After purchasing the domain name of its biggest competitor, NationalNet.com, Webair CEO Mike Christopher was confronted with a healthy dose of drama. But all’s well that ends well.
Christopher since has worked out a deal with National Net president Tony Morgan, handing over the domain and agreeing to make a joint charitable contribution.
The saga began when Christopher purchased the domain earlier this month – at a price of $5,000 – for Introduction.com, a soon-to-launch FriendFinder-like dating site client. Introduction.com was looking for a networking-based domain, such as National Net, National Network and National Networking for their individual dating sites, Christopher tells AVNOnline.com.
When he purchased NationalNet.com, he found people questioning his motives came as part of the deal.
“It crossed my mind [that buying that domain might be a problem], but I thought that ultimately, Tony already had his name. He branded NatNet.com, so I didn’t know if he was interested in NationalNet.com or not. I found out the hard way,” Christopher says with a laugh.
“I don’t like jumping to conclusions on stuff like that. When I first heard about it, it was through a third party and I’m very cautious not to judge unless I know for sure,” Morgan tells AVNOnline.com.
Once the inevitable accusations and hearsay started flying, Christopher spoke with Morgan and the two quickly came to an agreement.
“He sent me an email and said ‘let’s try to do this the right way.’ I said ‘sure,’ and he came up with the recommendation to make a donation to charity. That way there was no loser,” Morgan says.
Christopher has subsequently given NationalNet.com to National Net and the companies are donating an undisclosed amount to Bert’s Big Adventures, a four-year-old charity that gives terminally ill children a VIP experience at Disney World.
Of course, in this industry, if the story can get any stranger, it undoubtedly will. The man behind Burt’s Big Adventures is Bert Weiss, a childhood friend of Christopher’s from Long Beach, New York, whom he hasn’t seen since he was 8 years old.
“I was shocked, to be honest. I haven’t been back to Long Beach in 30 years, and I probably hadn’t thought of Mike for about that long, too,” Weiss tells AVNOnline.com. “I partied pretty hard in the ‘80s and might have lost my short-term memory, but my long-term memory must be pretty strong because I vividly remember Mike, his sister, and all the friends we had back then.”
Christopher, who has ridden the roller coaster on this adventure, was so excited about the latest development that he could barely put it into words.
“I mean the karma involved…. I’m really excited about this,” he says.
