Is the domain Cold War over yet?
Back in November 2009 the domain name Russia.com was sold to a mystery buyer for the whopping amount of $1.5 million dollars. The web site is still parked, at GoDaddy no less, making the legendary Bob Parsons proud that he can command the Ruski traffic.
Three years earlier, in December 2006, Vodka.com was sold for twice as much: $3 million dollars. That’s one expensive firewater, if you asked me.
Today, Vodka.com is a seemingly developed, invitation-only web site. Heck, for $3 million dollars just for the domain alone, one would think that spending another $25k for out-of-the-box web development would be the right thing to do.
However, the Vodka.com invitation portal has been there for months. Somehow, we don’t believe that there is anything sober behind the gates of Vodka.com
In the summer of 2008, the domain name America.com was sold for $1.7 million dollars, slightly more than Russia.com. Two years later, what could have been the main flag of American Internet is just another GoDaddy parking page.
Bob Parsons: 2 – Internet users: 0
Let’s move on to Cowboys.com – that much advertised $370,000 sale that eclipsed the previous $275,000 offer by the Dallas Cowboys who then reneged on the deal. Despite having its own fanfare band and even a case study, Cowboys.com is nowadays nothing more than a “gold rush” city with tumble weed rolling through its once busy streets.
Moral of the story: largely advertised domain purchases are often performed by people that lack the development skills and a business plan and substitute these with suitcases of money. And when one has money to burn, the end result is exactly as pictured at these four domains.
