What ever happened to the dot.com millionaires?

CureCancer · 02-09-2010, 07:27 AM

The office that once housed a dot.com company valued at £20m is now just a storage closet filled with toilet products and a vacuum cleaner.

"It's a very surreal experience. It's actually quite depressing," says Benjamin Cohen, returning to the place where 10 years ago, aged just 17, he became the UK's first dotcom millionaire - at least on paper.

Early in the year 2000, the bubble was about to burst on the first wave of internet start-ups.

The Nasdaq index of technology shares peaked in March 2000 before losing 80% of its value in two years - about $5 trillion in paper wealth.

Mr Cohen says that back then "the value of a company could be based on how much positive publicity you got."

Adding "e-" or dotcom to a company name could dramatically alter its share price

His company, JewishNet - a religious community site - was reported in the national newspapers as being worth £5m.

This turned out to be his own father's estimate, based on a similar site's more official valuation.

But the headlines spread and suddenly Mr Cohen was thrust into the spotlight.

????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/638830-what-ever-happened-dot-com-millionaires.html
Mr Cohen was touted as the "first millionaire teenage dotcom success story" by Jon Ronson of the Evening Standard.

The London Jewish News offered to invest in the company and a partnership was formed.

It was a time when adding "e-" or dotcom to a company name could dramatically alter its share price, a time when investors were willing to risk vast sums of money on young computer-savvy entrepreneurs with little more than idea and a catchy company name.

BBC News - What ever happened to the dot.com millionaires?

Joep · 02-09-2010, 11:24 AM

Paul Phillips, among pokerplayers known as 'Dot-com' still is millionaire.

gazzip · 02-09-2010, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by ~HOPE~

It was a time when adding "e-" or dotcom to a company name could dramatically alter its share price, a time when investors were willing to risk vast sums of money on young computer-savvy entrepreneurs with little more than idea and a catchy company name.

Maybe that was part of the problem, they did'nt buy the best generic domains with traffic like shoes.com etc, The real Internet-savvy entrepreneurs that did are now sitting pretty or taking cruises around the world

.

XDuncan · 02-09-2010, 03:23 PM

They are coming, soon, to a town near you

02-09-2010, 07:27 AM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
CureCancer Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 4,222	What ever happened to the dot.com millionaires? The office that once housed a dot.com company valued at £20m is now just a storage closet filled with toilet products and a vacuum cleaner. "It's a very surreal experience. It's actually quite depressing," says Benjamin Cohen, returning to the place where 10 years ago, aged just 17, he became the UK's first dotcom millionaire - at least on paper. Early in the year 2000, the bubble was about to burst on the first wave of internet start-ups. The Nasdaq index of technology shares peaked in March 2000 before losing 80% of its value in two years - about $5 trillion in paper wealth. Mr Cohen says that back then "the value of a company could be based on how much positive publicity you got." Adding "e-" or dotcom to a company name could dramatically alter its share price His company, JewishNet - a religious community site - was reported in the national newspapers as being worth £5m. This turned out to be his own father's estimate, based on a similar site's more official valuation. But the headlines spread and suddenly Mr Cohen was thrust into the spotlight. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/638830-what-ever-happened-dot-com-millionaires.html Mr Cohen was touted as the "first millionaire teenage dotcom success story" by Jon Ronson of the Evening Standard. The London Jewish News offered to invest in the company and a partnership was formed. It was a time when adding "e-" or dotcom to a company name could dramatically alter its share price, a time when investors were willing to risk vast sums of money on young computer-savvy entrepreneurs with little more than idea and a catchy company name. BBC News - What ever happened to the dot.com millionaires? __________________ End User Domain Name Appraisal - How to find End Users - How to Email End Users Domaining Blog - Domain Name Landing Page Templates - Domain Name Appraisal Domaining Tools - How to sell Domain Names - How to buy Domain Names

02-09-2010, 03:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
XDuncan NamePros Regular Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 570	They are coming, soon, to a town near you __________________ SurfingForum.com, SkateboardForum.com, WakeboardForum.com

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02-09-2010, 11:24 AM	#2 (permalink)
Joep NamePros Regular Join Date: May 2008 Location: Netherlands Posts: 409	Paul Phillips, among pokerplayers known as 'Dot-com' still is millionaire.

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