Domain Magnate

CBS is making a bigger push on the Internet. The broadcast company said Thursday it would acquire CNet for $11.50 a share, or $1.8 billion, in a deal that will make CBS one of the top 10 Internet companies in the United States. The deal offers CNet shareholders a 44% premium to Wednesday’s closing price and comes as CBS has been struggling to gain traction with investors.

“There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNet Networks,” said CEO Les Moonves. “CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNet Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience.” read more »

Big news in the domaining world. CNN reported the highest domain sale ever Fund.com sold for $10 million.

Clek Media Inc. (”Clek”) today announced that it has brokered the world-record sale of the domain FUND.COM for US$9,999,950 in an all-cash transaction. That’s a lot of cash to carry around

Clek, a media consulting firm, represented the seller of the domain, assisting in both the negotiation and closing of the transaction. The buyer is Fund.com Inc. (OTCBB: FNDM), a New York firm previously named Meade Technologies Inc. To date the buyer has revealed their plans for the domain mostly in filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. read more »

iReport.com, that made news recently for selling for $750K to CNN, is now up and running.

CNN 2.0 with a bright new look and social twist.

Hardly worth a fraction of that high price on the reseller market, but definitely a great and memorable name for a social bookmarking site.

The domaining industry becomes stronger and more venture capital companies are entering the field, investing milions of dollars into domains. Another confirmation to it is a recent article in CNN Money:

Domain Name Game Still Going Strong; Tad Less Secretive

People scoffed when investment firm eCompanies paid $7.5 million for the Web address business.com in 1999 from a person who had paid $150,000 for it.

The purchase, though, shined a light on a secretive world where people actively and aggressively buy and sell Web domain names.

Thousands of Web addresses were bought in the early days of the dot-com boom on a hunch by people who expected Internet real estate would appreciate in value. read more »