It’s great to wake up and see an article in my local newspaper about an upcoming domain auction. In this morning’s New York Post, there is a small article announcing that Israel.com will be on the auction block at TRAFFIC East in May. From the article,
“Israel is being sold off to the highest bidder.
Jean-Noel Frydman, 46, registered the domain name in 1994 and never imagined at the time it would be worth millions.
“Mainly, I didn’t want anyone to misuse it. That’s why I registered it,” he said, noting he retains final approval on the sale at the May 23 auction.”
Of interest is that Moniker may have given the owner authority to back out of a deal if he doesn’t approve of the new owner. On a strictly personal level, I am glad to see this as it would be terrible for Israel.com to go into the hands of a terrorist or other extremist group. As a domain investor, I think this sets a pretty poor precedent, as a domain owner shouldn’t be able to cancel an auction because he doesn’t approve of the bidder.
If I was a betting person (which I am), I would wager that the domain name will not sell for $5m despite the hype. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity, but organizations who could afford to spend $5m probably can’t justify spending it on a domain name – yet. People will kick themselves for missing out on this opportunity in a few years though.