The Real Story Behind AI.com: A Domain Broker's Inside Account of the Sale
Setting the Record Straight on One of Tech's Most Significant Domain Transactions
Jeffrey Gabriel.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
Recent reports claim that ai.com, which just sold for $70 million, was registered 15 years ago for $100, painting a picture of an accidental windfall. The reality is far more complex, and far more interesting.
As the domain broker who brought ai.com to market in 2019, I can tell you the true story behind the biggest domain sale ever.
The Real Origin Story
AI.com wasn't a speculative registration that happened to appreciate. It was part of a carefully curated domain portfolio held for years before the current AI boom. When I founded Saw.com, the domain owner approached me with a specific mandate: take ai.com to market and find the right buyer. In doing so, I contacted AI industry leaders, venture capital firms, and angel investors actively building in the space. Funny enough, we even explored the idea of selling the domain to a Chinese dating site, as AI actually means love in Mandarin. We also discussed the possibility of selling domain registrations or subdomains on the ai.com domain name, so one could own tech.ai.com. There was a time when $3,000,000 (before I took it to market) was being considered.
This wasn't about posting a "For Sale" sign. It involved strategic outreach, attending AI industry conferences, meeting with executives at major corporations, issuing targeted press releases, and educating potential buyers about what this domain meant for their business. The buyers ranged from startups to Fortune 500s. Some of them laughed at me, while others were intrigued and made offers.
The Market Reality of 2019
Here's what people forget: in 2019 through 2021, AI looked nothing like it does today. ChatGPT didn't exist. The mainstream AI revolution hadn't happened. Search volume for AI-related terms was a fraction of what it is now.
Despite this, the domain sold for a hefty sum, as outlined in this Mashable article that was posted right after I sold it: https://mashable.com/article/chatgpt-ai-dot-com-domain-name-openai
Why That Price Made Perfect Sense
When you're evaluating a domain like ai.com, you're not just buying a web address. You're acquiring:
- Instant brand authority in an emerging sector
- An almost unfair competitive advantage no one can duplicate
- Marketing efficiency - the domain is the message
- Defensive positioning against competitors
- Universal in almost all languages
- Let’s not forget the traffic it got when we had it for sale! Ayeee!
The buyer in that transaction understood something crucial: ai.com wasn't expensive relative to what AI was in 2019. It was a strategic investment in what AI would become.
And they were right. This is the same kind of person who bet heavily on Bitcoin early.
The Exponential Growth That Followed
Fast forward four years. The AI sector has exploded. Search volume for AI-related terms has grown exponentially. Major corporations have restructured around AI. Entire industries are being transformed.
The recent $70 million sale reflects this new reality. But it also validates the strategic thinking of the original buyer who paid millions when most people still thought of AI as science fiction. If you look at one of the many tools I look at when evaluating domains like this, Google Trends, you will see that the term AI has grown by practically 100x since I sold it. The price is… well, 7x more. It is like Aunt Gertrude’s house on the beach in The Hamptons, which she bought in 1958 for 100k. It is worth how much now!?
What Domain Brokerage Actually Entails
With $565 million in domain sales experience, I've learned that premium domain transactions aren't about luck, they're about understanding market dynamics, knowing the right buyers, and timing.
For Ai.com, that meant:
- Identifying companies where the domain would create genuine strategic value
- Articulating ROI in terms that executives could understand
- Navigating complex negotiations between sophisticated parties
- Recognizing when market conditions favored a transaction
The domain didn't sell itself. It required strategic positioning, industry knowledge, and persistence.
Why This Matters for the Future
As AI continues to reshape every industry, we're going to see more transactions like this. Not because domain names randomly appreciate, but because forward-thinking companies understand that digital real estate in emerging categories represents a genuine competitive advantage.
The companies investing in premium domains today, in Web3, in emerging AI applications, in new technology categories, aren't gambling. They're making the same kind of strategic bet that the Ai.com buyer made in 2019-2020.
The Takeaway
The next time you read about a "lucky" domain sale, ask yourself: Was it really luck? Or was it someone who understood where the market was going before everyone else did?
In the case of ai.com, the answer is clear. The domain didn't appreciate by accident. It appreciated because someone recognized its value when AI was still emerging and was willing to pay what seemed like a very premium price for what turned out to be a strategic bargain.
That's not luck. That's vision….And some serious guts!
Special congrats to my friends and colleagues, Larry Fischer and John Mauriello that sold it the second time for $70,000,000!
Founder & CEO of Saw.com, is a renowned domain broker with over $500M in sales, including record-breaking deals like Sex.com and Ai.com. In 2019, he left his dream job to start his own company, sharing insights and inspiring others to push their limits through candid conversations with industry leaders.
.png&w=640&q=75)