Brent Oxley was the founder of HostGator, one of the world’s largest web hosting companies. Since selling HostGator, Brent has become an investor in high value domain names. From what I can tell, Brent primarily invests in exceptional one word .com domain names.
When NameJet revealed the list of domain names that will be up for auction in the NamesCon auction next month, I saw that Brent listed a large group of valuable domain names. I reached out to Brent to ask him what motivated him to list his domain names for sale via auction, and here’s what he told me:
“There’s a big difference between auctioning a domain with a reserve price and one without. All of the domains I listed have a minimum reserve price which means I can’t lose.
The auction will drum up a ton of exposure and could potentially bring in buyers that I haven’t been able to reach on my own.”
This is the first auction in which Brent has listed his domain names for sale. As he told me, in the best case scenario, he will sell inventory to net him millions of dollars, and in a worse case scenario, it’s an experiment that only costs him some time.
Here’s a list of Brent’s domain names that are up for sale in the auction:
- Athlete.com
- Create.com
- Valentine.com
- Stereo.com
- Give.com
- Wineo.com
- Demolish.com
- Numb.com
- Balsamic.com
- Wisp.com
- Dye.com
- Drone.com
- Hangover.com
- Withdraw.com
- Distribute.com
- Disorder.com
- Admirer.com
- Item.com
- Clinch.com
- Baja.com
- Armed.com
- Broke.com
- Broker.com
- Analyze.com
- Toll.com
- Mez.com
- Haz.com
- UIX.com
- VWT.com
- Bore.com
- Etched.com
- Drag.com
- Rustle.com
- SatNav.com
- Gratification.com
- Aboard.com
- Zombie.com
- Lethal.com
- Frat.com
- Document.com
- Ambush.com
- Hogs.com
- Liver.com
- Prize.com
- Chop.com
- Firm.com
- Yen.com
- Nut.com
- Trap.com
- WindowsHosting.com
- Flute.com
- Memo.com
- Piano.com
- Choke.com
- Combo.com
- Edit.com
- Bride.com
- Pack.com
- Devote.com
- Mild.com
- Toil.com
- CPU.com
- Curve.com
- Jones.com
- Dense.com
- Fajita.com
- Peck.com
- Rash.com
- Sponge.com
- Ore.com
- Modify.com
- Electorate.com
- Pisces.com
Wow. Lots of greats, but two that really stand out are drone and bride.
“Since selling HostGator, Brent has become an investor in high value domain names”
Should be changed to:
“Since selling HostGator, it became a nightmare worse than your wildest nightmares”
(Yes I told folks I’m an end user first.) I’ll bet he’s not unaware of that too.
Hi John,
The reason I have create.com listed at $3mm is that I plan on turning this into my new hosting company I hope to launch within a year. At the time of selling hostgator we hosted more domains than godaddy and had I not sold I’m confident hostgator would be larger than them today and I’d have billions of dollars to fund my charity give.com I’d like to start.
A day doesn’t seem to go by without an old customer reaching out to share all the issues they’re having at HG. When I was shopping hostgator all interested parties always asked what the secret sauce was and when I told them customer service and uptime they’d hate my answer. The reason is because they all thought they could make millions more by outsourcing to India and that the customers woudln’t notice.
I’ll be coming back with a vengance and this time I won’t be a selllout!
Love that name.
Thanks for your comment, Brent. Nice to see my two favorite picks from the list are two of the three showing you picked as favorites in the NamePros interview. Agree with Elliot on create.com too. Will reply more to your comment in Elliot’s new post in just a bit here: https://domaininvesting.com/brent-oxley-announces-plans-for-new-hosting-company/.
Good to hear, Brent. As a fan of HG back when you ran the biz, I’m looking forward to your next hosting venture.
That said, I’m even more interested in getting in one of those tanks! I live in Boerne and have seen signs for DriveTanks.com heading west down I-10 to some property we have outside Junction.
Every time, I wonder who came up with the idea and how they got the inventory to run it. Genius! No surprise you are behind it. I’m dropping hints to the wife about how that would be a great Father’s day prez.
You know I already learned years ago that some don’t seem to like it when you say names like some of the best there really belong in auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christies, and that is what the industry needs. I get it, it’s called self interest. But honestly now, how does auctioning them via an obscure “insider’s den” do anything but likely produce terribly muted pricing that is bad for *everyone* except those who may manage to snag a few great deals which they would never even dream of selling below real value in a venue like that?
Great domains but I am curious to see how many overall will sell at Namescon. Reserves are well above investor prices.
Those are some great domain names.
First class names! (except satnav.com lol). The problem is that an illiquid market like the domain market won’t be able to absorb that amount of premium supply. 4-5 names maybe. 50 names, no way! So my guess is 90% of the portfolio will go unsold.
Good on him and why not if it is free publicity, but Namescon will be doing self inflicted damage taking names where people want exposure rather than actually looking for a sale.
Not smart of the auction house putting retail pricing in front of wholesale buyers.
All super domains. My faves: drone. Bride, broker, firm, give. I hope you get 100 million USD
“Not smart of the auction house putting retail pricing in front of wholesale buyers.”
No, the opposite is true. Not smart putting “Estibot” pricing in front of people out in “the real world” who will see and be influenced by it. Domains like that are also giving exposure and free publicity to people in “the real world” for this phenomenon.
You seem to have an obsession with Estibot.
Thanks, Snoopy. 🙂 In my very humble opinion Estibot is “public enemy #1” among industry insiders, continually and daily causing profound and profoundly incalculable harm to the industry and all of its participants from great to small, including you if you are a domain investor, and to me personally as well. In my very humble opinion it is an extremely harmful and costly obscenity and “abomination” for NameJet to cause the Estibot poison to appear with domain listings, especially with “auctions” like this (if you can call it that), and an extreme (and extremely suspect) disservice to Brent Oxley himself. In my very humble opinion the best domain names should not be bastardized and abused in domain industry “insider’s den’s” like that. They belong in real world mainstream venues where everyone in the industry could benefit from real world recognition and results instead of an infinitesimal few. They belong in a venue where the entire developed world is more likely to take notice and a great domain like drone.com for instance is far more likely to sell for at the very least $2 million to $10 million+ with the accompanying headlines rather than the obscurity and dubiousness of the status quo.
What I find amusing? If a domain investor wants to buy your domains, they often say, “wait, that’s Estibot or GoDaddy pricing.F that!” When an end-user wants to buy your domains, they cajole. “Wait that’s 3x Estibot appraisal. I’ll pay double but not triple.” Bottom line: Brent’s domain are worth a fortune.
Well I’d say it comes down to there being two distinct markets, domainers can’t afford to pay more than 5-10% of what an end user might pay because the average domain will take 100 years to sell to an enduser.
Part 2:
https://domaininvesting.com/brent-oxley-announces-plans-for-new-hosting-company/#comment-81589