Domaining in the New York Times

EuroDNS’s Xavier Buck is featured in a New York Times/International Herald Tribune story on the growth of the trading of domain names. The EuroDNS spent US$150,000 on domain names at the DomainFest conference in Hollywood last week, a 50 per cent premium on what he intended to spend.

“These names will pay for themselves within two years,” Mr. Buck said, as he sat in the ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel with a business partner who wore an identical gray suit and shirt with the company logo. “The world is only now beginning to discover how important it is to have these assets.”

The article goes on to examine the world of domaining, and discusses how domain names “can be valuable, cash-generating assets just like stocks, bonds or property — appears to be gaining a broader acceptance that veteran domainers are not accustomed to and may not be totally comfortable with.”

The growth in prices for domain names is covered. “106 domain names drew more than $100,000 each, and one, porn.com, went for nearly $9.5 million. In 2006, only 70 domain names sold for more than six figures each. Millions of generic domain names, pointing to sites with little more than automated Google or Yahoo text ads, brought in untold millions of dollars.”

There is also Frank Schilling’s lament, after he “traveled from his home on Grand Cayman Island to speak at last week’s DomainFest conference … on his private Gulfstream IV jet, with a leisurely stop in Las Vegas” that he is not overly enthusiastic of the business’s new direction. “These shows let everyone know how good it is, and now the sniff is out,” Schilling said. “The wildcatting days are over. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss them.”

To read the full article in either the New York Times or International Herald Tribune, see nytimes.com/2008/02/01/technology/01domain.html or iht.com/articles/2008/01/31/technology/domain.php