YNOT – KeyDrive S.A., a Luxembourg-based internet holding company, has purchased domain sales and management companies Moniker and SnapNames from Los Angeles-based Oversee.net. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Founded by Monte Cahn, Moniker set an adult industry trend in motion and revealed to an amazed public just how valuable adult domain names can be when, in 2007, it partnered with AVN Media Network’s Internext Expo to produce live domain auctions at adult trade shows. The companies continued their partnership through 2010.
Cahn continued to lead Moniker even after the company’s $35 million sale to Oversee.net in early 2008. He left the company Dec. 31, 2010, at the expiration of an employment contract upon which the sale to Oversee was contingent. In early 2011, Cahn filed suit against Oversee and its principals, alleging several breaches of contract, including interference with Cahn’s ability to earn a $13 million contractual bonus.
SnapNames, which Oversee acquired in 2007, became the target of a 2009 class-action lawsuit alleging a former vice president manipulated domain-name auctions by acting as a shill bidder.
The two companies continue to be significant forces in the domain marketplace, providing services including registration, management, appraisal, sales, escrow and acquisitions in addition to auctions.
With the new acquisitions, KeyDrive claims to operate the sixth-largest registrar network in the world, with more than six million domains under management.
“Driven by the need for corporations and individuals to connect online worldwide, Key-Systems, Moniker and SnapNames enable brands and end-users of all sizes and locations to select the right web services and domain names globally for their business,” Moniker and SnapNames General Manager Craig Snyder said Wednesday. “Together our ability to deliver the key components of a thriving and efficient domain-name marketplace, access to global domain-name suppliers and buyers, is strengthened by this acquisition including a leadership position in the following key areas: ccTLDs, gTLDs, expiring and deleting pools as well as brokerage and auction services. We look forward to further building on our capabilities and technologies while investing in crucial areas such as client services and an expanded product set for the benefit of our clients.”
Key-Systems, founded by Alexander Siffrin in 1998, operates three accredited domain registrars: RRPproxy, BrandShelter, and DomainDiscount24. Siffrin, who serves as Key-Systems’ chief executive officer and as chairman of KeyDrive, said the new acquisitions expand the parent company’s global reach.
“Our focus is on providing our partners and clients best-in-class solutions that enable them to acquire and monetize domain names in a manner that fuels their global presence,” he said in a prepared statement. “With the acquisition of Moniker and SnapNames, both leaders in the domain registrar and aftermarket, we have greatly expanded sellers’ access to European buyers — and buyers’ access to domain names of all price points and quality throughout the entire domain name lifecycle. We’re pleased to offer the evolving market the synergies presented by our increased product and services suite.”
