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As first reported by DNN, Keydrive bough Monikter and Snapnames from Oversee.net. The official Press Release was published today and can be found after the jump.

KeyDrive S.A. Acquires Moniker and SnapNames from Oversee.net

Luxembourg and Los Angeles, Calif. (February 1, 2012). KeyDrive S.A., an internet solutions holding company with subsidiaries providing domain registration, monetization and aftermarket services, announced today that it has acquired the Moniker and SnapNames business units of Oversee.net, a leader in online performance marketing.

Moniker® and SnapNames® offer businesses and individuals an array of services for domain name registration, acquisition, brokerage and sales. Moniker introduced the live domain name auction concept. SnapNames operates the largest online auction of expired and deleting domain names, giving its customers access to valuable names.

“The purchase of these two leaders in the domain aftermarket perfectly fits our global growth strategy”, said Alexander Siffrin, Chairman of the KeyDrive S.A., and CEO and founder of Key-Systems®. “We now have the opportunity to extend our global outreach, target a broader customer base and cross-sell our services. Furthermore, our European clients will gain access to US buyers and sellers of domain names. We’re delighted to welcome the Moniker and SnapNames teams to KeyDrive S.A.”

“The sale of these assets allows us to focus more on our core monetization and vertical markets divisions which are the fundamental building blocks of our global performance marketing network,” noted Debra Domeyer, Co-CEO of Oversee. “As the domain industry landscape changes, it is essential that we invest in new technologies that leverage our existing platform and unlock the potential of domain traffic. Our focus is on developing new monetization alternatives for both publishers and advertisers. We also want to thank Craig Snyder and the Moniker and SnapNames teams for their years of dedicated service. ”

Oversee was advised in the sale process by Petsky Prunier LLC.

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (4)

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According to industry sources, Keydrive S.A. will announce this morning that they have purchased Moniker & Snapnames from Oversee.net. Information about the sale has already been posted on the companies website and was also added to ICANNWiki yesterday.

KeyDrive S.A./Luxembourg includes the Key-Systems Group in St. Ingbert/Saarland (Germany), the NameDrive Group (Luxembourg/USA) as well as Moniker and SnapNames (Florida and Oregon/USA) with more than 160 employees.

After the takeover of Moniker in January 2012 the group ranks among the TOP 10 biggest ICANN registrars in 6th place; the group currently administers a total of more than 5.4 million domains.

Rumors about a potential sale of Moniker & Snapnames had been circulating for  a while. DNN expects an official announcement to be published shortly and will update this post accordingly. Keydrive was created by merging KeySystems and Namedrive.

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (2)

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Sedo, today announced a new partnership with Go Daddy. Domains that are listed at Sedo with Buy Now prices are now available to Go Daddy customers through the SedoMLS Network. This partnership between two industry-leading companies gives domain investors the ability to distribute their domains at Go Daddy, and end users the chance to purchase premium names directly at Go Daddy, via the only global domain distribution network, SedoMLS.

“Go Daddy wants to help small businesses grow larger, and finding the right domain name is the place to start,” said Paul Nicks, Go Daddy’s Director of Product Development for the Aftermarket. “Giving customers access to many premium domain names, including Sedo’s Buy Now domain names, Go Daddy can ensure our customers get the best domain name for their website or business.”

Listing domains in the SedoMLS Network already gives sellers access to both Sedo’s global audience of buyers and distribution across its partner network. With the addition of Go Daddy to the SedoMLS Network, domain investors now benefit from millions of additional end users who search for names at GoDaddy.com. In addition to receiving the widest available distribution, domain buyers can also purchase any name via an uninterrupted sales process directly at Go Daddy’s site, meaning increased sales conversion for domain name sellers. For more information, go to Sedo.com/PowerUp

“Our new partnership with Go Daddy speaks to the strength of both Go Daddy’s and Sedo’s reputations worldwide,” said Tim Schumacher, CEO of Sedo. “The SedoMLS Network provides registrar partners like Go Daddy with access to premium domains that are listed at Sedo, which in turn provides their customers with more purchase choices than ever. For any domain seller, we provide the reach that connects their domain listings to the greatest number of potential buyers across the globe.”

