iREIT’s Marc Ostrofsky bought Business.com for $150,000 in 1997, and resold it to eCompanies for $7.5 million (stocks & cash) two years later. Business.com, which has been developed and turned into a business directory, is now for sale again. The Wall Street Journal says the price could fetch as much as $400 million, which would be a 26 multiple on the site’s current revenue. Dow Jones and the New York Times are likely bidders, according to the WSJ.

I think Business.com has much potential for future growth if they improve the website and service. So far Business.com doesn’t have anything special to offer, and yet the site is a successful business. Here you see again that a good generic domain can help a lot when providing services or selling products online. The site wouldn’t have been as successful without the domain, in my opinion.