Creating the Legacy: Part II, The One About Rick Schwartz
If you haven’t read yesterday’s Part I article, I recommend you read it now. Once your done, you might as well read this one, because I’m about to call out a fellow domainer: Rick Schwartz. Yup, once again he has made his way into the posts of DNU. And once again, it’s not a good thing.
He recently made a post on his site titled: “BREAKING: Rick Schwartz wants to Sell the Domain Industry to Microsoft for $8 Billion. REALLY!” The post goes on to describe how HE has the greatest idea for Microsoft, which mainly includes the sale of his domain portfolio to them. Oh yeah, and for $8 billion dollars. I almost threw up when I heard this. Can you get any more egocentric than this? Not only self-proclaiming himself the “Domain King,” as the title of his blog, but evaluating his portfolio at $8 billion.
Rick Schwartz is considered one of the best in the business. But by whom? Did he start his own legacy? According to dnjournal.com, he did.
Let’s start with the Domain King premise. Schwartz anointed himself and annoyed his critics by claiming that title in the mid-90’s. Does he have a rightful claim to the throne?
DnJournal goes on to debate both sides of Rick Schwartz, the good and the bad. The article can be found here, http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/cover020204.htm.
Questions to Comment On:
- Do you like Rick Schwartz? Do you support his titles or thing he is “overrated?”
- Is what Rick Schwartz did/does ok?
By the way, Rick if you’re reading this, please don’t take it offensively. In fact, you should feel so famous that other people write about you! Again, with all respect.
I think he valued the whole premium domain industry at $8 billion not just his portfolio.
maybe you should reread the atricle… i believe he valued his domains far below other top domain portfolios. his point was that the bulk of the whole domain industry could be had for around 8 billion dollars.
The guy’s a legend, but what he said is ridiculous. If Microsoft was to snap up all these domains, wouldn’t Google do something about it? Like maybe tweak their Search Engine results to not be showing too much Microsoft? I just don’t believe that Microsoft will go this far, but a marketing or advertising company would (if they had the money).
Hey guys.
@Brandon and Todaro
This quote seemed to be the one to throw me: “So Microsoft, let me sell you the domain Industry for $8 billion. Let me sell you the most prized collection of keywords on the planet. Let me organize the biggest domain sale in history. Let’s change the dynamics.” The “let ME sell you…” seemed to imply that he would orchestrate the sale not only dynamically, but using his own portfolio.
Also, I read his post today, and in fact he appraised his portfolio at $150 million.
If you ask me, his posts are awkwardly worded, and he should really work on the syntax of his sentences, ’cause they always seem to send me for a whirl.
@TechFillipino
I agree with what your saying, even though it’s a “what if” situation. Again, IMO, Rick’s idea was stupid, and really poses more questions and doubts than revenue in the long run. I chose to focus more on his self-promotion in my article, rather than his idea. However, I will entertain all problems with his idea, but just for kicks!
As a side note: Here are the portfolios he was referring to in his first post, and their respective appraisals:
Kevin Ham $750,000,000
Franky $500,000,000
Scott Day $350,000,000
Lawrence Ng $350,000,000
National A1 $300,000,000
Larry and Ari $200,000,000
Rick Schwartz $150,000,000
Mike Berkens $150,000,000
Slav’s Xedoc $150,000,000
Roland $200,000,000
Lonnie $100,000,000
These numbers ring to the tune of about $3.2 billion dollars. If you ask me, this just motivates the market even more.