[via Press Release]

Disclaimer: Managing DNN Editor Frank Michlick is currently working as a consultant for SedoMLS through his company DomainCocoon.

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (1)

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According to an email from Sedo, SedoMLS Premium listed domains are now also promoted  through United Domains. United Domains has integrated Sedo’s multi-listing service, SedoMLS Premium, for its US-based clients, allowing domain sellers to list their domain portfolio for sale at Sedo, and have potential buyers search for and purchase these domain listings directly at their registrar’s website.

“With SedoMLS Premium, we have extended our domain name market to additional US clients,” said Tim Schumacher, Sedo’s CEO. “This is an ideal sales channel for international domain sellers and for those interested in domains, purchasing a domain name is now as easy as registering it.”

Florian Huber, CEO of United Domains, confirms the benefits of such a partnership: “United Domains has built a successful partnership with Sedo as a preferred registrar, and we are very excited about expanding our partnership to include the Sedo MLS program,” he said. “By adding the Sedo MLS Premium service to our search results, we can to offer our customers a wide selection of premium domains for purchase, as easily as they can register new domains with us.”

SedoMLS Premium for domain sellersis an additional channel for displaying their domain listings to potential buyers. As soon as a user carries out a search on their registrar’s website, SedoMLS Premium provides them with the opportunity to purchase a domain that is already registered by another party at a fixed price, and complete the transfer through the SedoMLS Premium partner’s site.

United Domains will also be further expanding its partnership with Sedo by integrating its own sales inventory into the SedoMLS Premium network in 2012.

We’d like to welcome Mark Jeftovic as a guest author. In the domaining world he’s known for stirring up some controversy in the past. Mark lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and daughter, he’s the founder and president of easyDNS.com – the DNS hosting provider & domain name registrar, a libertarian and former Director to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).

When one looks at the track record of introducing new Top Level Domains it is perplexing to see where all the enthusiasm around unlimited new TLDs comes from. So far every attempt to roll one out owes it’s sustenance to purely defensive registrations (.biz, .info) or else it’s degraded into an utter fracas (.jobs) or just plain flopped (.pro)

The latest TLD that isn’t a country code tarting itself up as a pseudo-generic is probably a good indicator of what to expect going forward: .xxx – reviled by the industry it extorts , err, purports to serve and first new TLD that we are seriously considering making a conscious decision not to “grab our name before somebody else does!”. I’m certain it won’t be the last. I believe one of the first things we will see as all this unfolds is a buyers strike in defensive regs. Once that happens everything will go sideways.

So despite the near frenzied hype around these things, I have already gone on record to predict failure for the vast majority of them.

The forthcoming onslaught of TLDs can be divided into roughly three categories:

1. Generics: these are where “the next .com”‘ TLDs will position themselves. Most will fail because there will be a buyers strike in defensive registrations and the speculators will get crushed. None of them will ever become “bigger than .com”, and I’ll be surprised if one ever catches up with .net.

2. Specifics: these are TLDs which exist for a reason (which I’ve been calling for), but that reason is just a thin premise based on naming. .jobs is a great example of this, because quite frankly, the premise was dumb. That companies would go out and register the .jobs version of their names to post job openings, as opposed to just adding /jobs onto their URL was weak from the outset. There are a lot of these in the pipe: .music, .eco, .money whatever – the ostensible reason for the existence of the TLD is to be the apex of some category vertical. What
I’ve found over the years in this business is that people tend to not order themselves into the categories you set up for them. Once again, the only thing that will hold these TLDs up are defensive registrations and speculators (who will get crushed).

3. Brands: this is where some entity with deep pockets sets its own TLD up to prove that “they’re serious” about their brand. So if Paul McCartney created .beatles and the only 4 domains under it were john, paul, george and ringo, it would be an example of a brand TLD. It would also provide zero value to the brand and probably even fail as call-to-action URLs as people habitually keep adding “.com” onto the end of everything when they type it into a browser location bar.

