Back to 1995

Chapter 724 The pie in the sky

Bob Weiss browsed his own portal website. Lycos is now one of America’s and even one of the global Internet portal giants. Although its brand name is not as big as that of Yahoo, its current market value has reached more than 200 billion dollars.

Behind Lycos is a group of European giants, including Bertelsmann, Bell Group of Canada, and Telefónica, who came to America to cut leeks.

In America, Lycos users, mainly those 3000 million Spanish-speaking users, have also developed quite well in Europe.

Looking at it now, Lycos has met the requirements of several major shareholders behind it. After listing in America, it has harvested a few crops of leeks in a row. Investing in companies such as Bertelsmann behind Lycos has already earned tens of hundreds of times. income!

The news on the Lycos website was just sent back from the domain name auction site held by Double-click. Now the Internet industry has also shown some signs of volume. Originally, Internet portals released news faster than the media. up.

It's different now. Several major portals have also begun to involve themselves. They all want to release various big news first to attract attention and compete for user clicks and traffic. After all, traffic is a dollar. The value of an Internet company depends on how much traffic it can attract, and traffic is king!

The news this time is the real-time news that the reporter from the Lycos website went to the auction site to send back!
A broken domain name, that is, Bring a TV, was read as the URL of TV, and it sold for 1.1 million dollars. If it wasn’t reported by his own website, Bob Weiss would have wondered if someone made up fake news for entertainment. he.

It seems that the price of 1.1 million US dollars is very scary, but the party who took the photo got the TV domain name, which is the right to use it for ten years, which means an annual rental fee of more than 1000 million US dollars.

For future generations, the outside world can understand that tens of millions or even hundreds of millions are spent for a domain name. After all, this is a facade. Domain names and URLs are the skyscrapers of the Internet industry.

But now, with such a price, just to win a domain name, this is another mental shock for countless people.

This time, Al Jazeera got the right to use this domain name in the hands of a group of Internet companies and media giants, which is somewhat unexpected. This TV station, in the media industry, can only be regarded as a newcomer, but it can't stand it. The funder really has a family and an oil field!
Al Jazeera, which has just been established for two years, has always wanted to show off its presence and become one of the world's top TV stations. Now, with a price of [-] million US dollars, it has attracted the attention of global media and users, and has made headlines in major media. For this Tuhao TV station, is it too special to make money?
Bidders from all walks of life in other auction houses, facing such a purely money-losing owner, can only retreat helplessly. Even Disney's ABC TV station, as well as TV giants such as Fox and CNN, also want to get this domain name. It's not that they can't see the popularity of the Internet media, but helplessly, the rival TV station this time is really rich, and the kind that doesn't use dollars as money.

"After the Tuvalu domain name auction is completed, the Tuvalu region will receive an annual income of 340 million dollars, becoming the first place in the world to benefit from Internet domain names, and the per capita income will be more than [-] dollars!"

Bob Weiss saw the Internet Society of America and issued an announcement, announcing that part of the proceeds from the domain name auction would still be distributed to Tuvalu. For Tuvalu, which has a population of just over 1 , more than 300 million US dollars, equivalent to one tenth of Tuvalu's annual GDP...

Then Tuvalu seemed to be afraid that the American Internet Society would go back on its word. After all, the money was really "pie falling from the sky". They didn't do anything, and they didn't even know what the domain name was, because this domain name, It was the Internet Society of America, which "registered" Tuvalu a few years ago, but now it gets millions of dollars every year. Isn't it just like money falling from the sky?
Tuvalu, who got the money, was afraid of being asked to go back, and hastily announced the use plan, including building several schools, repairing synagogues, churches, fishing boats, etc., and the most important thing is to pay dues to the United Nations !

Once Tuvalu pays the dues of the United Nations, it will become the 189th member state of the United Nations. Regardless of whether its territory is [-] kilometers long or not, it will be flooded by sea water in a few years. Now the dues are one Come on, in name, he is an equal existence with the overlord of America...

In other words, a domain name auction held by double-clicking will directly result in a new member of the United Nations!

