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- It's not just Business.com -- it's a business
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The general press coverage of this sale is remarkably trivial. That $7.5M price tag for the domain name back in 1999 is a red herring that's distracting otherwise sober reporters, including my colleague Larry.
Business.com is a business directory and search engine with a cost-per-click business model. Remember when "vertical search" was the next big thing? Well, that's what Business.com is.
It appears to be pretty profitable, too. According to the WSJ story this morning that triggered this blogger frenzy, Business.com is throwing off $15M in cash flow, and sales are up a lot year-over-year. That's a real business, not just a domain name.
The CPC model grabs 40% of all online adveritsing. Who's got a CPC business that works? Search engines. Who doesn't? Media companies. I'm sure this makes most media companies uncomfortble.
And today a profitable, business-focused, CPC-driven Web site is for sale, and business-focused media companies are interested. Why is this surprising or silly to anyone?
Big media firms need to plug the strategic hole of CPC ad revenue. Business.com won't win the game for any buyer, but it will at least get the media companies on the right playing field.
Larry, go read WatchMojo for some decent coverage of why this is not nuts: http://www.watchmojo.com/web/blog/?p=1713. - Posted by: S.Howard-Sarin Posted on: 06/22/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
It's not just Business.com -- it's a business
S.Howard-Sarin  | 06/22/07
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It's a business but...
Larry Dignan | 06/22/07
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I have a better domain name for CPC based websites...
olePigeon | 06/22/07
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Domain names ARE social search -- they embody the Wisdom of the Language
new media works | 06/26/07
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What do you think?
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