Sedo Selected as "Entrepreneur of the Year 2007" in Germany by Ernst & Young

Sedo Amongst the Entrepreneurial Elite in Esteemed Annual Competition

October 25, 2007; 03:27 AM
Cambridge, Mass. and Cologne, Germany – On October 19, 2007, Sedo was awarded Ernst & Young’s highly-coveted “Entrepreneur of the Year 2007” by a panel of industry and business experts. A gala was held in Frankfurt to celebrate the event and recognize the outstanding achievements of this year’s winners. Sedo was one of five entrepreneurial organizations selected from more than 350 companies and 98 finalists across five categories. Sedo won in the “Information and Communication Technology and Media” category.

“We’re honored to receive such prestigious recognition from Ernst & Young,” said Tim Schumacher, CEO of Sedo. “It is a testament to the hard work of the Sedo team and its commitment to innovation and market leadership in the domain name economy, a market driven by entrepreneurs from every corner of the world. We look forward to building on this achievement as we bring new services and offerings to better serve domainers as we enter 2008.”

The panel found Sedo, which was founded in 2001 by Tim Schumacher, Ulrich Priesner, Marius Wuerzner, and Ulrich Essman, as a shining example of what Ernst & Young seeks to celebrate through this annual awards competition. Sedo was recognized with this esteemed honor due to its high growth and excellent innovation. Another factor which was considered was the growth in revenue, exemplified by the fact that Sedo has seen over 100% increases in revenue yearly. The company itself has been growing as well, with more than 150 employees now working for Sedo in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Cologne, Germany.

“Sedo clearly demonstrates what many of the German companies have not incorporated into their strategy: a very early and successful internationalization. At Sedo, more than 70% of daily business occurs outside of Germany, and Sedo’s employees come from more than 20 different nations,” said Carsten Knop from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

2007 has been a landmark year of innovation and growth for Sedo, fueling its market leadership and recognition in this year’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition. With more than nine million domains for sale on its marketplace and more than 580,000 registered users worldwide, Sedo facilitates nearly 5 million $US in transactions monthly. Extending its leadership position in the domain name sector, in June 2007 Sedo acquired GreatDomains.com, the established marketplace focused exclusively on the trading of high-quality, generic domain names. In addition, Sedo established a strategic partnership with dotMobi to serve as the domain auction platform for premium dotmobi domains beginning in September 2007.

About the competition, “Entrepreneur of the Year”

Ernst & Young is the worldwide organizer of the “Entrepreneur of the Year”, which is held in 50 countries. This is the eleventh competition to be held in Germany. The award is given to businesses for their outstanding achievements and demonstration of excellence.

About Sedo

Sedo, an acronym for “Search Engine for Domain Offers,” is the leading online marketplace where users buy and sell domain names and websites. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world's largest database of domain names, with more than nine million listed for sale by their owners. The success of Sedo’s model has attracted a global membership base of more than 580,000 domain professionals. Sedo is majority-owned by AdLINK Group (ISIN DE0005490155 / German WKN: 549015), which is part of the German United Internet AG (ISIN DE0005089031/ WKN 508903). Sedo offers regional versions of its site for the UK (Sedo.co.uk), France (Sedo.fr), Germany (Sedo.de), and Spain (Sedo.com). For additional information, please visit www.sedo.com.