Still, we cannot stand in the way of .progress, this evolution is inevitable, and I think necessary. This is who I think the big winners and bigger losers will be…because as per usual, the consensus projections for where this is all going are the outcomes that are likely precluded from occurring.

See the losers and winners of the new TLDs after the jump.

Let’s start with THE LOSERS

Business Owners: people who run businesses on the web, or businesses with a web presence will be expected to pony up for non-refundable sunrise claims and landrush pre-orders, at jacked up prices and inflated
minimum terms, all to defend their names. This may work when it happens once a year or so, but anybody who expects to keep working when brand owners get hit with this 10, 20 or 100 times a year better rethink that
calculus. Because I don’t think it will. What is more likely to happen is they decide to just start suing the squatters as they surface, and it will probably culminate in some legal action against the registries themselves, possibly in the form of class actions.

Brand Owners: This hoopla around .brand is stupid. You probably don’t give a crap about your breakfast cereal’s twitter feed. You think it needs it’s own TLD? There are very few brands that make any sense as a
TLD. Something like .Mac comes to mind, but they are an exception. Whatever brand you own, probably isn’t. Don’t waste your money.

Investors: As I’ve posited, most new TLDs will fail. Once the defensive-name buyers’ strike kicks in, most of the new TLDs will not even make it past that initial cashgrab phase which makes them look so lucrative. Couple that with an abysmal renewal cycle as the speculators realize that nobody wants to pony up xxx,xxx for “business.business”, and you have a recipe for epic value destruction. (Memo to VC’s: you can use this as a filter: anything you are pitched that contains a slide that says “and then we get our own TLD”, you can just move onto the
next prospect.)

Programmers / Network Engineers / Operators: Will find their jobs become ever more vexing once it becomes impossible to encapsulate the known universe of top-level namespaces and their syntax rules in a usable
format. Think about the present-day intractable problem of trying to create a bulletproof regex for a valid email address and amp up the complexity from there. This will cause all kinds of bugs and usability issues, but hey, that’s why those guys get paid the big bucks.

But it won’t be all bad news, these losers will have their gizards eaten by…

The New TLD WINNERS:

TLD & Registry Providers: When there’s a gold rush on, the people selling picks and shovels make out like bandits. Companies that enable and provide infrastructure to Top Level Domain operators will probably
have an initial wave of success.

DNS Providers: At the end of the day, it’s all just names-to-numbers and for that you need DNS. To run a TLD you would need at least a modicum of global redundancy, preferably anycast deployed and able to withstand DOS attacks. Enter the DNS providers, because they’re the ones who have those capabilities. (Do I have to disclose that I run one at this point? I don’t expect a flood of new TLD applicants to be banging down my door to handle their rootzone DNS).

Dispute Resolution Providers: will enjoy a booming business. As the buyers strike gathers steam, companies will find it is cheaper to “take out” an offending name in an unfashionable TLD than trying to defend
their name in all of them at exorbitant sunrise rates.

Domain Litigation Lawyers: Not only will there be an endless selection of second-level squatters to sue, they can form class actions and snuff out entire registries deemed to have egregious disregard for the IP
rights of others. For them it will be a Golden Age of prosperity.

and finally, the single biggest, winningest winner of them all…..

ICANN: They run the golden goose, they collect the $185,000 per successful application, they get to keep the non-refundable portion of the application fee from all the losers and then the $25,000 in annual
fees per TLD, Nice work if you can get it.

Conclusion:
Beyond that, everything I’ve been saying about the new TLDs hinges around this concept: that the days of “register your name under .etc, before somebody else does” are over. I expect out of the first 100 or so TLDs, maybe 1 or 2 will initially do something outside-the-box, something that will change the game and actually add value at the root level.

