I was saying…Marchex splits in two, forms Archeo — So like
Finally, Marchex is getting serious regarding its vast domain name portfolio.
On Tuesday I wrote regarding how Marchex had filed a trademark application for Archeo, and wondered if it was a rebranding.
It is…sort of. Marchex disclosed today that it is splitting in two:
1. Marchex will be focused purely on mobile and call advertising.
2. Archeo will hold the firm’s domain portfolio of 200,000+ domains and handle pay-per-click advertising.
With the split, the firm will finally get aggressive regarding selling and developing its domain names. It really hasn’t been proactive at all regarding domain sales and hasn’t taken a scalable approach: 100% of its domain sales have been through negotiation. It has just one dedicate resource for domain selling.
Still, in 2011 the firm sold $9.1 million worth of domain names. For the first nine months of 2012 it has sold $5.4 million, a slower pace.
It also plans to develop a number of its premium domains, such as Remodeling.com, Cuisine.com, and Refinancing.com.
This document explains what Archeo will do.
The firm also released a list of its top 500 historical domain sales.
