Table of Contents
Red.com
Primary color red has long been associated with a number of sentiments and emotions. In Europe, it’s associated with heat, passion, and anger, while in China and much of Asia, red is the color of good fortune.
Red.com is owned and operated by Red Digital Cinema, a camera company based in Irvine, California. Red was founded by Jim Jannard, who also founded the eyewear company, Oakley. According to DomainIQ, Red.com has been owned by the company since it was created in 2005.
White.com
White.com has been bought and sold by a couple of domain investors over the past decade. In 2013, Media Options announced that the company sold the domain for an undisclosed fee. The name sold again in 2019 with Booth.com, the holding company of Andy and James Booth, appearing on the WHOIS listing. Months later, the name moved into the hands of an unknown investor. As of writing, the domain is for sale via BrandForce.com.
Blue.com
According to DomainNameWire, Blue.com sold in 2006 for $500,000. Since then, however, the name doesn’t seem to have been used for much at all. WHOIS history suggests that the name has moved through the hands of numerous investors since 2006. As of writing, Blue.com is parked at Sedo.
Black.com
This is another domain that has changed hands several times over the years. Black.com was listed for sale in a Heritage Auctions event in 2017 with an asking price of $750,000. The name sold and between 2017 and 2018, Black.com appeared on the Media Options newsletter at prices ranging between $2.8 million and $3.5 million. The name seems to have sold again in 2020 and now hosts a plain holding page for Black.com GmbH, a company based in Vienna, Austria.
Green.com
Green, the color long associated with money. Unfortunately, the Green.com domain name hasn’t been put to use by its owners. Green.com is currently owned by IAC, a holding company that owns hundreds of brands including Vimeo, Ask.com, and DotDash. The name used to hold a website for an IAC venture, but the plug was pulled on that over a decade ago.
Orange.com
Orange.com is owned and operated by Orange S.A, formerly known as France Telecom. Aside from Orange.com, the company owns and operates a whole host of other domains including Orange.fr for France, Orange.be for Belgium, and Orange.pl for Poland.
Yellow.com
Like White.com, Yellow.com has also been associated with both Media Options and Andy Booth. According to a 2017 DomainGang article, Booth sold the domain to Internet Real Estate Ltd., a domain investment company founded by Media Options’ CEO, Andrew Rosener. By June 2018, Rosener’s company sold the name to blockchain company Yellow in a deal brokered by Media Options’ Chris Zuiker.
Pink.com
Pink.com is a domain name that I’ve previously covered on this blog. The name was acquired by Victora’s Secret’s owner, L Brands, for an undisclosed fee in 2020. As of writing, the domain redirects users to Victoria’s Secret’s website. PINK is a Victoria’s Secret brand, likely the reason behind the domain purchase.
Purple.com
Among domain investors, Purple.com may be one of the most famous color domains of all. The name was notably held Jeff Abrahamson from 1994 until 2017 when he sold the name to mattress company Purple for $900,000. Abrahamson has since paid homage to Purple.com with his new domain, ISoldPurple.com. As of writing, Purple.com hosts the mattress brand’s website.
Brown.com
Brown.com sold in a $300,000 deal in February 2006 and was acquired by entrepreneur and domainer Rick Latona. By 2011, the domain was in the hands of Brown Distributing, a family-owned distributor of beer. The company still owns and operates the domain, as of writing.
Here are the Canadian .ca equivalents to your picks…
https://dn.ca/post/8509/#p8509
A lot of color domains are problematic from a branding point of view, often negative, racial or not ideal associations which is why the level of development is quite low with this list. Of the 10 I would say 6 have some degree of issues. Purple, Orange, Red and Yellow are the best.
I can agree with the branding point. These color names are too generic. Therefore, when the owners are talking about their company names, they often need to also mention the domain extension in order to not confuse audience. Strong brands in the world do not need to do that.
Note that this view is based on personal experience and impression about one-word generic domains, not on statistics. It may be subjective.
That is not what I am saying at all. The name aren’t “too generic”, they are problematic because of existing associations with the colors and most big co’s would not use for that reason, white, black, green, brown, pink.
Nice rundown of the history (and present) of colors. I probably won’t ever pocket one of these, but color+animal are great to have!