When Bob Weiss saw the news, he could imagine how excited the major media would be when they saw the news. The newly released domain name auction and the Internet appeared in the real world for the first time. The huge auction fee, the birth of a new member of the United Nations, all these factors together are enough for a wave of carnival reports by major media!

Looking at the news in front of him, Bob Weiss couldn't help but think back to the banquet where he proposed to establish the American Internet Association and establish a domain name business a few years ago.

At that time, it was a banquet to celebrate the double-click listing, and Song Yang suddenly proposed that an American Internet Association should be established, in name, of course, for the better development of the Internet industry and to prevent Internet companies from being unfairly treated.

And Bob Weiss and others know that the establishment of the American Internet Association is a division of power in the Internet industry. Whoever controls the American Internet Association is the most powerful person in Silicon Valley!
Of course, the Internet Association proposed by Song Yang has done a lot of things. The most important thing is to promote the passage of the 230 bill on Capitol Hill. This is recognized by the global Internet industry as the birth of Internet giants. Basically, with this "Gold Medal for Freedom from Death in the Internet Industry" bill, no one can take action against Internet companies.

After proposing the establishment of the American Internet Association, Song Yang said at the banquet that the second establishment was to ask the American Internet Association to establish a domain name business and register, acquire, and hoard domain names around the world.

Bob Weiss was still at the banquet and asked Song Yang, what is the use of hoarding these domain names, and it costs a sum of money to manage them every year. Companies who dare to abuse these domain names in lawsuits, after all, Lycos, have to give Internet Society of America Corporation pays a membership fee.

At that time, when Song Yang faced Bob Weiss' questioning, he gave a high-level answer, which can be called the version of the Internet industry.

Song Yang claimed that hoarding these domain names is for the better development of the Internet industry, and for more places and users to enjoy the changes brought about by the Internet, and even for more ordinary people to realize wealth because of the Internet. free!
Of course, those who heard this at the beginning, including Bob Weiss, felt that it was a bit of a bullshit. Basically, it went in the left ear and out the right ear. It’s a bit unbelievable not to mention, and basically didn’t take it to heart.

But now, a domain name auction has created a member of the United Nations. In the future, these domain names will bring huge profits to many places and people. It is almost conceivable that Tuvalu is only the first lucky one, but as long as Where there is the first, there will be the second...

Recalling Song Yang's words at the banquet back then, Bob Weiss had mixed feelings in his heart for a while, and he didn't know what feeling he was feeling, as if someone was bragging at the beginning, but now, with the bragging at the beginning, have become reality.

What silenced Bob Weiss the most was Song Yang's investment vision. Song Yang can be said to be the first person in the Internet industry to invest in domain names. Now, it seems to prove once again that Song Yang's investment vision .

Bob Weiss had a complex expression. He didn't know whether he was lucky or just a little unlucky because he was in the same industry and era as Song Yang.

Double-click the first domain name auction conference, a total of 2.13 million US dollars were sold, of which the domain name of Tuvalu accounted for half of the turnover, as lucky as Tuvalu, there is also a small island country called Niue, this one Xiao Dao, who earns $2000 million a year, also receives a domain name fee of $150 million a year.

Double click on this domain name auction, all kinds of gimmicks come together, coupled with the media's promotion, this domain name auction is very hot, and as soon as the auction is over, it is reported by all major media, the gimmick is really There are too many. Is it okay to auction off a member of the United Nations in an auction?

The participating parties are all satisfied, and the companies that bought the domain name at a high price, with the help of the popularity, let the reputation go to a higher level, which is their purpose in the first place!
Double-click and the American Internet Association for auctioning domain names are not at a loss. In this wave, Double-click charges fees, and they can receive more than tens of millions of dollars.

And places like Tuvalu and Niue were equally happy, and got a windfall out of thin air. They never thought that one day, they would be able to eat with their names...

Song Yang has nothing to worry about Double-click. The business that Double-click is playing now is as stable as an old dog. It seems that there are no other Internet companies that make huge profits. No problem at all.

Perhaps when other Internet colleagues of the same era have disappeared into the long river of history, they will be regretted by others, and when they appear on the memory news of major media, double-clicking will pop up from time to time, showing their sense of existence, and acting as the Internet industry's "" Living fossil"!
(End of this chapter)