I don’t know what that is yet, but those are the new TLDs that will succeed, while the rest crap out. Off the top of my head, something different, like maybe .gps, where domains under .gps actually represent GPS coordinates and thus real world locations; or .rfid where domains under that root would carry meta-data about RFID tagged items such as location or status. Who knows. But it will go far beyond that “yourname.bs”.

Those new TLDs will be the signal, everything else will be noise.

Web.com (Nasdaq: WWWW), a leading provider of internet services and online marketing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and privately-held Network Solutions, a leading provider of website services, online marketing and global domain name registration focused on the needs of SMBs, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Web.com to acquire Network Solutions, the original domain registrar.

Under the terms of the agreement, upon the closing Web.com will pay Network Solutions $405 million in cash and issue 18 million shares of Web.com common stock, in addition to refinancing existing net debt of Network Solutions and paying certain fees.  Network Solutions is currently majority owned by General Atlantic LLC, a leading global growth equity firm.

The transaction, which is subject to Web.com shareholder approval as well as customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the fall of 2011. Web.com bought Register.com a little over a year ago for $135M USD.

As Elliot points out in his post about the acquisition, adding the domains for Register.com and Network Solutions brings the total count above today’s 3rd largest registrar, Tucows using the numbers at Webhosting.info. However that would not be counting their recent acquisition and the other registrars they manage. It also appears that web.com still holds a large number of domains in a Tucows reseller account.

See the full press release after the jump.

JACKSONVILLE, FL and HERNDON, VA – August 3, 2011 – Web.com (Nasdaq: WWWW), a leading provider of internet services and online marketing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and privately-held Network Solutions, a leading provider of website services, online marketing and global domain name registration focused on the needs of SMBs, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Web.com to acquire Network Solutions.

The transaction will create a leading end-to-end online solutions company with a clear path to $500 million in non-GAAP revenues as it focuses on providing web services to SMBs, a market estimated to be larger than $19 billion.  Web.com believes its combined company will be positioned to deliver non-GAAP revenue growth in the low teens, with non-GAAP earnings per share and unlevered free cash flow growth in the mid-teens to 20 percent range over the next three to four years as revenue and cost synergies are realized. In particular, under current debt pricing terms, the transaction is expected to be at least 20 percent accretive to the $1.22 per share current First Call consensus estimate for 2012, with significantly greater accretion in 2013.

Under the terms of the agreement, upon the closing Web.com will pay Network Solutions $405 million in cash and issue 18 million shares of Web.com common stock, in addition to refinancing existing net debt of Network Solutions and paying certain fees.  Network Solutions is currently majority owned by General Atlantic LLC, a leading global growth equity firm.

“This transaction represents a unique opportunity to dramatically expand our scale, add further momentum to Web.com’s already improving top line growth, and further expand our market share as the nationally recognized go-to provider of online marketing solutions specifically tailored to small and medium-sized businesses,” said David Brown, Chairman and CEO of Web.com.  “Our integration strategy will be similar to our successful acquisition of Register.com, and we will be in a strong position to cross-sell and up-sell our services to Network Solutions’ approximately two million retail customers and hundreds of thousands of wholesale customers.  We believe this combination will provide significant long-term shareholder value as we grow our business, capitalize on synergies, improve our margins and generate substantial cash flow to invest greater resources in growth and branding initiatives.”

“The acquisition of Network Solutions immediately delivers enormous scale to Web.com and better enables us to capitalize on the significant shift from traditional marketing channels to online marketing as mass adoption by SMB’s continues.  Small and mid-sized businesses are increasingly looking to leverage the growing adoption of online local search, social media and mobile devices to grow, and they need cost-and time-efficient help.  No other company has the combination of products, services and experience to help small and medium businesses as effectively as Web.com.  Our combined organization will have far greater resources to market our end-to-end suite of solutions, in addition to using the power of a national brand for the first time in our history,” Mr. Brown continued.

