CNN.com - Domain names once again fetch top dollar - Dec. 25, 2003: One more sign the technology sector is rebounding: An Internet domain name is again commanding seven figures. Last week, a Florida man sold men.com for $1.3 million, a healthy profit over the $15,000 he paid for it in 1997. The buyers, largely entertainment industry folks who have opted to remain anonymous behind the acquiring company, men.com LLC, want to create a portal for men.
You know ... that doesn't sound so much like a sign that the internet economy is rebounding as it is a sign that someone somewhere has WAY too much money. (I don't include the man who sold the domain in that; he just got lucky.)
Ryan Levy, vice president of marketing for men.com, said the company also has purchased more than 1,000 other domain names over the past year at fire-sale prices to use in conjunction with the new portal. The seller, Rick Schwartz, believes he could have gotten much more for men.com by waiting longer. But Schwartz, who owns more than 4,000 other domain names, said he wanted the money now -- so that he can buy others before prices really skyrocket.
Well, he got lucky, and he seems to be some thing of an idiot. Speculating in domain names again would seem spectacularly unwise, all things considered. Unless the name is associated with trademarks -- in which case he'll lose in court battles, most like -- surely most businesses can come up with names that aren't owned, one way or another. May not be the name they'd like the best, but still. (Either that, or they can hound nonspeculator domain name owners into surrendering title. Whatever works, I suppose.)
Posted by iain at December 26, 2003 10:58 PM
