Right in the middle of Oversee.net’s DomainFEST Global conference comes the news that Oversee has sold Moniker and Snapnames to Luxembourg’s KeyDrive, S.A. KeyDrive describes itself this way:
KeyDrive S.A./Luxembourg includes the Key-Systems Group in St. Ingbert/Saarland (Germany), the NameDrive Group (Luxembourg/USA) as well as Moniker and SnapNames (Florida and Oregon/USA) with more than 160 employees.After the takeover of Moniker in January 2012 the group ranks among the TOP 10 biggest ICANN registrars in 6th place in relation to the number of managed gTLD domain names; the group currently administers a total of more than 6 million domains.
Andrew Allemann of Domain Name Wire analyzed it this way:
Both SnapNames and Moniker were challenging acquisitions for Oversee.net. SnapNames lost its most important domain registrar, Network Solutions, shortly after the acquisition in 2007. It then dealt with the so-called “halvarez” scandal where a SnapNames employee was found shill bidding in auctions. Moniker was also a challenge, primarily because it was purchased at the peak in early 2008. Oversee.net paid about $24 million for the domain registrar. Although the sale price hasn’t been disclosed, you can be it took a sizable loss on the sale.Moniker and SnapNames Sold to KeyDrive S.A.
I have a few domains at Moniker, and I won’t be in a hurry to move them. It remains to be seen if their reputation for securty remains a part of their marketing. Many of the U.S. employees keep their jobs for now.
NameMonetizer 
Leave a Reply