Money does grow on trees

Money does grow on trees

If we’d known that web addresses could yield returns in the millions, Kipp wouldn’t have bothered with the property market.

August 30, 2009 2:59 by Dana El Baltaji

An anonymous Emirati put in a AED4 million bid to buy a web address from Brendan O’Shea, a business development director for an Abu Dhabi-based firm. O’Shea bought vip.ae for AED150 with the intention of establishing a business catering to VIPs.

O’Shea said: “I was truly surprised when I discovered I owned such a sought-after a web address. I knew I was lucky at the time to buy such a generic name as vip.ae, but I never quite realised the sales value. Obviously I was delighted to receive an offer of AED4 million. However, my experience in business has taught me never to jump at the first offer.”

He added: “The importance of VIP status is obvious across the Gulf and this is reflected in the value of car number plates, premiums for exclusive addresses, mobile phone numbers and even Blackberry pin numbers, so it makes sense that the web domain vip.ae can be a potential goldmine if owned and developed by the right person.”

So THAT’S where the money is. So while Kipp was making some spectacularly ill-timed property purchases, O’Shea was busy spending a pittance on a killer investment.

We’re jealous, insanely so.