This man kept cooking pizza for 14 years! Became rich by selling it for Rs 21 crores, people said – used a lot of brain

Last updated:January 15, 2025, 1:02 pm IST

Chris Clark purchased the Pizza.com domain in 1994 for just $20 a year and sold it in 2008 for $2.6 million. Elon Musk also had to pay a good amount of money for Tesla.

domain name deals Thinking ahead of time can sometimes be a profitable deal. This happened when the internet had just arrived. The main character of the story is an American man, whose name is Chris Clark. In 2008 itself, Chris sold a domain name Pizza.com for 2.6 million dollars (approximately Rs 21.5 crore as of today). Interestingly, Chris registered this domain in 1994 at a cost of only $20 per year. Meaning, they kept their rights on that domain by spending $20 every year. When he got the right bid, he sold it and left with the goods.

When Chris registered Pizza.com, he thought that this domain would help his consulting business in getting a contract with a pizza company. However, his dream did not come true, but he kept the domain and used it to sell advertising.

Elon Musk paid 11 million dollars for Tesla
The story of Tesla.com domain name is also quite interesting. This domain was registered by Stu Grossman in 1992. Till then Tesla Motors was not even established. Tesla Motors was formed in 2003. For a long time, Tesla Motors was run on the domain TeslaMotors.com. However, as the business of Elon Musk’s company Tesla grew, and it moved from just cars to energy products, it seemed necessary for him to acquire Tesla.com. In 2016, Elon Musk finally bought this domain for 11 million dollars.

How to earn from domain name
Domain name is the address of a website on the Internet, such as www.google.com or www.amazon.in. To register it, a domain registrar website (like GoDaddy) is used. For this you have to pay an annual fee. If the domain name is unique and in demand, it can be sold at a high price. Domain name business is profitable because it is a digital asset, the demand for which is continuously increasing. This investment is a great example of low costs and high profits.

Chris Clark sold his consulting company in 2000, but he continued paying $20 a year for the domain. This was the result of his foresight, because in 2006 the domain named Vodka.com was sold for $3 million. This news inspired him and he put Pizza.com up for online auction. After a week-long auction, an anonymous bidder bought it for $2.6 million.

Big deals made regarding domain name

• CarInsurance.com – $49.7 million (2010): This deal was done by QuinStreet, an online marketing company. This domain was already a successful site used to search for car insurance policies.
• Insurance.com – $35.6 million (2010): QuinStreet also bought this, which was a popular platform for comparing different insurance rates.
• VacationRentals.com – $35 million (2007): HomeAway purchased it to prevent competitors like Expedia from buying it.
• Voice.com – $30 million (2019): This domain was purchased by Block.one with the intention of competing as a social media platform.
• 360.com – $17 million (2015): This domain was purchased by Zhou Hongyi, CEO of Qihoo 360, which is very popular in the Chinese market.
• Chat.com – $15.5 million (2023): This has been a recent sale, reflecting the growing demand for online chatting services.
• NFTs.com – $15 million (2022): The value of this domain skyrocketed after the growing NFT market and it was purchased at a huge price.