Thoughts

Andrew Miller

October 19, 2025

Dealflow!

This was an encouraging week regarding domain name transaction activity, after a start of Q4 that seemed to lack the urgency and momentum of a typical October. Two sizable transactions closed and we at Hilco Digital Assets continued to engage in ongoing serious discussions with buyers for many of the exact match & category defining domain names we own and represent. I am expecting more marquee domain deals to close in 2025 and others to be set up for a win-win Q1 2026 transaction.

Andrew Sorkin’s “1929”

My summer camp friend Andrew Ross Sorkin published his highly anticipated book “1929” this week. It is worth reading. I have been clear that while I remain very bullish on technology, AI, and the most valuable domain assets, I sense some caution, with so much economic and political uncertainty, and an eventual AI bubble burst. Sorkin’s book takes readers deep into the lead-up, the crash, and the aftermath of the 1929 stock-market collapse, and “portrays the crash as a blueprint for understanding financial mania, systemic vulnerability, and human psychology in markets.” It draws parallels to today’s climate and authoritatively claims a similar correction is forthcoming, without predicting when (which of course, no one can but I thought he should have taken a stance). The key takeaways were; financial booms often mask accumulating risk — what seems sustainable may be fragile; crashes don’t just devastate markets, they reshape societies and institutions; understanding history helps: patterns repeat.

Our Conviction In This Asset Class

The most premium exact match and category defining domain names, the asset class I have spent 27 years investing in and advising on, have always been one of the strongest assets even when corrections or recessions happen, and I expect that to continue to hold up. There is no more strategic or valuable investment that a company can make, across all facets of its business, than in its exact match brand or category defining .com domain name.There is nothing more important than protecting your brand and establishing category leadership, trust, authority, and recall, both defensively and offensively, from your email address to ROI on OOH advertising, paid and organic search, paid social, and with investors for funding and exit. All of our domain assets can be seen here: https://hilcodigital.com/all-domains/

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