DomainTools Blog

Today is the last day for Michael Collins of Afternic. Michael and his brother bought the struggling brand from Register.com in 2002 for an rumored $500,000. The two brothers didn’t buy the company, they just bought the brand. They had to rewrite the software that powered the site and even the logo that people had grown to love. Register.com had purchased the company two years earlier for $48 million in cash and stock. Ouch. Bad deal for Register.com, but a good deal for the Collins brothers.  They worked hard on the site and turned the already established brand back into an after market clearing house for domain names. Then last year in 2006,  they sold the company to Name Media for a rumored $5 Million. Not a bad return on investment.

Afternic has a long history.  A forgotten fact is they were once involved in a lawsuit with ICANN because in the fall of 1999 ICANN refused to grant them an accreditation on the grounds that Afternic’s auctions violated its standards. The standards forbid registering another company’s or person’s name with the intent to demand “a ransom” from the company or person. The lawsuit was settled when Afternic agreed with ICANN that a separate company could be accredited. Fast forward to 2006 and ICANN had no problem accrediting the company - the views on things definitely change over time at ICANN.

Roger Collins, Michael’s brother, will remain at the Name Media and help run Afternic. Meanwhile Michael plans to pursue a new career in retail automobile after market sales. “Used Car Salesman” has got a bad rap in the media, but the next time you buy a used car, just think that it is not that different from buying a used domain name. However, a domain name is an appreciating asset while most cars are depreciating assets.