If you love your business and care about its future, take a few minutes to read this. It could change how you think about your company’s most important address.
01The opportunity
WOW! Are you looking for the WORLD HEADQUARTERS and BRAND your business will use FOREVER?
A good domain name is easy to remember.
A GREAT domain name is hard to forget!
I own approximately 6,500 domains, assembled one name at a time through hand registrations, private purchases, and public auctions. Selected names may be available for acquisition from $500,000 to $35 million, with opportunities for long-term leases, joint ventures, advertising, financing, and other creative business arrangements.
The question is what you can BUILD on the right name.
02Real estate and oil wells
Since 1995, I have viewed domain names as real estate and their direct-navigation traffic as oil wells. Oil fuels transportation. Traffic fuels businesses on the Internet. A powerful domain can give you both a valuable location and a continuing stream of people interested in what you offer.
Digital oceanfront property. A foundation for a skyscraper. An asset with the potential to produce income and generational wealth.
That was the opportunity I saw when few understood the need, the importance, or the value. I invested millions and reinvested the revenue those domains produced. My belief was that the right names would appreciate enormously as businesses came to understand their importance.
Today, I value the portfolio at more than $750 million. It has generated more than $100 million, including approximately $30 million in advertising revenue. My sites have received more than 700 million direct-navigation visits, excluding traffic generated through partnerships.
- $750M+Portfolio value
- $100M+Generated
- ≈ $30MAdvertising revenue
- 700M+Direct-navigation visits
Those numbers explain why I have never been anxious to sell.
They also explain why I am interested in partners who can see something bigger.
03Your world headquarters
Your website is your business’s world headquarters, your own sales channel, and the place where people learn about you and decide whether to do business with you. Your advertising, email, social media, phone, text, and chat should help bring customers into that business.
A memorable, easy-to-spell domain puts wind at your back. It supports word of mouth, passes the radio test, and makes it easier for people to find you again. If someone hears your name, can they remember it, spell it, and reach YOU?
That advantage can work for your company for decades.
04Thirty years of proof
I have spent more than 30 years putting this understanding into practice. I was voted Greatest Domain Investor of All Time in 2021, have been recognized three times as Greatest Domainer of All Time, was named 2005 Domainer of the Year, and am a member of the Domain Hall of Fame.
Howard Neu and I also built T.R.A.F.F.I.C., financing and producing 28 conventions across four continents over 10 years. We brought domain owners, developers, business leaders, service providers, and attorneys together to move this industry forward.
But the business results tell the story best.
- Porno.comI bought Porno.com for $42,000 in 1997 and sold it in 2015 for $8.88 million cash. During the 18 years I owned it, it generated approximately $15 million without hosting adult content. I monetized the traffic through parking and advertising buyers.
- Men.comI bought Men.com for $15,000 and sold it in 2003 for approximately $1.3 million. Before the sale, it had already generated more than $250,000 in advertising revenue.
- Candy.comCandy.com sold for $3 million plus an equity stake. The buyer was an established candy business that wanted a stronger position online. Total Exit: $12 million.
- Punchbowl.comPunchbowl.com was acquired by the company using MyPunchbowl.com in a transaction involving cash and stock.
- iReport.comCNN acquired iReport.com for $750,000.
- Teem.comEventBoard rebranded to Teem following a transaction involving cash and equity.
Different businesses. Different arrangements. The same underlying opportunity: a stronger name on which to build.
The benefit extends beyond the purchase itself. A stronger identity can help a business be remembered, referred, found, and taken seriously. That is an invisible dividend that can continue long after the transaction.
05The cost of a location
Now consider the cost of a physical location.
What does it cost to open just ONE department store? Find the site, negotiate the lease, obtain permits, build it out, install fixtures, flooring, and electrical systems, stock it, and hire the staff.
Then add 10 years of rent, utilities, insurance, payroll, taxes, maintenance, security, and shrinkage. At the end of the lease, the landlord may require you to move.
That store primarily serves a local area and operates limited hours. Your online headquarters can serve people around the world, 24 hours a day.
An online business still has operating costs. But when you compare the investment in a physical location with the cost of a powerful domain, the perspective changes.
LOCATION matters in both worlds.
Yet people will commit enormous sums to a building while treating the address of their online business as an afterthought.
Being cheap can be very expensive.
06What I am looking for
I have thousands of names whose potential will outlast my lifetime. My job is to find people who can put them to their HIGHEST AND BEST USE.
I am interested in brilliant, profitable ideas backed by the talent, technical ability, business judgment, and resources to execute. Proven results matter. So does a clear understanding of the audience and how the business will make money.
A great idea can be life-changing. I love great ideas, and I want to hear from people who think big enough to make something meaningful happen.
Some opportunities involve acquisition. Others may suit a lease, partnership, joint venture, or another creative arrangement. The structure depends on the domain, the business, and the people involved.
These are valuable assets. If you think the price is too high, consider whether your idea for the name is too small.
I would rather overpay for quality and location than get a bargain on shit.
The domain lists are a sampling of the opportunities available. Review them with a business in mind. Identify the audience, the commercial purpose, and what you have the ability to build.
The potential of the right domain is as big as your idea.
Bring me the vision and the ability to execute. Let’s explore what we can build.