Anton Levy, a Managing Director of global growth equity firm General Atlantic, the principal stakeholder in Network Solutions, said, “As growth investors, we are very excited to participate alongside other Web.com stockholders in its exciting strategy to be the web services and online marketing resource for SMBs.  With this transaction, Web.com wins the race to scale, which is critically important at this moment in the shift to online marketing by small and medium-sized businesses.”

Tim Kelly, CEO of Network Solutions, stated, “Network Solutions has been a pioneer in this industry for nearly 30 years. We are very excited to combine our expertise, resources, customers and award winning customer service with Web.com. Our combined company will have tremendous know-how and a broad portfolio of online marketing, web services, social media and mobile solutions to help small businesses grow in the increasingly connected online world.  For Network Solutions and Web.com, we will be positioned to capitalize on the more than $19 billion online services market for small and medium businesses in ways that neither company could do efficiently on a standalone basis.”

The transaction, which is subject to Web.com shareholder approval as well as customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the fall of 2011.  At the close, General Atlantic and other current Network Solutions shareholders are expected to own approximately 37% of Web.com. In addition, as part of the acquisition agreement, Mr. Levy will join the Web.com board of directors.

Creates a market leader focused on small to mid-sized businesses
The combination of Web.com and Network Solutions will create a single company anticipated to have pro forma, combined non-GAAP revenue in the mid-$450 million range for 2011 and pro forma adjusted EBITDA of at least $120 million for 2011 before cost synergies and transaction expenses.

In addition, as of June 30, 2011, the pro forma combined company has:

• Approximately 3 million paying subscribers
• More than 9 million domains under management
• More than 1,900 employees worldwide

Both Web.com and Network Solutions utilize a high volume, multi-channel customer acquisition strategy that includes call centers, online and direct marketing, as well as distribution partners. Each markets a broad suite of solutions that include domain name services, web services, online marketing, eCommerce and other related solutions designed and delivered specifically for small and mid-sized businesses. With the infusion of Network Solutions’ two million retail customers and hundreds of thousands of wholesale customers, Web.com will have a tremendous opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell its online marketing, Facebook, mobile and web services offerings.  In addition, Web.com’s current approximately one million subscribers will be offered a number of Network Solutions products and services that are complementary to Web.com’s product suite.

Enhanced Financial Profile

With the Network Solutions acquisition, Web.com is creating an increasingly attractive financial profile, characterized by greater scale and growth, a recurring revenue model, improved free cash flow margins and increased profitability margins.

Not only does the proforma combination reap the benefits of an immediate increase in scale, but Web.com also benefits from the customer profile of the Network Solutions customer base.  A majority of Network Solutions’ customers are on multi-year contracts with upfront payment terms, resulting in significant free cash flow and contributing to customer churn rates that have been in the 0.5% to 1.0% per month range.  As a result, both unlevered free cash flow as well as adjusted EBITDA will be important metrics for evaluating the performance of the combined company.

The combined company is expected to generate between $105 and 110 million in pro forma unlevered free cash flow and at least $120 million in pro forma adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2011 – before transaction costs as well as cost synergies.  The combination of revenue growth and approximately $19 million in cost savings during the first full year of the combined organization is expected to contribute to $125 million to $130 million in unlevered free cash flow and more than $140 million in adjusted EBITDA for the combined company in 2012.  In addition, the company expects to realize approximately $30 million in annualized cost savings by the end of 2013.

The much greater profitability and unlevered free cash flow of the combined company, combined with significant cost savings and operational efficiencies, will enable Web.com to make high ROI investments in growth initiatives.  In addition, for the first time in its history, Web.com will have the resources to invest in branding initiatives that it expects will have an important long-term impact on establishing Web.com as a leading provider of online marketing solutions to the small business community, acquiring new customers and expanding its sales accordingly.

Web.com believes its combined company will be positioned to deliver non-GAAP revenue growth in the low teens, with non-GAAP EPS and unlevered free cash flow growth in the mid-teens to-20 percent range over the next three to four years as revenue and cost synergies are realized.

