Clark bought the name in 1994, when the Web was just beginning to commercialize, though he had no idea what a winning lottery ticket it would become. Back then, he had launched an Internet consulting firm and thought the domain would help him score a contract with a pizza company. But no contract ever came through, and he sold the business in 2000. Clark's latest venture, Minestream Software Corp., provides Internet protection products.
He kept up the annual $20 registration fees on the pizza.com name, though, and basically sat on the site, selling advertising space here and there. About a year ago, he and a friend turned it into a profitable pizza directory and advertising site that earns more than the $5,000 it costs to maintain.
Then they heard about the Vodka.com sale, and wheels began to turn.
"I thought, `Why don't I just try to see what the level of interest is?'" Clark said. "If someone's willing to pay that much for Vodka.com, maybe there's more interest in pizza.com."
In January, he posted a notice on the site saying the domain was for sale and inviting would-be buyers to weigh in. After receiving e-mailed offers in the six figures, Clark said, he approached Sedo, the international online auctioneer that handled the Vodka.com sale.
The first pizza bid was for $100 on March 27. The price was up to a half-million dollars the next morning. Clark and his family were on vacation at Disney World at the time, but his three kids were locked to his laptop, watching the numbers climb. They kept turning to him and going, "`Oh, my God, Dad, look at this,'" he said.
By the 29th, the bidding hit $2 million, and Clark was officially locked into the sale. That was his minimum price.
"Really generic description domains are hot commodities these days, especially the ones that encapsulate an entire industry," said Jeremiah Johnston, Sedo's chief operating officer. "A domain like [pizza.com] is a once in a lifetime opportunity."
Sedo, which sells 2,500 to 3,000 domain names a month, takes a 10 percent commission off the sale price in exchange for holding the auction and conducting background and financial checks on registered bidders. In this case, the company followed up in person as well, telephoning the top would-be buyers to verify information.
"We're talking about some pretty big numbers there," said Johnston, who declined to reveal the bidders' identities.
By this afternoon, the deal should be sealed. It will take a few days to complete the transaction, transfer the domain and get Clark his windfall.
He doesn't have any immediate plans for the money, he said. But he does have a regret: not buying more domains.
"In '94, you could have just registered everything and anything," Clark said. "I think about that now, yeah."
tricia.bishop@baltsun.com
