NickGiambruno on Nostr: “Let me explain. This is my daughter. I’m willing to marry her off, but only to a ...

“Let me explain. This is my daughter. I’m willing to marry her off, but only to a man that values her more than I value her.”

That’s what MicroStrategy executive chairman and co-founder Michael @saylor told the potential buyer of his voice.com domain.

Saylor would eventually sell voice.com for $30 million, a record for the highest price ever paid for a domain name.

It’s an incredible story that few people have heard…

In the early days of the internet, Saylor was quick to recognize the value of domain names which were also words everybody understood. He figured it was like owning a part of the English language.

So, Saylor purchased several of these prominent domains—like voice.com—thinking they would be worth a fortune to the right company in the future.

After around 20 years, one day, out of the blue, a domain broker contacted Saylor and offered him $150,000 for voice.com on behalf of a potential buyer.

Saylor told them, “Look. I’ve been waiting for 20 stinking years. $150,000 isn’t going to do much for me. Tell him no.”

A week later, they came back and offered him $300,000. Again, Saylor said no.

A few days later, the potential buyers returned and offered $600,000.

Saylor told them he wasn’t interested unless it was something serious—like north of $10 million.

They then offered him $1.2 million, and again Saylor declined.

The potential buyers then asked what he would accept for voice.com.

Saylor remained non-committal and vague, insisting they had to make a serious offer for a lot of money.

The potential buyers then more than doubled their offer to $3 million, then to $6 million, and then to nearly $10 million.

At this point, Saylor’s colleagues urged him to accept the offer.

However, Saylor continued to decline, noting that voice.com could be worth a lot more to the right company and that he had a whale on the line.

He said, “I have $500 million in the bank. And I love my things. Maybe you can tell that I’m a little bit passionate about some of this stuff. So I would rather own it and not have the $10 million than sell it for that.”

The potential buyers then upped their offer to $12 million.

Saylor realized the potential buyers were serious. He didn’t want to discourage them entirely with his repeated refusals.

So, he told them he has seen people drop $100 million on a marketing campaign and that he thinks voice.com is worth at least $100 million. That being said, he would reluctantly accept $30 million for it.

They then offered him $22 million.

Saylor again said no, but offered to have a phone meeting with them to discuss further.

As the meeting started, the potential buyers again offered $22 million.

Again, Saylor declined, noting that owning the word “voice” in English was like owning an acre of Central Park. He was in no rush to sell it and could hold on to it for many more years until a buyer came to his price.

At this point, the buyer agreed to come to Saylor’s price.

After being offered $150k, Saylor sold voice.com for $30 million—the most anyone has ever paid for a domain name.

It’s a record that still stands as of writing.