Financing Summary

The cash portion of the acquisition will be funded with new debt commitments, consisting of $600 million of First Lien Credit Facilities and $150 million of Second Lien Credit Facilities, as well as an initially unfunded $50 million revolver.  The first year interest expense is expected to be approximately $47 million, and will decline over time as the debt is paid down.  As part of the financing arrangement, the remaining $84 million in Web.com debt resulting from the Register.com acquisition in 2010 will be paid off.

After closing the acquisition, the combined company is expected to have net debt of approximately $740 million, which will represent approximately 5x net debt to 2012 adjusted EBITDA. The company’s annual unlevered free cash flow is expected to be well in excess of its interest expense in the first year.  As noted above, Web.com expects that the combined company will generate 2011 pro forma unlevered free cash flow of approximately $105 million to $110 million in 2011, before the effect of approximately $19 million in cost savings expected to be achieved in 2012 and more than $30 million in annualized cost savings by the end of 2013.  Furthermore, the combined company’s ability to leverage approximately $180 million in expected NOLs and over $50 million in expected annual tax deductible goodwill/intangibles amortization provides attractive tax characteristics which further support cash flow conversion and the rapid pay down of debt.

Mr. Brown added, “Web.com has generated significant shareholder value following the Register.com acquisition, and we believe there is an even greater opportunity to do so following the acquisition of Network Solutions.  We are highly confident that the strong cash flow capabilities of both companies, combined with the potential for over $30 million in annual cost savings, will enable Web.com to rapidly pay down our debt commitment and further increase investments in growth initiatives.”

Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisors and Cooley LLP acted as legal counsel to Web.com Group.  Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank acted as financial advisors and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal counsel to Network Solutions. Lead arrangers and bookrunners for the debt financing are J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Conference Call
In conjunction with this announcement and the Company’s second quarter financial results, Web.com will host a conference call today, August 3, at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss the details on the acquisition, including the expected financial impact. A live webcast of the call as well as a set of slides with additional details will be available at the “Investor Relations” page of the Company’s website, http://ir.web.com. . To access the call, dial 877-407-0784 (domestic) or 201-689-8560 (international). A replay of this conference call will be available for a limited time at 877-870-5176 (domestic) or 858-384-5517 (international). The replay conference ID is 375409. A replay of the webcast will also be available for a limited time at http://ir.web.com.

About Web.com
Web.com Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: WWWW) is a leading provider of internet services and online marketing solutions for small and medium businesses. Web.com meets the needs of small and medium businesses anywhere along their lifecycle by offering a full range of online services and support, including domain name registration services, website design, logo design, search engine optimization, search engine marketing and local sales leads, general contractor leads, franchise and homeowner association websites,  shopping cart software, eCommerce web site design and call center services. For more information on the company, please visit http://www.web.com/ or call 1-800-GETSITE.

Note to Editors: Web.com is a registered trademark of Web.com Group, Inc.

About Network Solutions
Network Solutions was founded in 1979 and pioneered the domain name registration business.  In addition to domain name registration, the company also offers a broad range of value-add services, such as web site design and hosting, e-commerce solutions, online security products, SSL certificates, and search engine marketing and optimization.  Today, customers around the world trust Network Solutions to manage more than 7 million domains, 3 million email boxes and more than 400,000 web sites.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” including, without limitation, statements regarding the proposed acquisition of Network Solutions and the combined company’s forecasted financial results anticipated reach, capabilities and opportunities for the combined company, expected benefits to merchants and other customers, market opportunities, and expected customer base, that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements contained in this presentation that are not historical facts.  These statements are sometimes identified by words and phrases such as “ “will,” “projected,” “continues,” “may,” “to be,” “expected,” “anticipated,” enable,” or words or phrases of similar meaning. As a result of the ultimate outcome of such risks and uncertainties, Web.com’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements.  These statements are based on Web.com’s current beliefs or expectations, and there are a number of important factors that could cause the actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, whether the proposed acquisition is ultimately consummated, the ability to integrate Web.com and Network Solutions’ businesses, disruption from the transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers; risks related to the successful offering of the combined company’s products and services; the risk that the anticipated benefits of the acquisition may not be realized; and other risks that may impact Web.com’s and Network Solutions’ businesses.  Other risk factors are set forth under the caption, “Risk Factors,” in Web.com’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is available on a website maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at  www.sec.gov.  Web.com and Network Solutions expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

