Happy Good Friday and Easter to those Christians who are celebrating their holiest days of the calendar this long weekend (Greek Orthodox Christians like myself will need to wait until May this year!).
As I’ve noted before, I don’t appreciate parasitic folks who are seeking to steal eyeballs and traffic for themselves, rather than simply retweeting the original posts! So, I continue to be “on strike” in relation to the substantial work I do (and continue to do, but not publicly report) to discover previously undocumented significant domain name transactions through financial statements. I expect those parasites will once again keep on trying to steal eyeballs and traffic for themselves, instead of simply retweeting the original research/tweets, despite this statement.
That being said up front, today I noticed an interesting tweet/post on Twitter/X by Joshua Schoen, that he made on March 27, 2024 noting that the Shift.com domain name had changed hands in a bankruptcy auction.
It took me but a few moments to look up the public docket of that bankruptcy, which documents transactions for both the elite Shift.com and Fair.com domain names, that were overseen by Hilco Streambank. Given that these transactions were documented in public court filings, it’s unclear why Hilco Steambank didn’t simply report the numbers themselves, to save everyone (i.e. “everyone” meaning diligent folks like me, or rather, just me, since others didn’t actually put in the work to find this – I alone did!) some time and effort.
On page 3 of Docket Entry #555 (filed March 25, 2024), (yes, I like to show my work and process, unlike low-life bottom-feeding parasites who simply show the results, and pretend that they found the numbers themselves!), it notes:
A. The Shift.com domain name assets were acquired by Shift Canada for $1,365,000.00;
and also that:
B. The Fair.com Assets were acquired by Primera for $900,000;
There were also some other lots that are of no interest to those reading this blog, who care about high value transactions. But, let’s dig even further. If we read Docket Entry #445 (filed February 9, 2024), there’s a 200 page declaration which further documents the transactions. Exhibits B and C contain the full details of each transaction, via the executed asset purchase agreements.
The 74th and 75th page of the full PDF (i.e. Schedule 1.3 of Exhibit B) notes that there are additional domain names in the Shift.com transaction (e.g. Shift.co, Shift.cars, Shift.biz, etc.). There were also some social media accounts as part of the deal, as noted a few pages later.
DNJournal.com typically will not chart transactions of multiple domain names, given that one can’t technically attribute the entire value to just a single domain name. That was the case for the $9 million Shoes.com domain name, which I documented in April 2017. But, we know that the buyer was ultimately forced to buy everything (since the bankruptcy auction is structured as lots), and that it was ultimately just after the Shift.com domain name. Most of the rest is of negligible value, or even a liability, rather than an asset (many of those minor domain names should be dropped, as they’re not worth the renewal costs!).
Similarly, for Fair.com, the list of other domain names included as part of the transaction can be seen in Schedule 1.3 of Exhibit C, on the 106th page of the full PDF, with such “gems” as Fair.fyi and Fair.fail (LOL!). Similarly, a few pages later notes there’s a Twitter account included too.
My comments above in relation to the Shift.com deal would also apply to the Fair.com transaction. We know that the buyer was ultimately forced to buy everything (since it was structured in lots), and that it was ultimately just after the Fair.com domain name.
In conclusion, I would attribute 100% of the two transactions to just the main domain names involved. Thus, as per the headline, I would argue that Shift.com was acquired for $1,365,000 and that Fair.com was acquired for $900,000.
BONUS CONTENT:
But wait, there’s more! In July 2020, I uncovered the fact that the Shift.c0m domain name was acquired for $385,000 in December 2015:
From page F-44 of a recent SEC filing:https://t.co/wNIHMYaiYh
they have a domain name which cost $385,000. Presumably that's their shift(.)com domain name.
Using @DomainTools WHOIS history, they appear to have acquired it via @markmonitor's stealth DNStination in Dec 2015.
— George Kirikos (@GeorgeKirikos) July 18, 2020
This bankruptcy auction is a reminder that elite domain names are assets. Even if a business fails, these assets can be liquidated, sometimes even for more than they were acquired.