news Michael Castello Closes $1.5 Million Sale of Room.com to Cap 26-Year Saga from Hand Registration to 7-Figure Sale

[Ron Jackson]

Regular readers may remember a 2019 DN Journal Cover Story in which domain industry pioneer Michael Castello gave us the inside story of how he got a $1.5 million contract to sell a domain he co-owned with friend and nationally syndicated radio icon Walt "Baby" Love. The deal for Room.com, a name wisely purchased to upgrade from GetRoom.com, allowed the buyer to pay for the domain under a five-year installment plan. That company just sent in a check for $250,000 to close the deal.

We connected with Michael to get an update on his history with the domain from first registration to its eventual seven-figure sale, a history that stretches back 26 years. "Back in the mid 1990's, during one of our recording sessions, Walt asked if I could get him involved in domain names," Michael recalled. I asked him how much he wanted to spend, and he said, "How about $3,000?" Our arrangement was that I would find and register the names, and we would split their sales or website businesses 50/50. He handed me his credit card, and I registered 30 generic domain names, including Room.com." Read the full story here:
https://www.dnjournal.com/articles/2023/room.com/michael-castello.htm

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Good on him. I thought he was just going up and down the UK on trains, but looks like he's a domainer too.

 

[pb]

I know it's a lot of money but I can't help to think that such a name could do better.
home.com was sold for eight digits, right?

 

[Jv1999]

The most amazing thing about the article is that

Powwow .com sold for 25k in 1996. I didn't know domains were already selling high back then....

PowWow right now wouldn't go for 25k I think? There's a double letter between words... so powow would be a leaking alternative

 

[MadAboutDomains]

The most amazing thing about the article is that

Powwow .com sold for 25k in 1996. I didn't know domains were already selling high back then....

PowWow right now wouldn't go for 25k I think? There's a double letter between words... so powow would be a leaking alternative

Back then domain sales reports probably meant the domain actually sold for that. Nowadays they mean an auction was arbitrarily bid up to a price, but actually it sold for $5. But it's good publicity to pretend it was higher.