As announced in a press release published today, Tucows (NYSE AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) has purchased all the shares of German registrar EPAG for approximately US$2.5 Million (€1.5 Million to purchase the shares and the settlement of a working capital adjustment of €0.25 Million) through an all-cash transaction.

EPAG, based in Bonn, Germany, is an ICANN-accredited registrar with over 400,000 domains under management and is notable for offering over 200 Top Level Domains (TLDs). Tucows plans to continue serving EPAG customers and resellers via existing EPAG tools and will also integrate EPAG’s domain services into its own OpenSRS wholesale domain registration service.

“We believe combining the power of OpenSRS’ 12,000 active resellers in over 120 countries with EPAG’s ability to register such a broad range of TLDs will make OpenSRS unique in the industry,” said Tucows President & CEO Elliot Noss. “We expect that the deep expertise in registry integration we gain from EPAG will add invaluable bench-strength to our team as we prepare for ICANN’s roll-out of new TLDs.”

See the full press release after the jump.

TORONTO, Aug. 2, 2011 – Tucows Inc. (NYSE AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC), a global provider of domain names, email and other Internet services, announced today that it has acquired all the shares of EPAG Domainservices GmbH from QSC AG for approximately US$2.5 Million (€1.5 Million to purchase the shares and the settlement of a working capital adjustment of €0.25 Million) through an all-cash transaction.

EPAG, based in Bonn, Germany, is an ICANN-accredited registrar with over 400,000 domains under management and is notable for offering over 200 Top Level Domains (TLDs). Tucows plans to continue serving EPAG customers and resellers via existing EPAG tools and will also integrate EPAG’s domain services into its own OpenSRS wholesale domain registration service.

“We believe combining the power of OpenSRS’ 12,000 active resellers in over 120 countries with EPAG’s ability to register such a broad range of TLDs will make OpenSRS unique in the industry,” said Tucows President & CEO Elliot Noss. “We expect that the deep expertise in registry integration we gain from EPAG will add invaluable bench-strength to our team as we prepare for ICANN’s roll-out of new TLDs.”

This acquisition further strengthens OpenSRS’ position as a leader in wholesale domain registration and extends its commitment to providing broad TLD coverage to its resellers. Currently OpenSRS manages 11 million domains across 33 TLDs. With this acquisition OpenSRS will now manage over 11.5 million domain names and by the end of the year OpenSRS resellers will have access to over 200 TLDs.

“We congratulate Tucows on their acquisition of EPAG and are confident that this change of ownership helps to accomplish the strategic goals of both QSC AG and EPAG”, said Ingo Hattendorf, responsible for the transaction at QSC AG.

The acquisition of EPAG adds hundreds of new German-language resellers to the OpenSRS channel, providing Tucows access to a market to which it had relatively little exposure previously. Dave Woroch, Tucows’ EVP Sales noted, “We are happy to welcome EPAG customers to OpenSRS and assure them they will continue to get the same great services and support they have come to expect from the EPAG team. Over time we look forward to providing additional features and services that can help EPAG customers grow their businesses.”

About QSC AG

QSC AG, Cologne, is a service provider for voice and data communication, as well as ICT services. Established in 1997, the company has been focusing on small and mid-size business customers. QSC AG is the first provider to operate an Open Access platform in Germany, which unites a wide range of broadband technologies to offer national and international site networking, including Managed Services. QSC AG additionally supplies its customers and distribution partners with a comprehensive product portfolio that can be modularly adapted to every need. QSC AG was the first provider in Germany to build its own Next Generation Network (NGN), and therefore enjoys long years of experience in connection with IP-based telephony solutions, in particular. QSC AG has been listed on the TecDAX index since 2004. The QSC AG group employs a workforce of some 1,300 people.

