Quote:
Originally posted by KRL
But they bought rent.com didn't they?
The domain is the fricking brand for christs sake. And its killer.
Hello. Hello. Hello.
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I disagree. Sure, domain names are powerful in the sense of branding, but I don't think it played a big role in this transaction. eBay is not in the domain business
They are WAY past that stage. Fortunately for Rent.com, they not only have a great domain, but are also very promising financially.
You need to look beyond the domain. Although there are 50 other apartment-search websites, Rent.com is undoubtly the market leader. All the other services, when compared to Rent.com, are pretty much useless. The only real competitor is apartments.com.
It just happened to be that eBay chose Rent.com over all the others. It could have been their financial figures, relationship with the management team, etc.
But I don't think Meg Whitman said to the board: "guys, it's a 4-character domain, WE MUST GET A HOLD OF IT! $415 MILLION IS GOOD FOR YOU?!"
OBVIOUSLY it was easier for Rent.com to gain popularity over sites with domains such as FindAnApartmentNow.com or GreatApartments4RENT.com.
Like I said before, a domain name brings you attention, but only a good innovative service/product will bring the retention you need to hit it big.
You've got Porno.com. God knows how much you paid for it ($1.5M I'd assume?) So people type it in, what, 1000 times a day? I bet none of them comes back! EVER! All they get right now is a screen that reminds them the spyware that took over their computer last month
True, your domain does have a value, and you could probably sell it for $3M with no problems these days. I'm glad you're finally doing something with it, and I hope to see it live soon. With a great service/product you could be sitting on a cash cow that generates $1M+ a year pre-tax.