US man gets $2.6m for domain name

[Matt]

A US man has sold the domain name pizza.com for $2.6m (£1.3m) - after maintaining the site for just $20 a year since 1994.

Chris Clark, 43, accepted the offer from an anonymous bidder after a week-long online auction.

"It's crazy, it's just crazy," Mr Clark, who lives in North Potomac, Maryland, was quoted as saying by the Baltimore Sun newspaper.

"It will make a significant difference in my life, for sure," he added.

Regret

Mr Clark registered the domain name in 1994, when the world wide web was just starting.

He had hoped that pizza.com would help to get a contract with a pizza firm for his consulting company.

He sold his business in 2000, but kept paying the $20 annual fees for maintaining the domain, which he also used to sell advertisements.

In January, Mr Clark decided to sell it after hearing that another domain - Vodka.com - was sold for $3m in 2006.

"I thought, 'Why don't I just try to see what the level of interest is?'" Mr Clark said.

"If someone's willing to pay that much for Vodka.com, maybe there's more interest in pizza.com."

The online auction was launched on 27 March. The first bid was $100, jumping to $2.6m a week later.

Having accepted the latter offer, Mr Clark hopes to get his windfall in a few days' time when the transaction is completed.

He said he now regretted not buying more domain names in the 1990s.

Reference: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7331042.stm

 

[htmlindex]

He had hoped that pizza.com would help to get a contract with a pizza firm for his consulting company.

He sold his business in 2000, but kept paying the $20 annual fees for maintaining the domain, which he also used to sell advertisements.

He kept paying $20/year every year since 94? If he was a true business man he would've transferred it to another company & paid $7/year instead.

But I guess if you sell a name for $2.6 mil, you won't really complain about the extra $$$ you've paid all those years.

 

[psalzmann]

Good for him. It's nice to see people cashing out without spending tons of money on government run lotteries all their lives 'hoping to win'.

We're going to see many more of these new annoucements in the near future.

 

[weblord]

another success story and he's not even a domainer, it could happen to any of us but pizza.com is a really great catch, his 20bucks a year finally paid off.

 

[networkmsia]

he waited patiently for 14 years to finally close the sale.

 

[weblord]

that time is a long time to wait but he got the patient to do it and are encouragements for all of us, if he waited 14 years for that domain to be sold, think how many years will i be waiting?

 

[Easydoms]

Great news for a member of joe public, As weblord said, he was not even a domainer, it just goes to show, all good things come to those who wait!!!!

$2.6m will def make a big difference to his life!!!

With all that money he may even show up here looking in the newbie section for advice on domain names

Great story.

 

[dgridley]

He might have transferred to a different registrar and paid less to renew each year, but think what might have happened if he'd transferred to a registrar like Registerfly looking to save a few bucks? As it turns out, he probably did the right thing, eh?

 

[-LB-]

$20 is nothing now that he has so much money. Good for him, though.

He must of been making money when it was up, aswell.

 

[bertiewooster]

Interesting that no big pizza company had gone looking for that domain name years ago, and made him an offer then. Probably wouldn't have been as much, but still, 14 years is a long time to wait for the brass ring.

I love hearing stuff like this!

Don't we all dream of getting that one domain that will pay us a lottery size fee.

 

[blue19]

very good investment. Thats just crazy though

 

[Mike]

One thing i have in common with the seller: ...not the 2.6 mil but kicking myself for not regging domains in the mid 90's. I was online, used the net daily, but it never occurred to me that i could buy/register my own domains.
Seller 1 : 0 Me. Seller won! :tu:

Very nice sale! I'm interested who actually bought the domain. Pizza chain or private investor hoping for a higher resale?

M.

 

[Barrucadu]

I should have registered pizza.com before he did... 3-year-olds could register domains back then right, right? :p

 

[dgridley]

Yeah, me too..

One thing i have in common with the seller: ...not the 2.6 mil but kicking myself for not regging domains in the mid 90's. I was online, used the net daily, but it never occurred to me that i could buy/register my own domains.
Seller 1 : 0 Me. Seller won! :tu:

Very nice sale! I'm interested who actually bought the domain. Pizza chain or private investor hoping for a higher resale?

M.

 

[dezinerite]

LOL @ htmlindex...exactly what I was thinking! :D I mean, didn't he know about the many registrars that offer way cheaper renewal fees?

 

[CamMK27]

Well a great story, I dont think that the $20 / yr was a big investment , it doesnt matter if he transfered or not if he did allhe could have saved a couple of hundred bucks. So what lol . He only paid $280 for the 14 yrs but remember he sold advertisement on it as well. So i think he could have made a lot more money then the registration price per year. So basically it was a total win win situation. Its so good to hear that. Yes thas true if I were him I would have registered more names lol..... but hey I have more than enough now that if I focused on how to make money with them I guess in the next 14 years I will make a lot more. So I am grateful for being me and no one else. We are all where we are suppose to be and meant to be so thank GOD for all his blessings. :bingo:

 

[Matt]

so, thats the game plan sorted then.

We just all need to think of what the next "pizza" will be in the fast food market and reg the domain.

 

[unique_domains]

Haha. I'd love to be around him the first time he got that offer and then realized it was not a joke, well maybe I wouldnt want to be near him...am not really a fan of viewing pants pissing.

 

[Malaysia]

i wonder how many offers did he received over this 14 yrs

 

[Chris]

Interesting that no big pizza company had gone looking for that domain name years ago, and made him an offer then. Probably wouldn't have been as much, but still, 14 years is a long time to wait for the brass ring.

He may have received other offers in the past and shot them down knowing that he could always list the name if needed to and receive a huge amount of attention and interest. Some offers come along on names and the owner doesn't want to lose out on the sale or the money if they think it's more than what the name is worth. But with a name like this...it could always be listed for sale and receive a great sale price. He sure didn't have to worry about not being able to sell it.

Congratulations to the seller...I'm sure he's very happy! I can think of plenty of things to do with $2.6 mill. :lala: