WWW- Wall Street’s value has risen ten-fold in the past eight years, even from the height of the dotcom boom.
Or rather, the pulling power of the world’s best-known financial thoroughfare has gone through the roof.
At an auction of internet domain names on Friday, “Wallstreet.com” is expected to fetch at least $10m.
Last time the domain came on the market, in 1999, when information technology stocks were riding high and the smallest bridge between the online and financial worlds was thought to be paved with platinum, Wallstreet.com raised a then record price of $1m (£617,000 at contemporary values).
Since that time, filth has eclipsed filthy lucre as the most valuable commodity in the domain world. “Porn.com” sold for $9.5m (£4.8m) earlier this year.
Moniker.com, the domain’s auctioneers, based in Hollywood, Florida, said there was a $4m to $5m reserve price on the Wallstreet domain, but they expected it to beat Porn.com in heavy bidding.
Poor Wallstreet.com has not had a glittering career since its record-breaking days, however. The virtual Wallstreet has in fact been idle, unlike the real place, for the past four years.
The current owners of the domain bought it from an online gambling company which found itself unable to trade in its main, US, market after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in autumn 2006.
The cost of the entire business last winter was $1(50p).
The market for domain names is still healthy, according to analysts, despite the fact that improvements in search engine technology have made them less important than content in attracting customers.
Recent sales, in addition to porn.com, saw “vodka.com” sold for $3m(£1.5m). The sites “computer.com” and “tax.com” on sale on Friday as well are expected to raise about a third as much as vodka.
At the other end of the scale, lackofimagination.net was still available on Friday for $5.99 (£2.95).
