GoDaddy purchases Mike Berkens’ WorldWide Media domain name portfolio

Berkens sells majority of domain names to GoDaddy.

GoDaddy has purchased the majority of Michael Berkens’ domain name portfolio; the firm disclosed today.

Berkens writes the blog TheDomains.com and his portfolio was under the firm Worldwide Media.

GoDaddy purchased the vast majority of Berkens’ domain names, regarding 70,000 names in total.

“GoDaddy is focused on making sure our clients get the perfect online name for their business or passion, so we’re always looking at ways to improve what domain names our clients can register,” stated GoDaddy Senior Vice President and General Manager Mike McLaughlin. “Our plan is to make these names accessible to modest businesses. Worldwide Media, Inc.’s founder Michael Berkens has assembled an incredible portfolio of names and has been such an integral part of the domain name aftermarket for so many years.”

The deal comes following GoDaddy purchased Marchex’s domain name portfolio earlier this year.

When GoDaddy purchased the Marchex portfolio, GoDaddy SVP and GM of Domains Mike McLaughlin told Reglike that the firm wasn’t going to become a domain name investor, buying domain names one-off. Still, he stated the firm would look at portfolios similar to that of Marchex.

In a key way, Berkens’ portfolio is a lot like the one Marchex sold to GoDaddy.

Berkens was known for holding out for top dollar for his domain names. Most were not priced, either.

That was also the case for Marchex’s portfolio, and GoDaddy was able to quickly sell many of the domain names by reducing prices and listing then with fixed prices on its Afternic network.

The Worldwide Media portfolio buyout suggests that GoDaddy is very happy with the results of its Marchex domain portfolio so far.

GoDaddy did not acquire Berkens’ adult domain names, nor most of his names under fresh top level domain names.