Marchex CEO Russell Horowitz on Archeo: Interview
Marchex will finally focus on its domain name business.
Yesterday Marchex disclosed it was splitting the firm in two, forming a fresh domain-centric business called Archeo.
Archeo will manage a portfolio of over 200,000 domain names, many of which were purchased when Marchex bought Yun Ye’s domain portfolio for $164 million back in 2005.
Despite its big domain purchase, the firm has largely neglected its domain business until now.
Yesterday I talked with Marchex CEO Russell Horowitz to understand more regarding Archeo.
Horowitz stated the impetus for splitting off the firm is that its domain business has been neglected and undervalued.
“The analogy I give is it’s kind of like an oil field under the desert,” stated Horowitz.
“You look at it and know there’s value there, and the time comes where it’s like, you know what, we’ve got to get the people and equipment to build wells and get it out of the ground and do it in a way that creates a valuable recurring business,” he stated.
Marchex neglected its domain portfolio since it had other big opportunities that it believed were more pressing.
“At the time we purchased the domains and had plans in terms of how we would create the business…as a firm we were doing like 5 things,” stated Horowitz. “Our ambitions exceeded our capacity.”
Horowitz stated the firm decided to invest in call advertising and mobile since that opportunity had to be addressed immediately. Domains could wait.
He describes the firm’s domain portfolio as an “idiot proof asset” that would retain its value even if the firm didn’t invest in it right away. He stated time has proven that belief correct.
To date, the firm hasn’t marketed any of its domains for sale. At first it ignored sales inquiries. Then it assigned one person to respond to them, but that wasn’t even his full time job.
Now the firm will do more than reactively negotiate domain sales. It plans to start marketing its domains, counting some with “buy now” prices. It may develop some of its own sales tools but will also likely work with third party marketplaces, he stated.
Archeo will be unlike any other domain firm out there. It’s as if a domain portfolio firm was founded nearly a decade ago and then frozen in time. Now it’s starting again, and there’s certainly a lot of low hanging fruit.
To get the oil out of the ground, the firm is looking for highly entrepreneurial people. It will certainly find some of those in the domain industry.
“The domain industry has a lot of entrepreneurial and creative people,” Horowitz stated.
(If you’re interested in working for Archeo, you may contact Karmen Chen at kchen -at- marchex.com.)
Archeo is a welcome development in the domain industry — and I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more regarding it in the years to come.
