Prior to getting into the call advertising business, Marchex was a big acquirer of domain names. But that’s no longer the Seattle company’s focus. And, as a result, the Russ Horowitz-led advertising company continues to sell off its old portfolio. One of those transactions occurred last week, and it was a big one.
Marchex spokesman Jim Cullinan confirms that they sold Foodie.com, though he declined to disclose the buyer or the purchase price. VentureBeat, however, notes that the domain was gobbled up by Glam Media founder Samir Arora for more than $100,000.
That’s a potentially interesting move, with VentureBeat speculating that the female-focused media site is in the midst of launching a new food vertical. Glam is already a top 10 online media property, with comScore estimating that the company attracts 87 million monthly unique visitors.
The 8-year-old company also recently unveiled Bliss.com, a health and wellness site that has yet to formally launch. Food, recipes and other cooking-related information could fit nicely with the other media outlets in the Glam family.
Marchex’s Cullinan said that the company will continue to entertain offers for other domain names. In 2004, Marchex spent $164 million to buy thousands of domain names from Name Development Ltd. At the time, the portfolio included Debts.com, CareerInfo.com, LasVegasVacations.com and many others. The company also owns hundreds of zip code domains, such as 98117.com and 90210.com
