Google Jumping into the Domain Registrar Game...
- Thread starter retraCC
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Ok, let's go off these numbers then -- Daily DNS Changes & Web Hosting Activity - DailyChanges.com
We can quote high, and say 50,000 domains per-day are being registered amongst ALL registrars, which works out to about 18 million/year. I have no idea what the margins on a domain reg company is, but I would say $2.50/domain/year is pretty optimistic, and probably far from reality after fees, staff, building, data center, taxes, etc.
But fuck it, let's stick with $2.50. If Google wants its 5 million domains and its $12.5mm profit, it has to get nearly a third of the market, which isn't going to happen. Say they get 2 million domain regs in the first year, giving them a nice $5mm profit (optimistically).
In contrast, Google profits about $12 billion/year. You're seriously going to tell me they're worried about making money from the domain reg fees? That's not even enough to make a Google exec pick up their smart phone, let alone sit up in their chair.
There's a difference. There's a company like say Namecheap, who is 100% in the domain reg game, and doing everything they can to provide you with the best possible service at the lowest possible price. On the flip side we have Google who doesn't give a shit if they compete or not, and just wants your data. I'll stick with the former.
We can quote high, and say 50,000 domains per-day are being registered amongst ALL registrars, which works out to about 18 million/year. I have no idea what the margins on a domain reg company is, but I would say $2.50/domain/year is pretty optimistic, and probably far from reality after fees, staff, building, data center, taxes, etc.
But fuck it, let's stick with $2.50. If Google wants its 5 million domains and its $12.5mm profit, it has to get nearly a third of the market, which isn't going to happen. Say they get 2 million domain regs in the first year, giving them a nice $5mm profit (optimistically).
In contrast, Google profits about $12 billion/year. You're seriously going to tell me they're worried about making money from the domain reg fees? That's not even enough to make a Google exec pick up their smart phone, let alone sit up in their chair.
There's a difference. There's a company like say Namecheap, who is 100% in the domain reg game, and doing everything they can to provide you with the best possible service at the lowest possible price. On the flip side we have Google who doesn't give a shit if they compete or not, and just wants your data. I'll stick with the former.
You're really not getting it are you? In addition to your 18 million new domains, the 300 million or so that are already registered need to be renewed every year. Keep in mind there's a new rush on registering domains too, with the thousands of new TLDs that are being released as we speak. But do you think the likes of GoDaddy or Namecheap makes the majority of their money off of domain name registrations? RAZE1 already said it, the money is in the up sells and cross sells man.
Webhosting, SSL certs, whois protection, website building services, after market domains and auctions, escrow services, email list management... who knows what they might get up to. Oh, and now that you've got that domain you're going to want to advertise it, or advertise on it! Google just happens to do a little of that too.
Do you even marketing brah?
Well, okey dokey, let's wait and and see what Google does. If they begin offering e-mail list management, escrow, and website building services, I'll eat my words. I doubt they will though, at least not to people who have a budget under $50k. Any of those services they do offer for under $50k will be free.
No, why?
Do you even long-term vision brah?
No, why?
Do you even long-term vision brah?Business is not all about money. Google has so much cash they can do whatever they want. It's about consolidation. Google doesn't want to be a search engine, they want to be the internet.
I took your original post as saying it was about consolidation, so they can know WHO is behind the domains, thus threatening every wickedfire SEO's dreams of moving out of ma's basement one day. Not consolidation for purely business reasons.
GoDaddy had $1.13 billion in revenue in 2013. They lost money on the year but I'm sure G figures they can add another billion in revenue annually pretty quickly and they can probably do it without the overspending that keeps GoDaddy from turning a profit.
Exactly, which is what I've been saying this whole time!
And take my name out of your avatar. You look like a fucken idiot.
how many domains registered in 2012: http://www.verisigninc.com/assets/domain-name-brief-dec2012.pdf
Godaddy market share: Internet 2012 in numbers
Its certainly less than 1 million domains per day and godaddy sees a little more than a third of that so godaddy is doing about 24,000 domain registrations per day.
While this is 2014 and the numbers could be higher or lower I am sure those figures could help cull the debate.
I can agree with the people who say this is a move for profit, but I think any savvy executive would make data collection part of the pitch. Google's departments and divisions may be separate for the most part, but they also maintain that façade (or reality) for market reasons.
I see google's implied pitch as this... "You can have private registrations without penalty. Protect your privacy, and stay cool with google search."