BBC paid $375,000 for BBC.com
Through a freedom of information act, the UK press has discovered that The BBC (UK public broadcasting firm) paid $375,000 (£212,000) for the BBC.com domain back in 1999 at the top of the domain name market. Previous estimates for the domain’s sale price were £20,000 to £200,000, as stated by The Register.
Why make a fuss regarding it? The BBC is funded by everyone in the UK that ones a TV.
So far BBC.com just forwards to BBC.co.uk, but it has a lot of potential–especially now that BBC has an American cousin. In addition to buying BBC.com, apparently the network challenged BBC.org’s owners to hand over that domain for free. They lost the challenge.
My take? $375,000 for BBC.com was not outrageous, especially since a legitimate firm was using it for their business. That firm had to change URLs, change e-mail addresses, etc., and probably confused its clients during that change. I can’t see someone doing that at a lower price. Off the top of my head, the only thing to compare this to was the sale of MLB.com from law firm Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP to Major League Baseball in 2000. Unfortunately, the sale price for MLB.com was never disclosed. Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius also had a business relationship with Major League Baseball, so the sale price might not have been a “market” price.
Read more at The Register.
