domains The Man Squatting on Millions of Dollars Worth of Domain Names

[News]

In case you haven't heard, everything is about branding these days, personal or otherwise. And one early internet entrepreneur is banking on the idea that, in order to have a strong #brand, you need a strong domain to go with it.

So, for the last 21 years, Gary Millin and his colleagues at World Accelerator have been slowly accumulating a veritable treasure trove of seemingly premium "generic" domain names. For instance, Millin owns, has sold, or has bartered away world.com, usa.com, doctor.com, lawyer.com, comic.com, email.com, cyberservices.com, and more than 1,000 other domain names that can be yours (including yours.com, which he owns), as long as you've got the startup idea to back it up.

So far, it's not exactly clear that any of his clients are making great use of these plots of land. Doctor.com and Lawyer.com have turned into companies that help you search for, well, doctors and lawyers (Doctor.com has also become a portal for doctors themselves). India.com is now operated by a news company in the country. But those are the biggest success stories. USA.com is a robotized mess of a directory for the country, World.com is being used by Millin himself, and many of the rest are parking lots for ads.

So why is he doing this? Certainly Millin could manage to flip email.com, which is a barren wasteland of ad links, for a not-so-small fortune. The simple answer, from what I can gather, is that Millin believes in what he's doing. And maybe, he thinks the domains are worth more as prospective #brands than they would be if he simply sold them to one.

Full Article: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-man-squatting-on-millions-of-dollars-worth-of-domain-names

 

[Joseph Green]

Impressive portfolio: http://www.worldaccelerator.com/benefits/domains/

 

[Kenny]

We dont like that word.....

Peace,
Cy

 

[Nattydomain]

nice names. jealous writer

 

[interassets]

I could think of a bunch of great websites for most of these domains, particularly FAQ.com

 

[robert_jones]

Man some of those are true diamonds that are going to be worth millions in the next 10+ years.

 

[VNA]

The portfolio is very impressive indeed. But his plan of leasing/lending the domains in exchange for partial ownership of the product and also letting him work on the product is weird. Why would anyone want to lose control of their product for leasing a domain name?

 

[gilescoley]

Nice names, its not really "1 man" owning them, World Media Group is a large company that has been investing in names for years

 

[Beezy]

The portfolio is very impressive indeed. But his plan of leasing/lending the domains in exchange for partial ownership of the product and also letting him work on the product is weird. Why would anyone want to lose control of their product for leasing a domain name?

It's TOTALLY normal. This company, http://sandwichvideo.com/, for example, gets $100k and 10% of the company just for making a viral video for startups.

 

[Kenny]

The portfolio is very impressive indeed. But his plan of leasing/lending the domains in exchange for partial ownership of the product and also letting him work on the product is weird. Why would anyone want to lose control of their product for leasing a domain name?

Domain leasing has been going on for a long time.
Sometimes it;s the only way an enduser with a plan can afford to build on a cat killer.
And from what I've heard, you would be hard pressed to find better partners.

I could think of a bunch of great websites for most of these domains, particularly FAQ.com

Website = Business

Peace,
Cy

 

[equity78]

I think what VNA is pointing out is that you can't buy the name if you want too. You can't just say, "Ok you want $500,000 let's do it" They want to lease it, get a piece of the business and actually work on the business plan, once successful they will let a company buy the domain outright. Some may not want that espcecially if they have VC backers.

 

[VNA]

@Beezy & @Cyberian Yes, I have heard about leasing of premium domains for lesser price + % of shares. What I was trying to say is what @equity78 has stated above. It might not be for businesses with VC backing. Though it is a good opportunity for startups with great ideas and not enough capital.

 

[tomcarl]

Still hate hearing that word being thrown around.

Squatter = acquires trademarks, things that rightfully belong to others. None of this man's premium .coms rightfully belong to anyone except him.

Writer of this article = Ahole.

Hey....he insulted me first.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

I still find it fascinating psychology when a second person says that the first person is squatting on something that the first person thought of first. It will never cease to amaze me. I think that I am going into town today and I am going to tell the local, popular, pizza joint owner that I want his business because I am wanting to open a pizza joint and he's gotten there first.

 

[john_karr]

Nice.com