I tuned yesterday to WebMasterRadio.fm for the Domain Masters show and I was surprised to hear they had the President of Overstock.com on for an interview about the acquisition of O.co! Recently Overstock purchased the domain in a $350,000 cash deal. Mr. Johnson said that Overstock was not yet very clear on the direction they are going to take O.co. Currently, the domain simply re-directs to Overstock.com. Johnson implied the main reason that O.co was purchased was for brand protection as opposed to their recent acquisition of O.biz which is currently it’s own standalone site that deals bulk and small business products. Understandably, Mr. Johnson seemed a little uncomfortable and maybe unprepared answering questions about how the price of O.co was determined, if they will be going after any other single letter “O” extensions in the future and how much they may be willing to pay.
Congrats to Chef Patrick and co-host Morgan Linton in landing this huge guest caller on the show. Kudos also to Mr. Jonathan Johnson for being open to talking to our industry representatives in a live show format! Morgan asked a great question to Mr. Johnson about product domain names and whether Johnson believes or practices owning product specific domain names and re-directing them to product pages within Overstock.com. We didn’t get the answer we were looking for as domainers. Johnson, CEO of one of the biggest online retailers said he does not find value in owning or redirecting ‘product domains’ (besides the obvious uber premium type) for redirection. Patrick and Morgan had a few other good questions that Johnson did a good job of answering the best he could, to hear the entire show find the podcast at the Domain Masters homepage on WebmasterRadio.fm.
I am definitely glad to have attended the show live, it’s always fun to see who’s in the chatroom and the hosts always encourage interaction, even taking live phone calls! Not sure who the big guest will be next week on Domain Masters radio, maybe Rick S. 😉
Thanks for the positive comments Mike – glad you enjoyed the show. We’re having a lot of fun with it! Next week’s guest is going to be phenomenal – can’t give-away any secrets yet so you’ll have to wait until then…unless Patrick announces it early 🙂
@Morgan – no problem! I think I’ll tune into Morgan Linton TV tonight as well 🙂