Domain Magnate

Thi came as surprise..

according to a letter from Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang.

But Yahoo demanded at least $53 billion, or $37 per share, according to Ballmer. That would have been nearly double Yahoo’s stock price of $19.18 at the time Microsoft first made its bid a little over three months ago.

“Clearly a deal is not to be,” Ballmer wrote.

A spokeswoman for Sunnyvale-based Yahoo didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. read more »

Communicate.com, a public company in Vancouver, Canada, is announcing the acquisition of Y Combinator startup Auctomatic this morning for $5 million in cash and stock. The company is also changing its name to Live Current Media, Inc. read more »

DomainNameWire reports

Domain registration “wholesaler” and service provider Tucows (AMEX: TCX) has revealed data about its domain holdings. With over 150,000 domains, the portfolio makes up a significant part of the company’s value, which likely hasn’t been fully captured in its stock price. Its shares on the AMEX are sitting at $.63, just off a 52 week low of $.53 and well below a high of $1.41. (I’m assuming that Tucows is revealing these details because it doesn’t feel its stock reflects the value.)

Its portfolio includes:
-1,000 domains the company considers “gems” (see a sample below)
-39,000 surnames (last names), most of which were part of the NetIdentity acquisition
-22,000 “brandable” names
-88,000 direct navigation names

Tucows CEO Elliot Noss says the company has sold thousands of domains and will continue to sell individually and in bundles. Tucows has internal tools to evaluate its domains for faster resale, and sells them through a variety of venues including live and silent auctions.

Among the company’s “gems” are:

Actresses.com
Liberals.com
Lutheran.com read more »