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company. OpenSRS manages over eleven million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 11,000 web hosts and ISPs. Hover is the easiest way for individuals and small businesses to manage their domain names and email addresses. YummyNames owns premium domain names that generate revenue through advertising or resale. Butterscotch.com is an online video network building on the foundation of Tucows Downloads.

3M has filed a broad lawsuit naming a larger number of registrars, webhosts and dns hosts for cybersquatting and infringing on the company’s brands. The lawsuit is also filed against some individual domain names that include the letters “3M” and “mmm”. A large number of the sites named in the lawsuit appear to be gambling sites, some of them using a logo that looks quite similar to the 3M logo. Some example domains names in the suit are mmmbet.net, 3mbet.net, 3m-sportbetting.com and 3MBet-Thai.com.

[via George Kirikos]

See the full list of the entities and companies the suit was filed against after the jump.

Directi Internet Solutions PVT. LTD., Doe Number 1, Doe Number 10, Doe Number 11, Doe Number 2, Doe Number 3, Doe Number 4, Doe Number 5, Doe Number 6, Doe Number 7, Doe Number 8, Doe Number 9, Domains By Proxy, Inc., Godaddy.com, Inc., Name.com, Pang International Limited, Prolexic Technologies, Inc., Softlayer Technologies, Inc., Tiggee LLC, Web Commerce Communications Limited, 3mbet-th.com, 3mbet-th.net, 3mbet-thai.com, 3mbet-thai.net, 3mbet.net, 3mbetth.com, 3mbetth.net, 3mbetthai.net, 3mbetthal.com, 3mbkk.com, 3minter.com, 3minter.net, 3msoccer.com, 3msoccer.net, 3mthai.com, 3mthai888.com, 3mthailand-official.com, Asia Netcom Asia Pacific Ltd., Bluehost Inc., CAT Telecom Public Company Ltd., 168mmm.net, 3M Company, 3m-asia.com, 3m-casino.com, 3m-th.com, 3m-thai.com, 3m-thai.net, 3m-thailand.com, 3mbet-online.com, mmm998.net, mmmbet.net, mmmth.com, mmmth.net, mmmthai.net, mmmwin.net, thai3m.com, thai3m.net, thailand3m.net, thaimmm.net, mmm-th.com, mmm-th.net, mmm-thai.com, mmm-thai.net, mmm123.net, mmm2u.net, mmm333.net, mmm456.net, mmm789.net, mmm888.net

 

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (7)

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According to GigaOm Trademarkia has released a domain name registration service. As reported in the comments on GigaOm, the domain registration service will only notice trademarks that exactly match an existing trademark.Another caveat is that the notice of the potential infringement is only displayed relatively late into the checkout process.

Trademarkia is a trademark-research and production site/service. According to the domain registration service description it appears that their service will also help you register a trademark for your domain. Domain pricing starts at $2/year for a.biz domain.

The new service recognizes domains that are registered already and will offer the customer to “bid” on the domain name – potentially the sign of a coming brokerage service. It also displays a screenshot, social media comments and other information about the domain name. As pointed out by DNW, the service also offers you to file a cease and desist for $185 should there be an existing domain infringing  on your trademark (using the thumbnail search).

[via GigaOm]

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (3)

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Advertisement
Tap into the most comprehensive Whois database
on the planet: Discover the details of a domain’s current ownership,
learn a domain’s pedigree and find all the domains ever owned by a
specific company or individual by accessing historical information from DomainTools.com.

It appears that another phishing scam is making the rounds trying to get users to reveal their GoDaddy username and password to the scammers. According to “silentg” who received the email and posted on DNForum about it, the email links users to “goldidaddy.com” (registered at Melbourne IT) instead of GoDaddy.com. The email mimics a GoDaddy notice under the Whois Data Reminder Policy of ICANN (WDRP).

[via DNForum, silentg]

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (2)

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