The first offline live auction of domain names, sponsored by Moniker.com. In a master stroke, Moniker brought in professional auctioneer Joe Langbaum to run the sale. Langbaum, who could easily earn a living as a standup comedian, is the man who auctioned off Al Caponeโs house and Jackie Gleasonโs home among others.
Though it was his first time selling domain names, Langbaum extracted well over $400,000 in winning bids from the audience. He deftly discouraged low bids with wisecracks. In response to the first $10 bid Langbaum loudly declared, โThank you Mr. Rockefeller!โ When someone tried to avoid scorn by opening another auction with a $100 bid, Langbaum deadpanned, โThank you, you gotta have it back by Thursday though.โ Even $500 bids werenโt safe. To one of those, Langbaum said, โCongratulations, youโre only $29,500 off the money!โ