.club could be a seven-figure new gTLD auction
It looks like the .club gTLD is heading to auction.
Donuts’ two rival applicants for the string seem to have agreed to the auction designed by Cramton Associates and managed by a new Hong Kong company called Innovative Auctions.
Meanwhile, .Club Domains, LLC said it has raised $3.5 million to participate.
“We are happy to announce the successful raise of 3.5 million dollars for the purpose of acquiring and launching the .CLUB name,” .Club Domains founder Colin Campbell said in a press release.
Merchant Law Group is the third .club applicant. We understand it has also agreed to participate.
It very probably won’t be the only auction coming up in June. Donuts has committed 63 strings to the auction, inviting its contention set rivals to join in.
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How can Donuts.co afford to participate in so many auctions simultaneously? 63 strings x $2 million = at least $120 million. Don’t they only have total funds of $100 million anyway? (including the additional funds they raised).
That figure also has to take into account operational costs, application fees, customer support, marketing. I mean where’s all the money left over for marketing these new gTLDs in the first place?
Not to mention if they’re up against Google and Amazon for the more popular strings I’m not sure how they can compete there.
They’ll win some and lose some. Those they lose will result in additional money for other auctions.