NBC News covered a domain auction organized by Moniker in 2007, presenting “dramatic” coverage of live activity by bidders Ari Goldberger and Larry Fischer.
The blast from the past article describes the action and aspirations of domain investors 8 years ago:
Someone else makes a bid for $120,000. Fischer and Goldberger up the ante, and then again. Going once, going twice … sold to Fischer and Goldberger for $150,000. “You got it,” a smiling Fischer tells Eli. Mazel tovs are exchanged.
Jerry Nolte, managing partner of Domainer’s Magazine, stated:
“This industry is like the wild, wild West right now and people have no idea how fast it’s growing.”
Meanwhile, Monte Cahn, founder and at the time CEO of Moniker.com, explained the relationship of domain names to real estate:
“It’s not about words, it’s like real estate. This industry is only about a decade old. People looked at domain names as a commodity. It’s a piece of real estate on the Web that can’t be replaced. It’s your stake in the ground, your stake in the Internet.”
Surprisingly, Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy chimed in about it all, naturally approving of the domain business – both its PPC and its domain reselling sides:
“They make their money in two ways. One way is through the traffic they get and the other is the appreciation of the name. Domain names are becoming 21st-century real estate. Just owning a domain name as an investment. I don’t see a problem with that.”
For the full article, titled “Domain name sales are red-hot-dot-com” click here.
If you want to read another ‘blast from the past’ domain article, don’t miss “Masters of their Domains.”
That was an amazing auction. I believe it still holds the record for total sales in a domain auction.
Larry – Great memories, I bet! 😀
Would love to read comment from Larry Fischer on his thoughts about changes in the domain industry from 2007 to now, and the future as he sees it.