One of my few domain name regrets is that I didn’t acquire the Essential.com domain name when it was being marketed and auctioned by Hilco Streambank via its HilcoDomains.com platform in 2014. I am not sure if Essential.com was sold via auction or not, but it was acquired by Media Options, the company founded by  Andrew Rosener.
Andrew’s company sold Essential.com for a reported $250,000, according to NameBio. This sale ranked as the 25th largest public domain name sale in DNJournal’s annual domain name sales report. After the domain name was sold, it went under Whois privacy, where it has remained ever since.  This meant that the owner of the domain name has been  unknown.
Based on some news I read yesterday, it looks like we now know who acquired the Essential.com domain name and how this domain name will be used. This was confirmed in a tweet from Andrew Rosener.
According to articles in various tech publications  yesterday and today, a new mobile phone company has been launched by Andy Rubin, an entrepreneur and technology expert who co-founded and was CEO of Android. The company is called Essential Phone, and smartly, the company is using Essential.com. The company was also able to lock down the matching @essential Twitter handle, as Andy mentioned from his own Twitter account.
It is impressive that Andy Rubin and his team had the foresight to lock down Essential.com about a year and a half ago. I presume they had plans for the business and its branding back then, but many companies think about acquiring their domain name far too late. Once word leaks out about the branding, others could become interested in the domain name, and the domain name will likely become all the more valuable.
From my vantage point, the $250,000 sale price of Essential.com seems good for both the buyer and the seller. This is the kind of name I wouldn’t be shocked to see hit the sales reports for mid-6 figures, but turning it for $250,000 also seems like a win for the seller. My guess is both parties are happy with the deal.
Andrew bought it for $27,500. Nice return! 🙂
essential.com is worth a LOT more than $250K. but profit nonetheless.
Most people would spell this name a few different ways. I’m sure he realized this and nailed down 250k as a good number even though those of us that know how to spell it properly would probably value it higher.
HugeDomains owns EssentialPhone.com – that’d be cheaper and easier to target from an SEO standpoint.
But ultra brands, generics that are the exact word .com of the product or service, become bigger than the domain itself. That’s how it works.
Not anymore. A Clifton Ashley picked it up on May 30.
I guess this should be the case of cybersquatting. Is in it?
price seems far too low — this was a huge bargain for the buyer. seller must have really needed the cash
Essential is designed to be more than a phone. It will be a Home Assistant, a Home and Media Center, an AI hub.
Rubin created Android and sold it cheap to Google – in fact, maybe the best acquisition Google has made. Next: YouTube, DoubleClick, DeepMind.
Rubin claims “Essential” will be a “must have” product – hence, its name “Essential”.
Is Essential.com worth more than $250 K USD? Yes, but when you get involved in high stakes negotiating, the potential acquirer can walk away from the table, and choose a variation: Essential___.com just as Tesla did until it eventually traded up from TeslaMotors.com to Tesla.com
It’s a great ROI — great deal for both sides. Congrats!
$27.5k was indeed a good price.
@steve I remember many people thought Google way overpaid for Youtube when it was bought. Turns out it was a great buy, like Facebook / Instagram.
According to this article, Essential has raised $300 million at a $1 billion valuation:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-07/android-creator-s-phone-startup-raises-300-million