Insure.com has announced it sold the domain name insure.com for
US$16 million in cash to QuinStreet, making it the largest reported
domain name sale of the year to date, and possibly the largest ever.
The domain name insure.com was acquired by Insure.com for $1.6 million
in December 2001.
Now trading under the names of Life Quotes and Consumer Insurance
Guide., the former Insure.com will retain almost all of its existing
customers and business, meaning the value of the sale is almost solely
for the domain name.
Other reported notable sales for the year to date are toys.com ($5.1m),
candy.com ($3m) and fly.com ($1.76m) according to Domain Name Journal.
In previous years some of the biggest reported sales include fund.com
($9,999,950 in 2008), porn.com ($9.5m in 2007), sex.com ($12m in 2006)
and diamond.com ($7.5m in 2006)
QuinStreet has been in the market before for quality generic .com
domain names, with Elliot's Blog reporting the company paying $18
million for a portfolio of domain names under the internet.com brand in
August.
"We have sold our Insure.com name and specified website content in a
significant cash transaction that we think is in the best long-term
interest of our shareholders," remarked Robert Bland, chairman and CEO
of the Company. "This transaction has other benefits to our
shareholders and employees in that it will allow us to focus on our
brokerage operation and insurance marketing businesses. As a result of
this transaction, we are projecting reduced revenues of approximately
10-15 percent with increased marketing expenses for the next 2-6
quarters as we rebuild under a new brand name and move from a
content-based website to a transaction-based website."
Phil Perillo, CFO, remarked, "This transaction, which calls for a $15
million cash payment now and a $1.0 million payment in 365 days,
significantly increases our shareholders' equity and stockpile of cash.
As a result of this asset sale, the Company now has approximately $24
million of cash and investments, no debt, stockholders' equity of $31.4
million and a book value of approximately $4.98 per share."