Got Live Current Cricket Deal — Domain Name
Article details how domain firm beat out media behemoths for cricket contract.
An article in today’s Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest newspaper, details how Live Current Media (OTCbb: livc.ob) purchased the web rights to Indian Premier League (IPL), a fresh cricket league. Live Current beat out sizable media firms, and the article points out that the firm’s Cricket.com domain name got it in the door:
Mr. Hampson, chief executive officer of Live Current Media, a Vancouver-based website developer, had an hour to persuade Mr. Modi that he ought to sell the Web rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) to Mr. Hampson’s 30-person firm rather than to one of the global media giants that Mr. Modi had short-listed for bids.
Mr. Hampson had one major ace: His firm owned the domain cricket.com, which it intended to develop into a global portal. He and his staff had picked it as the next URL likely to develop into a “destination hub,” meaning an e-commerce portal with the potential to draw a sizable, passionate audience.
Live Current won the deal, which requires it to pay a whopping $5 million a year for 10 years. But it also generates content for the firm’s Cricket.com web site, for which Live Current keeps all revenue. (The IPL web site at the center of the deal is IPLT20.com.)
The firm has essentially bet itself on cricket, a sport that Live Current CEO Geoffrey Hampson admits he knows little regarding. The bulk of Live Current’s revenue still comes from its Perfume.com site, which the 30 person firm probably spends much of its resources on. The firm recently disclosed plans to sell 6 of its premium domain names to raise $6 million to $10 million cash.
