Mike Mann on gTLDs

Mike Mann is unquestionably one of the most successful people in the domain industry, having sold BuyDomains for  reportedly  many millions of dollars, and he acquired domain names such as Phone.com, SEO.com, and many more. Mike also founded DomainMarket.com, which sells millions of dollars worth of domain names annually, and he is likely headed for a similar type of exit sometime down the road.

Mike has been “vocal” with his bearish feelings about new gTLD domain names on various blogs and in personal meetings with him. I reached out to him with a bunch of questions and want to share some of his thoughts on gTLDs and if he believes there’s money to be made by domain investors.

If you have other questions about gTLDs that you’d like Mike to answer, I would bet he’ll be happy to answer them. My questions are bolded below.

Will companies adopt descriptive keyword gTLDs and re-brand websites?

Only for the best ideas and dictionary words where they cant get .Com

How long will it take consumers to understand what gTLDs are?

They wont on average, might land there by accident

What is the path to success for a gTLD operator?

Only a small pct will be profitable unless they are mixed with other services or free like from Amazon or Google. If they get some good sites that get well indexed in Google they may get some traction, or maybe with press, etc. But on average short the hype.

How do registrars and registries sell their names?

The hard way, same way we sell .Com, landers, brokers, hustlers.

Will brand gTLDs help make consumers aware of the right of the dot?

No

Will you be investing in registries and/or acquire various domain names in different TLD?

No way, flight to .Com quality investing

How can domain investors make money when it comes to gTLDs?

Buy the short fund

Do you think marketing dollars spent on gTLDs will be good for the domain industry as a whole?

Short term but no

Will land rush opportunities bring more people and capital into the domain investment space?

Short term

What will happen to the money domain investors spend on gTLDs?

They will lose most of it

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

25 COMMENTS

  1. Very Interesting.
    2 Hugely sucessful domain pioneers with entirely polar opposite views.

    Mike Mann is negative towards the new gtlds?….I am surprised.
    Didn’t Mike Mann just make hundreds of thousands of dollars on Dot Co?

    So, I google – Mike Mann Dot Co

    In the 7th link on page one
    http://domainnamewire.com/2012/06/11…bout-new-tlds/
    I see this quote from Mike Mann…

    “Co is a fantastic extension that even makes more sense than .com in many” ….

    a gTLD making more sense then .com in many ways…
    Ok, I absolutely agree with that statement on some gTLD’s thats why I invest in dot tv, but for him to sound negative on gTLD’s after that quote it just doesnt seem to make much sense to me.

    Nice Job Elliot.

  2. For many educated, powerful people gTLD`s are going to change the whole internet.
    I have noticed that many reputable domain investors are trying hard, like never before, to sell their solid .com`s before new TLDs arrive.
    Even MM is now trying to sell domainmarket.com.

  3. .Co are the best of them, but that was before tons of competition, I only own the very best ones, and I have not profited, made profits on some names but the rest werent sold. .Co is ok, the rest are not ok for the most part, .Com is the only viable investment vehicle

    • Mike, are you sure about the comment that you have not profited from .Co ?
      Meaning that the cost of acquiring and holding those domains is more than the total sales price of the .Co domains you have sold? That would be hard to believe if true….but just wanted clarification.

      Thanks

  4. I agree with MM. In the past 15 years I can count on two hands the number of ads on Tv that were not .com. Let the registries spend $$$ to trying to market and sell the new tlds. It will be fun to watch and observe. Me, I’ll keep registering good dot coms that are still out there.

  5. I totally agree with MM. I think that .com is king and that most of the money and profit can be made with .com. I also like .co and have made several nice sales with .co and continue to get offers. Very nice interview.

  6. He is right on. gTLDs will all fail on their irrelevant asses. Other than their registation sponsors, their attorneys and ICANN, no one wants them, will use them or sees the need. Each of the Fortune 500 companies already has a .COM. This will make an imprenetrable advertsiing force with which to compete. Good luck with that.

    Nothing to look at here folks, keep on moving.

    The gTLD’s will all be a dismal failure. Don’t act surprised when it happens.

  7. I have been with MM since day 1 on this. FS is a genious and I would never count him out. It could be that FS is looking to leave a legacy for his grand children, but I think it will be at least a generation or two until .whatever surpasses .com as the extension of choice. I’m sticking with MM and I will ONLY purchase a .com name unless a .net or . org makes complete sense. DOT COM IS KING!!!

  8. Tablets took over pcs in a short few years and y’all think new tlds will take a generation to catch on?

    .coms dominance has peaked on the bell curve and has arguably started its decline.

    Technology lifecycle is ever shortening.

    Lots of people will waste money and lose on both .coms and new tlds.

    Domaining is boring either way and will never be as lucrative as it was for the folks who got in during the 90’s

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