The Washington Post just published a post on legendary domain name investor Mike Mann, entitled “Domain-name mogul Mike Mann will sell you happybirthday.com — for $2 million”
While this is far from the first press Mike has received, its a very good article in which he reveals some information I personally didn’t know, such as that his DomainMarket.com “grosses around $4 million a year in domain name sales, but it spends $3 million alone in buying new names. After legal fees, payroll, network expenses, technology upkeep and purchases, Mann gets a $5,000-a-month draw, which he pretty much lives on.”
The story recounts Mike’s first big sale in 1998.
“That’s when entrepreneur Mike Mann sold the domain name menus.com for $25,000.
He had paid $70 for it.
“I could not imagine anything having a higher profit margin than that,” Mann recalls.
“District native Mann, 47, has been in the domain-name resale business ever since, making millions.
“I am a speculator,” he admits.
He is founder of DomainMarket.com, which owns 350,000 domain names. For $2 million, you can buy happybirthday.com. Same for obey.com or angola.com. Mali.com runs $1.5 million.
Tasty.com is $1 million. Skincraft.com, $1.3 million.
He bought sex.com for $11 million and resold it for $13 million in November 2010, making the Guinness Book of World Records for most ever paid for a domain name at the time.
He is a born self-promoter.
“My nature is to hustle and survive,” said Mann. “I can absorb an enormous amount of information and am capable of going without sleep for days at a time.”
$5k a month and has a $8M house… nice
Will Rick Schwartz be filing a TM-infringement case, to protect his “Domain King” US registered trademark? Or, has the “King” abdicated?
Will the true Domain King please stand up??
4 Million sales on 350,000 names. That does it seem like a lot. Some of the names quoted in the article are priced at 1-2 mill. That takes 2-4 sales like that to equal yearly sales. Sure, you might sell one super premium name a year but still 4mil a year on 350k names doesn’t add up. Even if sold at 3k a pop on average, thats about 1k names sold a year. It will take it 350 years to sell inventory. Can somebody enlighten me on what i am missing?
“$4 million a year in domain name sales, but it spends $3 million alone in buying new names.”
4 mil with just over 900k in expenses. $3 mil in new names? Quantity? Quality? Seems like a lot of work & risk to “only” pocket 5k/month.
Like Motion, am I too missing something?
Let us not forget seo.com , which sold for $5m.
Those reported sales of DomainMarket come on average @ $43k. There is always another angle to add to the story.
Well it sounds like Mike has a lot of stuff in trust and he gives away a lot of his money to charity
He could stop buying more domain names at any time of course and take the profit instead of reinvesting it.
Those who calculate Mike Mann in simple math, without considering the not so apparent variables of a sly fox, have never taken a beating in a costly, contentious divorce. Those who understand the enduring post-marital perils of adjustable alimony and child support, will no spare no expense, inconvenience or act of humility to creatively insulate themselves and their lifeblood assets from further pillaging.
Mann may be certifiably crazy, but crazy and stupid are not necessarily one in the same.