A cybersquatter/entrepreneur is hoping to make money out of the tragedy of the Ebola outbreak by selling a domain using the virus’ name for $150,000
Jon Schultz, bought Ebola.com for $13,500 in 2008 and now believes he can sell it for $150,000.He also owns birdflu.com and H1N1.com, terror.com, PotassiumIodide.com ,fukushima.com,as well a domain for the deadly mosquito-borne disease Chikungunya and another for the Ebola-like Marburg virus,He says he has been waiting for the perfect moment to sell it .He told CNBC via email..
‘Ebola.com would be a great domain for a pharmaceutical company working on a vaccine or cure, a company selling pandemic or disaster-preparedness supplies, or a medical company wishing to provide information and advertise services,..
There could be many other applications as well. With so many people concerned about the disease, any advertisement referring people to Ebola.com should get an excellent response.’
In an interview with the Washington Post, Mr Schultz said he felt the money he is demanding is more than reasonable for Ebola.com.’
According to our site meter, we’re already doing 5,000 page views per day just by people typing in Ebola.com to see what’s there,’ We’re getting inquiries every day about the sale of it. I have a lot of experience in this sort of domain business, and my sense is that $150,000 is reasonable.’
On why he choose to make money from a human tragedy ,he said
‘But you could say the same thing about doctors,’. ‘They can become very well-off treating very sick patients.Besides we have sacrificed a couple of thousands in parking page income to put up links about Ebola on the site. And people can also donate to Doctors Without Borders at the site.’
Image-AP
