One of the world's ultimate geo domains,  NewYork.com, has been sold in a seven-figure transaction (due to an NDA, the exact price was not disclosed). The news came from industry veteran Fred Mercaldo, who worked with both the buyer, Denver-based Peter Niederman, and the seller, the world famous Cirque du Solieil (based in Montreal) to make the landmark sale happen.

As we have previously reported, Fred assembled an extraordinary portfolio of exact-match large market U.S. city .com domain names and marketed them to major newspaper publishers and media companies that are transitioning from print to digital delivery. The primary problem has been that many waited too long to make the move and are no longer in a strong enough financial position to act on the opportunity.

Mercaldo noted, "The collapse in print ad revenue resulted in poor corporate valuations for many national newspapers, causing their stock prices and cash positions to crater. As a result, we turned our attention to selling each market individually and I think this sale of NewYork.com will draw the kind of international attention assets of this quality in the geo domain space deserves. Over the past 14 months, the Scottsdale.com, LosAngeles.com and SanDiego.com brands from the portfolio have also been sold."  

Like NewYork.com, LosAngeles.com went to Niederman, a very successful commercial real estate investor who already owned geo domain gems Denver.com, SanFrancisco.com, Seattle.com and Boulder.com. Peter said, “We are considering developing NewYork.com, as the opportunity is massive for this exceptional brand.  However, Fred and I are also talking about the possibility of packaging the name with SanFrancisco.com for the right Buyer.  Fred and I met years ago during the Associated Cities days and he did a great job on this transaction for both parties. Fred also represented me in acquiring both LosAngeles.com and SanFrancisco.com."

Fred Mercaldo

Peter Niederman

Niederman added, "My main business is real estate but since selling Kentwood Real Estate in Denver a few years ago, I’ve been mainly focusing on some large commercial projects. There is a direct correlation in the real estate business and the pure City domain name business.  I believe these digital assets will continue to appreciate in value in the coming years.”

As our regular readers know, Fred has been a long time domain developer, having run Scottsdale.com very profitably for over a decade.  He now focuses on his brokerage services, dealing primarily with major City names. “We have some amazing inventory available including Manhattan.com, Malibu.com, TheHamptons.com, Glasgow.com, Oakland.com, TheMiddleEast.com, TheUnitedStates.com and many others," Fred told us, adding "It is hard work but I love what I do. It is very rewarding to be involved in a transaction that results in both parties with the elusive win-win scenario.  Both parties in the NewYork.com transaction are very pleased." 

Now, in marketing the individual domains, Fred said "I’ve stated many times on LinkedIn posts that I am looking for the smartest person in the room to acquire these assets - well, as the NewYork.com acquisition proved yet again, the smartest person in the room is Peter Niederman!"  

(Posted April 10, 2023)  

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