Thoughts

Andrew Miller

July 27, 2025

Fractionalizing Domains

This week, i read an X post discussing the concept of fractional sales of the most valuable domain names. I saw a comment on the post by my friend Josh Reason and I added the following; “The value of these domains is what it is because, inefficiency and to a degree, lack of liquidity, goes with that and is a good thing. For those of us who invest and advise on the top 1/10 percent of domains, fractionalization would provide much less upside for an owner of that domain than matching up with the one buyer that understands how they or their company will extract exponential long term value. I have been an early adopter on most things blockchain, and for the long tail of domains, there is definitely some utility and value but make no mistake about it, if you are in the one word highest end .com space, understand that illiquidity and inefficiency are your very good friends”. Sometimes I am a broken record when it comes to stating that exact match & category defining domain names require the utmost test of patience. I have not changed my tune for 26 years. With the most valuable domain assets, certainly if I am overseeing their sale, it is not a matter of “if” but rather, “when”. As I often say, in a window of time which can span months or years, there is likely a single buyer that will pay the true value for an exact match or category defining domain. There will be many no’s until we find the yes. Relationships are developed, and the domain needs to marinate, even with the ultimate end all be all user for that domain. If the market was efficient and very liquid, the value for both the seller and the end-user buyer would be diminished.

Communication is Key

This week we were engaged by a category leading company to help them acquire a domain that is strategically important to their business. In some respects we were brought in to clean up a mess created by a previous representative. Whether it’s negotiating a high value domain name acquisition or sale, or for that matter, a transaction for anything important, it is critical to listen and communicate carefully, as it can make the difference between a successful win-win outcome and a potentially massive misstep. The subtleties of negotiation are what separate wins and losses.

All articles