Pizza domain sold for $2.6m

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 7 Apr 2008 at 13:22

The owner of the pizza.com domain has just sold it for a staggering $2.6m.

Chris Clark, the seller of "Pizza.com", registered the domain name 14 years ago, paying just $20 for the privilege. Clark loaded the site with pizza advertisements, attempting to cash in on the rising popularity of online ordering, but after hearing about the sale of Vodka.com for $3m he decided to try his luck.

Bidding began at $100 and after a week of auction frenzy topped $2m before an anonymous bidder snapped up the domain for $2.6m, something Clark described as "just crazy."

While high profile domain sales often make the news, they're the exception to a rather bland rule in which most domains are resold for a modest fee. However, the high profile, generic names with the all important .com have reached astronomical figures with Business.com selling for $7.5 million in 1999, and sex.com for about $12 million.

UK domain sales are generally more modest, with the current record holder being Cruises.co.uk, bought by a cruise operator for £560,000.