Kris Marszalek appeared on TBPN (The Big Picture Network) today, February 10, 2026, for an interview following the high-profile launch of his new platform, AI.com.
He mentioned the bidder he was up against to acquire ai.com offered him $500M+ right after he closed the deal. He said “I think I could’ve pushed it to $1B – you guys need to understand, I’m fully committed.”
The video is not uploaded to YouTube yet but here is their channel.
In 2011, I predicted that .ai domains would reach $1B. At least, I was right that AI-related domains would reach that price. People are willing to pay $1B for a domain ai.com. Perhaps domain si.ai (SuperIntelligent AI) will be next to reach that price.
Strange that it was on the market for $100 million for some time strange how it suddently got a $500 million offer……
“bidder he was up against”
So…was this some kind of sealed bid auction, like when Paul McCartney lost to MJ?
Because is that’s what happened, seller probably left a huge fortune on the table, and I would have advised against that 100%.
Otherwise what truth does “bidder up against” mean for this record sale?
It’s interesting the way he explained it John. I wish he gave greater detail, people have asked @Kris on X.
Doubtful. Why didn’t the bidder just outbid him in the first place? Probably could have bought the domain for $100 million
It is interesting Mark, now the whole context around this has not been spelled out. Because I don’t think the name was auctioned.
I’ve never negotiated a domain for $70 million USD, but if the bidder offers me $1 billion, I’ll close the deal in a second.
Considering the brand, and what AI is doing to upend almost every industry, it’s not impossible to believe that claim.
McKinsey estimates that Agentic Commerce will reach $3T to $5T by 2030.
So $500M sounds like a bargain for someone to control that brand in this winner-take-all race.