I think I agree with aspects in everyone's post yet I'm inclined to be bullish about these kinds of names. I understand harleyx's arguments but I don't think it's an exclusive scenario. I see large companies beginning to realise they can do amazing things with a good name plus their already established brand.
This is how I see it. I think America.com transcends the million dollar idea vs. dollars problem. MySpace sunk tons into getting their value, I understand this, but a broadcast corp could make a 60Minutes style flagship program "This is America tonight on LLL" X trillions of impressions over the decades via screen media, radio, domain etc, not only the domain (see $350M business.com with and without a business at $7+).
By adding the domain to that property setting (already in the billion dollar range), the domain becomes a value enhancing proposition (like you or I might enjoy a new mouse - not a real big deal in the scheme of things), not a drag of a thing to get off the ground or relying too much on just direct nav traffic, although I'd like to know those stats - How about BOA simplifying their image by pointing everyone to America.com in their entire corporate marketing mix - AOL could use it in the same way - any huge company with America in the acronym or name or any big company with an overtly patriotic back-story.
Amex.com is getting a little old as a brand to me, sounds too close to the big screen cinema co - maybe they'd be able to use it.. what other names do they own other than longer or lesser acronyms? (I don't know but I'd think they'd like to bite).
American Airlines have aa.com (too much like Al-anon to me) - maybe they think that a 15year campaign around the theme "America - home to the world" might bite at America.com - great opportunities for lots of similar ad-exec dreams.
Even if there are entities with the money, I'm guessing that a few may not want to be seen to be spending too large an amount on something difficult to explain to shareholders. That could take out a few logical finance related players.
For example Bank of A* might be a natural fit for the name (like when Citi bought mortgage.com) but would they want to post a record setting auction figure now that the difficult banking situation is common knowledge? Maybe they could live with a win at $3M but nothing over - the PR could be highly dangerous over 7 to 15M. Maybe the lower range could help the brand - new marketing around the domain at a time when those who wisely market themselves can outplay those who don't. Depends on the board, the level of complacency or panic in their management and so on.
Maybe the famous band wants the name.. how many million records did they sell again? Could consolidate their catalog and satisfy fans for generations - honestly, nothing's out of the question with a name like this.
I wouldn't be surprised if a few domain investors/companies genuinely bid it up towards 5M hoping to sell for multiples after the broader economy revs again or with a 2-5 year horizon. That could certainly panic a natural fit corporate entity seeing the chance of a lifetime slipping away - someone could well pull all the stops under pressure and keep bidding. "Do I go down in history as the credit market's bravest honcho? Or do I go back to the office knowing this company will never have this chance again? Do I bid too much and risk bad press, angry shareholders and tanking share prices" DOH..
There is a tendency for those running successful businesses to keep up appearances also. What would the staff at Amex think if the managers all showed up in old beat up cars, wore badly fitting clothes etc? That might work for some companies, don't get me wrong but for a big finance company, it would be a dangerous change of style. Everyone would think the worst - ie., this place is going broke and I'm looking for another job somewhere else starting today! So given that mindset, perhaps panic won't come into play when bidding gets over the reserve.
Although any panic might mean nothing in the end when a South American or overseas billionaire takes it home. Maybe the FED won't let that happen and will organise a consortium to keep it in corporate hands at taxpayer expense?
