Looking to launch an online pope memorabilia business? Need a name? PopeFrancisBergoglio.net could be yours -- for a mere $39,999.00.
An eBay listing for PopeFrancisBergoglio.net touts the domain as "better than apple.com!!" and prime to be flipped "for HUGE profits today." Writes the seller, jyttep12345, "I am sure if you buy this domain, and try to sell it you will be a millonaire [sic]."
The web address was one of hundreds snapped up by internet speculators after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was named Pope Francis on Wednesday.
According to a CNet report, more than 100 pope-themed domains were registered with GoDaddy, the world's largest domain registrar, within 10 minutes of the papal announcement. Within the first hour, 479 similar domains were registered.
If domain squatters were hoping for a quick sale to the Catholic Church, though, they may be out of luck: The owner of PopeFrancis.com, Chicago lawyer Chris Connors, who purchased the domain in 2010, intends to hand it off to the pope for free.
Connors told the Chicago Tribune he's been approached with a couple offers for the domain, but he thinks the pope should get "dibs first."
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