Glasgow.com owner hopes to make £1m from sale

A GLASGOW businessman is set to pocket around £1 million by auctioning off a city website.
Businessman Tommy Butler is selling Glasgow.com. Picture: TSPLBusinessman Tommy Butler is selling Glasgow.com. Picture: TSPL
Businessman Tommy Butler is selling Glasgow.com. Picture: TSPL

Tommy Butler has decided to sell popular website Glasgow.com after 15 years of ownership.

Having bought up a series of web address in the 1990s when the Internet first took off, Butler left his job at a poultry market to become of Scotland’s first domain name experts.

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Interest in the site has already been piqued by media, travel and tourism companies expressing a desire to snap it up.

In an interview with The Herald, Mr Butler said: “Business on the internet has changed drastically in 21 years. Back then, Amazon was a river and no one knew what a Google was. My business has gone through equally considerable changes and that’s why I’m reluctantly letting Glasgow go.

“Some people might say that it’s not hard to keep an eye on a domain but I look after 2000 domains and associated accounts. Equally, as I did last year when I sold one of my top domains, it’s about having domains that suit my current plans for the business while also letting someone else use a domain like this.

“In the past I’ve had interest from media companies, travel firms, tourism companies and a few Far East businessmen so it will be interesting to see who gets in touch about it.

He added: “As we get enquiries at least once or twice a week about selling it I don’t think we’ll struggle to raise interest in it.”

Butler bought Glasgow.com for £10,000 in 2001.

The buyer of the domain will also inherit the Twitter handle @Glasgow as well as a Linkedin account under the title Glasgow. The buyer will also have the option to use more than 150 Glasgow domains and websites.

Butler said: “The city - and the domain - have been good to me, so I want to make sure the next owner has some good plans for it.”

He continues to own other geodomains in Scotland, including Largs.com, Greenock.com and Kirkintilloch.co.uk.

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