This past week, publishing giant The Washington Post Co.
The company was in no real danger of losing the domain. Registrars allow weeks to go by as a grace period before releasing domains. Still, it's humbling to see a media giant make such a rookie mistake. You could probably hear rivals like Knight Ridder
But let's hope they don't laugh too hard. It can happen to anyone. Last year, Vivendi Universal's
There was a time when this domain name business looked to be huge. It's essentially why Verisign
Perhaps that's why, even as Register.com posted a profit this past quarter, it still doesn't get investors excited. After an ambitious self-tender reduced the total shares outstanding to 23.5 million in September, the company has $3.84 a share in cash. The market has marked the stock up less than $2 from that. That's what some members of our Fool Community would consider a Green Gene stock.
As for Washington Post Co., maybe it just had its mind on more enticing matters. On Friday, Whitney Tilson sang the company's praises, though more for its Kaplan education business than its flagship media empire. If nothing else, the WashingtonPost.com blunder sent a message to Corporate America -- keep your domains close, and your domain registrations current.
Are companies that trade near their net working capital attractive or troublesome? If they are able to retain their liquidity levels, is there really limited downside? Think you can handle the quest for deep value? All this and more -- in the Green Gene Stocks discussion board. Only on Fool.com.