We speculated about this when we first reported on Microsoft’s recent announcements regarding its software-in-the-cloud strategy, and now it’s official: istartedsomething and Download Squad have confirmed that the domain name office.com is now a property of the Redmond software behemoth, based on a simple WHOIS query.
Guess where Office Web (or whatever it’ll be called) be hosted soon?
While both istartedsomething and Download Squad report that the domain name was owned by Belgian startup ContactOffice before the transfer, the truth is that the domain name was owned by a U.S. resident and simply operated by ContactOffice, which markets virtual office solutions, under a revenue-share agreement. (I know this because I used to consult for ContactOffice, full disclosure).
No word about how much the former owner fetched for the attractive domain name, but I know for a fact he had been holding on to that one for a long time now, so likely the man is smiling all the way to the bank right now.
For more information about Microsoft’s plans, read our “The Complete Guide To Microsoft’s Office 2010″ post. An excerpt:
Most certainly a direct response to Google Apps, Microsoft is rolling out lightweight, FREE, Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. All based in the cloud, the web-based versions of these products have fewer features than their desktop cousins but still give users basic tools to edit and change documents.
(Image via istartedsomething)
“Dear former office.com members,
Screw you. We got some big bucks from M$ and left for permanent vacation in bahamas. If you insist on bugging us, go to theotherdomainweboughtforcheap.com
“
You’d have done exactly the same thing.
I know I would have.
you bet i would
Everybody loves millions of dollars! =D
i doubt that ContactOffice made anything from the transaction. The US resident who owned the domain name was the winner in this deal.
If he was smart, he used some of that money to buy another similiar premium domain and sent out mass messages to his members that he is transferring domain names.
James F.
Owner, [REMOVED IRRELEVANT SPAM LINK]
Office.com became contactoffice.com, by selling the domainname to M$ – man, they must have made a killing! They must be on their way to Hawaii to buy an island!
so what did MSFT have to pay for office.com? that had to be a high $$ domain purchase. Who ever owned it I hope is drinking cocktails on an island somewhere. lol
They should censor the word office so that it appears as ******.com. Since Robin is pro censorship I figure he should start the ****** revolution.
what the *** are you on about?
sdfjafjwj is f**** high on the stuff that’s wack.
If you think Robin is pro censorship you obviously didn’t read his post on posterous yesterday.
Any guesses as to how much it would have sold for???? I say $5,000,000
I was thinking it was worth 3-5. But given that Microsoft was involved, and the money that they have, I would guess 5-7.
its closer to 1.1 – 1.3 million
7 million? are you kidding me?
@basementdad
Are YOU kidding!? Hopefully, the owner rejected anything less than $10 million. Clearly, you don’t comprehend:
1. How much money MS spends on advertising alone.
2. How critical the name Office.com will be to getting people using MS’s Office online.
MS would’ve paid a lot more. They know its worth. We’re talking about companies that spend many hundreds of millions on ads every year. Q: What is the ultimate effective form of advertising in this case? A: The perfect/obvious domain. How much is that worth? It’s pure gold …hard to put a figure to that. We’re not talking about some bland word or generic word like “business.com.” MS “Office” is a substantial brand, so the name itself for online use would be worth paying tens of millions to get, *at least.* Just think how much money MS will continue to make off of online Office signups in the face of Google Apps.
Hopefully, the seller knew what was up (that it was likely MS wanting it) despite any middlemen broker.
What a smart move by MSFT. Even if it cost them a ton, it’s a great buy.
Yeh, too bad it took them twenty years to do it.
With Microsoft involved? $10 million easy round number to shoo that company away.
It is a great buy! People will go there and believe that it is the real Internet office .
MICROSOFT IS GROWING TALLER AND TALLER…………
Genius! I am sure someone at google is wondering why they did not snap up that domain name.
Regardless of whether or not they want to distance themselves from the Office association, people would have started to associate the office.com domain as the web version of the desktop product and that could make it easier for them to get more people to use their web apps.
I have a feeling that a real battle is about to start. Somehow, I think Microsoft will be the victor.
Dude, relax, they only bought a domain for the online version of the office products. Not like they bought Google or something.
wise move for MS. too bad they dont have one for their “decision engine” bing. maybe they should buy decide.com.
Why don’t you try decisionengine.com and see if MS owns it or not.
Think about the bargain price they could’ve bought it for back in the mid-nineties.
If only they somehow had known back then, that this domain was relevant for them …
No, they didn’t know it back then. Bill Gates thought the Internet is a fad, if I recall correctly.
good move. lol hans. it’s okay though because it seems they’ve seen the light. uhm i still like openoffice though…hmm…i might have to switch over to office.com
They used a middleman to purchase it. Marksmen. Although if the Office.com group sold it off to a middleman for a sum under $5M they were pretty stupid. They had to have seen this coming. Like MSFT wasn’t going to have to move to the Cloud eventually…
One thing, Office.com not doubt had good positioning for demanding almost anything. They also hold the trademark (which I’m sure came with the domain) for Office.com http://tess2.us...4009:2p5rib.2.2
You can look for the disclosure in their next quarterly report, but I don’t think they’ll have to disclose it unless it was for a huge amount of money.
Side note: Winstar Communications (of NY) owned the Trademark from 99′ to 06′. Tom Graham of Office.com (DC) has owned the domain from 2-19-03 up until this transaction.
techcrunch should find out how much he got for the domain and do a showcase showdown contest for the commenter who comes closest to the actual sale price
They’ll have to disclose it on SEC filings unless a NDA was filed. Had to be high $
I would say $5 million. Considering server.com just sold for almost 800k, office.com has a lot more power in the business world.
I wont join the bandwagon and speculate the amount, but what I think is the amount should be some where close to the business value of the company at-least for me that would be the case. The domain is sometimes the brand value of entire organization and it’s complete business actually.
I would not like to lose my business by selling my domain and If I do then i would surely look for the compensation of my business while valuing the domain. I hope this company also did something on these lines.
Sonal Maheshwari
USourceIT: Your single source for all IT needs
I agree with Sonal…
If I lose my business by selling the domain name, then the amount I’ll ask for will be bigger (for the domain + for my business).
I don’t wish to ruin the party, but does it matter? Is Microsoft going to win or keep any amount of customers because they now own Office.com?
I think customers and markets are a little more sophisticated than that.
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz