Pizza.com sold recently for $2.6M, and vodka.com for $3M. Domain names are now a global business. The explosive growth in online advertising (in the first half of 2007 alone, advertisers in the US spent more than $10 billion) has seen Internet entrepreneurs earn millions of dollars by buying, selling, developing and monetizing web addresses, or "domain names". There are now over 1,000 so-called "domainers" (as domain owners refer to themselves), as many as 100 million registered domains, and a thriving aftermarket for domain names, with reported sales exceeding US$700M in 2007.

At a recent conference aimed at domainers, Steve Forbes, CEO of Forbes, Inc and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine was enthusiastic about the industry:

"Internet traffic and domains are the prime real estate of the 21st century. This market has matured, and individuals, brands, investors and organizations who do not grasp their importance or value are missing out on numerous levels." 

Interestingly, experts say that the highest growth rates in the industry are currently being found outside the US.