The web site, based in New York, invites viewers to send insider
information on companies and this is then posted on the site.
Typical comments are about dot.coms that have laid off a large
number of workers or rumours of impending bankruptcy. The domain
name attracted 66 bids on eBay during the first 15 hours of
bidding. The top bid of $9.4 million could not be verified and was
removed on the assumption that it was a hoax. However, a bid of
$3,000,300 was declared legitimate.
Only 10 domain names are thought to have been transferred
for US$ seven figure sums, the most recent being the sale of
CyberWorks.com for $1 million.
The current owner, Phil Kaplan, said he offered the name on eBay
with a starting price of $1 because he was bored. He has since
withdrawn the sale from eBay and continued it on his own site, with
a view to selling the entire site. The site has become a popular
source for journalists seeking “scoops” on failing companies and is
described as “the site du jour in Silicon Valley”. It is
ranked as the 2250th most visited site on the internet and receives
124,000 unique users per week.
