iREIT today published a press release summarizing some of their portfolio building activities throughout the past year. From the press release:

Continued Success in Portfolio Acquisitions: Since October of 2006, the company has acquired nine large domain portfolios, adding more than 10 million unique users to the iREIT network.

• Verticalization of Domain Portfolio: As part of the company’s strategy to offer highly targeted advertising opportunities to partners, iREIT has completed categorization of its portfolio into ten major verticals: Business & Finance; Dating & Entertainment; Food; General Search; Health & Medicine; News & Education; Real Estate; Shopping & Retail; Sports; and Travel & Transportation.
• Addition of Many Premium Names to Portfolio: Over the past few months, iREIT has acquired a significant number of premium names in its key verticals, adding domains such as freemovies.com, chatroom.com, musicdownloads.com, english.com, gocarts.com, livescores.com, mythology.com, haircare.com, racingcars.com, replays.com, investorsguide.com, comedyclubs.com, operas.com, erecipes.com, multivitamins.com, theology.com, teamsports.com and beachresorts.com.
• Investments in Domain Management Infrastructure: iREIT has spent significant time and resources over the past few quarters laying the technology foundation to scale its operations and serve advertisers directly. To this end, the company has developed proprietary domain management technology and has acquired in-house domain registration capabilities. These two achievements are critical milestones in the company’s evolution.

While the press release is sketchy on details (apart from the listed names), here’s what I am taking from this:

1. iREIT acquired high-profile names and will continue to do so.
2. iREIT bought a registrar. Something most larger Domainers should be considering to do.
3. iREIT plans to direct sell to advertisers. An important move following some of the other big players. It’s important since it is not really a best business practice that the entire industry basically relies on 1-2 suppliers for their advertising.

[Press Release]

WALTHAM, Mass.-(Business Wire)-March 6, 2007 – NameMedia today announced the launch of ActiveExchange, providing domain owners access for the first time to the exclusive distribution network of [...] Buydomains, AfterNIC and it’s resellers.

Any domain owner can now list their domains on the NameMedia properties and their resellers. Depending on the network you want to market to, you will either pay a 10% or 20% sales fee, plus the normal Afternic membership fees ($19.95 a year for sellers and $1 a year for buyers).

Geosign Group Holdings Inc. and Geosign Technologies Inc., members of the Geosign Group of Companies (“Geosign”), today announced the closing of $160 million in private financing from American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS). Geosign is an Internet media company focused on online publishing and targeted search. Proceeds from the financing will be used for working capital and to support the Company’s strategic growth initiatives including future acquisitions, as well as shareholder liquidity.

The deal, with RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) as the placement agent, places the company with over 200 employees based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada which has been operating mostly under cover lately in a new position. The company originally came more from a development angle and started adding domains to the mix. I am sure this is not the last we will be hearing of Geosign.

Some more details are on Frank Schilling’s blog – also an extensive Q&A with Tim Nye, the founder of Geosign.

[Press Release]

Moniker just released the full list of the names in the TRAFFIC West 2007 domain name auction in Las Vegas starting on Wednesday, March 7th at 2:30pm EST. You will also be able to participate remotely; for further information see the Moniker Website.

Some names included in the auction are:

• AirlineTickets.net
• LimousineService.com
• AntiVirusSoftware.com
• MedicalRecord.com
• Bourbon.com & Whiskey.com
• Pizza.mobi
• Carbs.com
• Plans.com
• CheapGames.com
• RealEstate.mobi
• Closings.com
• Ringtones.net
• ConsumerElectronics.com
• Settlement.com
• CurbAppeal.com
• Singles.mobi
• Debit.com
• SlideShow.com
• Directions.mobi
• SpecialOffer.com
• FamilyPhotos.com
• Spend.com
• FashionPolice.com
• SportingGoods.com
• FreshFood.com
• Televisionshows.com
• Friendships.com
• Text.com
• GarageSales.com
• Transplant.com
• HealthcarePlans.com
• TruckLeasing.com
• HomeForeclosures.com
• VideoShop.com
• Homerun.com
• WeightLossPills.com
• InsuranceQuotes.com

You can download the full auction list here and also listen to the auction live on Webmasterradio.fm.

[Press Release]

Another advance in the (huge) Brazilian market:

Sedo, world leader in the market for secure intermediation in the sale of domain names that have already been registered, has chosen the Brazilian company Nomer.com as its strategic partner in Brazil. Nomer.com is the first ICANN accredited Registrar in Latin America. The alliance allows internet users to consult, through Nomer.com’s website, the over 6 million addresses in the database of registered domain names that are for sale through Sedo.com.br.

[via Press Release, email]

Network Solutions, the former COM/NET/ORG monopoly registrar, has been aquired by General Atlantic, a private equity firm. Rumour has it was a $800 million deal.

I wonder if  the purchase price has anything to do with some of the high-value names still registered there.

[via TechCrunch | Press Release]

As reported earlier, Marchex is going to expand the integration of the content from the OpenList site into their domain portfolio.

Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHX) (NASDAQ:MCHXP), today announced that it plans to integrate content and functionality from its Open List search and content aggregation engine across more than 100,000 Marchex Web sites by June 30, 2007. Marchex also announced that it plans to launch an expanded version of Open List (www.openlist.com) by September 30, 2007, as a standalone destination and search guide that will provide relevant, searchable content and data on more than 15 million businesses segmented into more than 20,000 categories.

[...]

Marchex today announced the hiring of Chris Linnett for the position of Open List Director. Linnett will be responsible for evolving the Open List business, which includes bringing Open List content to Marchex’s proprietary Web sites, creating a unique consumer Web site experience at OpenList.com, expanding advertiser relationships, and building new partnerships around Open List’s unique data paradigm.

Linnett has extensive experience in the online consumer space, including 12 years at Microsoft, where he was responsible for the design and development of some of Microsoft’s leading online properties, including the MSN home page and Office Online. He holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College.

[Press Release]

NameMedia, the parent company of BuyDomains and AfterNIC announced today that they were integrating the portfolio of 500,000 domain names from FabulousDomains, a division of the Australian Company Dark Blue sea into their domain offerings. This creates a marketplace that currently lists about 2,000,000 domains for sale.

[Press Release]

Oversee.net [the parent company of DomainSponsor] [...] today announced that it has established a $60 million, five-year, secured revolving credit facility. The credit facility was arranged and managed by Banc of America Securities LLC. Bank of America, N.A. will serve as administrative agent. A syndicate of lenders and financial institutions is participating in the facility with Bank of America, including Comerica Bank, California Bank and Trust and Silicon Valley Bank.

Oversee.net [...] today announced that it acquired LowFares.com, [...] [a] travel product comparison research site for consumers. The deal was completed on January 5, 2007 for an undisclosed amount.

The focus of LowFares.com is to provide consumers with a side-by-side comparison of prices from various travel sites, accessible from a single site. Its advertisers include Priceline.com, Hotwire.com, Expedia.com, Cheapair.com, and Orbitz.com. The site provides advertisers with highly-qualified travel leads.

Oversee.net is the parent company of Low.com, a consumer financial portal that helps users find the lowest cost, most reputable purchase, refinance and home equity loans.

[Press Release]