Though Gov. Eliot Spitzer dubbed himself The Steamroller, we’re betting the moniker Client-9 will far outlast his James Taylor invocation.
Perhaps that’s why Nick Galbreath, a 37 year-old software engineer in Manhattan, moved quickly to snatch up the client9.com domain name yesterday. He paid around $10 for it.
The site is already live, featuring a rundown of low-brow Spitzer bashing (not exactly work-friendly) and a few credible links to news about the governor.
And according to the post in Wired’s Epicenter blog, Galbreath has already made $11 on Google ads.
Congrats, Nick, you’ve turned a profit in 24 hours.
From the post:
“The original story didn’t name [Governor Eliot] Spitzer directly, but I thought [Client9.com] sounded catchy, so I bought it.”
He wasn’t alone. Speculators bought up all client 9-related domain inventory yesterday, including client-9.net, client-9.com, client69.com, client9.
And while rm871.com (the room where Spitzer reportedly met a prostitute) is taken, room871.com, which was registered in October 2007, is for sale for $750. Although there’s no shortage of interest in the domains, the profits may not be there yet.Galbreath, who already had a Google AdSense account, says he’s made $11 in ad sales on the domain over the past 24 hours. But he also estimates he’s spent 8 hours putting the site together and answering emails and phone calls. So on a net basis, he’s probably operating at a loss.
