If you’ve ever wanted to own a piece of Los Angeles, now’s your chance to buy the name – online anyway. The LA.com domain has been put up for sale by owner Digital First Media, the New York parent of the Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press Telegram and Daily Breeze, among dozens of other daily newspapers around the country.
A year ago, Digital First Chief Executive John Paton said the company would consider strategic alternatives for its business, which could include the sale of one or more regional newspaper clusters as well as the company as a whole.
GoDaddy is handling the sale of domains LA.com and SV.com, which redirects to SiliconValley.com, for Digital First. Paul Nicks, senior director of aftermarket sales at GoDaddy, said Digital First was only selling the LA and SV domains, adding that this is the first time in 20 years that the LA.com name has been made available for sale to the public.
Digital First acquired the name from San Jose’s Knight Ridder Digital Inc., a division of Sacramento newspaper conglomerate McClatchy Co., in a private deal in 2007. The terms of that deal are unknown.
Based on recent sales, Nicks said he expects LA.com to fetch a hefty seven-figure sum.
GoDaddy set up a website last week to facilitate inquiries for the two domain names called LAorSV.com, and Nicks said he’s already received several inquiries. All buyers will be fully vetted to find the best match.
“It’s not going to be someone coming in looking to buy it and flip it immediately,” said Nicks, who estimated that it could take six months to identify the right buyer.
Digital First representatives did not return a request for comment.
Two-character names themselves are a hot commodity for companies looking to make it easier for consumers to find them online, said Nicks, who pegged the average aftermarket price for such online destinations at $4 million.
For example, Facebook paid the American Farm Bureau $8.5 million in 2011 to acquire FB.com. In 2008, YellowPages.com paid $3.5 million to acquire YP.com. When you add in the geographical element of LA.com, which receives more than 1 billion search queries a month according to GoDaddy’s website, the asking price could soar significantly north of $4 million, Nicks said.
So who might be interested in buying it?
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a local tourism agency, travel company or even another news publication purchase this memorable domain name,” said Elliot Silver, publisher of DomainInvesting.com and founder of Top Notch Domains in Wellesley Hills, Mass.
“We’re excited to see who’s going to come out of the woodwork to say we own L.A.,” Nicks said.
Failing Up
Failure might be a part of life, but it might be an even bigger part of the tech startup world, where some have estimated that nine out of 10 new companies wind up failing.
Now, Innovate Pasadena is giving entrepreneurs an opportunity to showcase their spectacular failures, and what they learned from those experiences, for a chance to win $5,000.
The nonprofit group, which was formed in 2013 as a way to foster communication in the Pasadena tech community, has launched an Epic Failures Competition as a way for company founders to tell their tales.
The competition is open to tech, science and design businesses in the L.A. region and the winner will be announced during Innovate Pasadena’s second annual Connect Week on Oct. 22.
A panel of judges from the worlds of business, design, media and venture capital will evaluate each submission, which includes a two-minute video as well as written essays detailing an applicant’s failure and subsequent success, which can be defined however the applicant chooses.
“There are many, many versions of that story,” said Innovate Pasadena board member Mark Goodstein, who’s also a managing partner at Pasadena’s Design Accelerator.
The $5,000 prize could increase if the group can secure additional corporate sponsorships. Connect Week guests will also have the chance to select a people’s choice winner.
“I think the reality is that presentation will count for a lot,” said Goodstein, who co-chairs the organization’s program committee. “Part of it is showmanship.”
The contest is being operated in conjunction with Pasadena startup Skild, which helps businesses create competitions.
The deadline to apply is Oct. 9.
Rebooting
Culver City mobile-game developer Scopely has named Steve Seoane senior vice president of its publishing platform. Seoane most recently served as chief product officer at LifeLock. … Influencer marketing company Reelio has tapped former Apple Inc. digital advertising executive David Dickman as president. Dickman will work from the New York firm’s recently opened Santa Monica office.
Staff reporter Omar Shamout can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.
