide of their freemail and premium mail services. The three portals, for their part, receive an additional 20 million unique visits per month.
Mail&Media is a 100% subsidiary of 1&1 Internet AG
About 1&1 Internet AG
1&1 is an internationally successful Germany based company with over 15 years of experience of providing a wide range of Internet solutions domestically and since 2003 internationally.
With over 7 million DSL⁄Internet telephony and hosting customers, more than 11 million ccTLD and gTLDs registration under management and in excess of 30 million Webmail account holders 1&1 is one of the leading Internet service companies worldwide.
The 1&1 brand provides products and services to our customers in two core areas.
The Access division concentrates on providing customers with solutions for high speed internet and telephone network access whether at home, in the office or when mobile. This can be either through DSL internet access, or through 1&1’s mobile telephone and data network. As an access provider 1&1 is the second largest provider in Germany.
The second core area is 1&1’s Hosting Division (Applications). This division provides the products, services and applications for our customers to actively create and optimize their own internet presence. The division primarily supplies webhosting packages, server rental, email and E-Business solutions and domain name purchase and management. The Hosting Division is internationally active with dedicated subsidiaries in the U.S.A, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Poland, Canada and Austria and is a leading hosting provider on the international stage.
1&1 Internet AG holds 100% of the 1&1 Mail & Media GmbH and is a 100% subsidiary of United Internet AG.
United Internet AG
With over 10 million fee-based customer contracts and over 32 million ad-financed free accounts, United Internet AG is a leading European internet specialist.
The heart of United Internet is our high-performance “Internet Factory” with over 5,200 employees, of which over 1,100 are engaged in product management, development and data centers. In addition to the high sales strength of its established brands (GMX, WEB.DE, 1&1, United-Domains, Fasthosts, InterNetX, Sedo and Affilinet) and distribution channels (some of which exclusive), United Internet stands for outstanding operational excellence with around 39 million customer accounts at 5 data centers with around 70,000 servers.
With global sales of 2.09€ billion and an EBT of 250.6€ million 2011 was a financially successful year for United Internet AG.”
United Internet AG is listed on the German Techdax Stock Exchange trading under TECDAX WKN 508903.
United Internet AG holds 100% of 1&1 Internet AG which holds 100% of the 1&1 Mail & Media GmbH.
