Man Sells $2.6 Million Pizza
By Christopher Nickson
April 07, 2008
No extra toppings, but the man who's been paying $20 a year to own pizza.com finally sells the domain name for $2.6 million.
Back in 1994, Chris Clark of North Potomac, Maryland, registered the domain name pizza.com, thinking it might bring in some pizza business to his consulting company. If it did, that never amounted to much, and Clark sold his business eight years ago.
However, he kept the domain name, paying the $20 a year registration fee and using it to sell ads. Now, however, it’s made him a very rich man.
In an online auction that began on March 27, Clark sold the pizza.com domain name to an anonymous bidder for a very tidy $2.6 million. He’d heard that vodka.com had sold a couple of years ago for £3 million, and it set him thinking, he told the Baltimore Sun.
"I thought, 'Why don't I just try to see what the level of interest is?’ If someone's willing to pay that much for Vodka.com, maybe there's more interest in pizza.com."
The transaction has yet to be finalized, but Clark remains stunned.
"It's crazy, it's just crazy. It will make a significant difference in my life, for sure."