Company going Bankrupt

**fab** · 08-21-2007, 03:21 AM

What generally happens to a companies domain, when it goes into bankruptcy procedures?

**furca** · 08-21-2007, 08:07 AM

From what i've read before... the owner/contact of the domain generally remains owner of it unless he does not wish to renew .. and then it goes through the cycle.

**DNQuest.com** · 08-21-2007, 09:41 AM

They can also sell off the domain since it is an asset, with the proceeds going to creditors.

**DomainMagnate** · 08-21-2007, 09:48 AM

Some go to auctions, some expire and then go to auctions

~MG

**Acro** · 08-21-2007, 09:58 AM

Many, *many* corporate names of companies that went bankrupt in the late 90's and early '00s expired and dropped, or even were sold "under the table" for a small fraction of their once grand IPO value.

I own a domain of a company that MSFT once paid millions in cash to acquire. They absorbed the business and the domain expired.

**TheLegendaryJP** · 08-21-2007, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by Duncan

From what i've read before... the owner/contact of the domain generally remains owner of it unless he does not wish to renew .. and then it goes through the cycle.

Not correct.

It is an asset and should be auctioned off accordingly. I have run into names former CEO's and Presidents have kept for themselves ( their not as stupid as you think especially when receiving offers they see the value ).

I had an agreed price to buy a name some months ago, then found out they just went bankrupt and thus helped in moving it to a auction by the bankruptcy court. Low and behold the former owner of the company was allowed to bid against me as they were a private individual and not a rep. of the company anymore, really BS laws imo. I decided to drop out and let someone else pay off the owner who was also a creditor of the company and therefore shill bid the shit out of it Im sure or had the motive too. Not your common situation but it just happened two weeks ago. And do you think the states lawyer told me who the other bidder was and their motives, that any price would result in 80% ( If I recall right ) going right back to them the MAJOR creditor , lol not on your life. Would you bid against this person ? , you'd have to be a moron, uninformed or just dont care and if you just dont care what you pay for things you have no business sense. btw the name may be revealed I don't know if I want to say it but there is a couple guys here who know it.

**DomainMagnate** · 08-21-2007, 10:10 AM

Any idea where to find those companies that just went bankrupt?

~MG

**TheLegendaryJP** · 08-21-2007, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Michael_Goldman

Any idea where to find those companies that just went bankrupt?

~MG

...

**DomainMagnate** · 08-21-2007, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by TheLegendaryJP

...

I've checked some sources, but all these companies usually have domains like joeshmoeinc.com, danandgilberconsultingservices.net etc. finding something worthy is extremely rare.

~MG

**TheLegendaryJP** · 08-21-2007, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by Michael_Goldman

I've checked some sources, but all these companies usually have domains like joeshmoeinc.com, danandgilberconsultingservices.net etc. finding something worthy is extremely rare.

~MG

I concur, very rare to find a gem, infact a waste of time and Ive given up on it.

**katherine** · 08-21-2007, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by TheLegendaryJP

...
It is an asset and should be auctioned off accordingly.
..

It should. In theory.

**fab** · 08-21-2007, 12:09 PM

Any idea where to find those companies that just went bankrupt?

~MG

This company I found out through a local newspaper article. I assume they have good quality traffic, however, they've already put up a notice on their site, that the business is having problems.

**Dale Hubbard** · 08-21-2007, 02:22 PM

Companies don't go bankrupt in the UK. Individuals declare bankruptcy. Corporate entities go into dissolution or receivership and the company's assets are controlled by the Official Receiver. Generally, an OR has no idea about domain names unless the company directors either declare it, or have it on their balance sheet; therefore the name will drop according to (in this case) Nominet's cycle. Expect this to change as ORs become aware of the value of domain names and start waking up to the prospect of selling them off for the benefit of the creditors' pool.

Normal practice is for principals not to "mention" the domain assets and then quietly move them to "new" owners.

So, if you want to check out this market in the UK, look in the "London Gazette" and contact the OR's office.

**Giode** · 08-21-2007, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by Acroplex

Many, *many* corporate names of companies that went bankrupt in the late 90's and early '00s expired and dropped, or even were sold "under the table" for a small fraction of their once grand IPO value.

I own a domain of a company that MSFT once paid millions in cash to acquire. They absorbed the business and the domain expired.

Care to share the name of the domain

Originally Posted by Acroplex

Many, *many* corporate names of companies that went bankrupt in the late 90's and early '00s expired and dropped, or even were sold "under the table" for a small fraction of their once grand IPO value.

I own a domain of a company that MSFT once paid millions in cash to acquire. They absorbed the business and the domain expired.

Care to share the name of the domain

Nice....What the heck happened with my above post? I somehow created a Siamese post

**whitebark** · 08-21-2007, 04:55 PM

I would imagine there are times the domain name purchase/renewal fees don't make it onto the official ledgers. Add in that many companies rely on the IT department to keep the domain registered, and once they are laid off the domain simply slides through the cracks and ends up expiring. I also suspect that many companies specializing in representing creditors know that some domains have great value and purposely hunt them down.

**Gerry** · 08-21-2007, 05:13 PM

the best source perhaps would be the local news or business RSS feeds. But all of this seems to be a headache in itself. Unless you are prepared to put some major money into backorders and even then you many have to sit for awhile until it dropped (if it drops) and still may not end up with the prize. If it is a GoDaddy domain then it ends up on TDNAM auction with traffic stats posted (falsely inflated, of course) and you will have to pay dearly.

This oddly enough happened on a domain name that I sold a few years ago. The company went out of business after 54 years in the PR business. I sold it for a nice sum, it dropped in a couple year's time and was with GD and ended up on TDNAM. It was a very good name but ended up bringing about just a fraction less than I sold it for. Had I been able to get it at a reasonable price I would have considered buying it back at auction. But I let it go as I would then have been at a break even point of sale vs. repurchase. Then in order to be profitable, I would have needed more on the sales end to be profitable in the ROI where I had already been.

It was a business decision. No regrets. Happy with the ROI on the initial sale.

I think this might pay off in the long run but it would be time based and not something I feel like taking on. Plus much research. I had thought about this in the distant past and had thought about all the companies out there merging but usually the one losing it's company name keeps a re-direct site up for a year or two.