This Tuesday, the domain name TajMahal.com was sold on NameJet for $29,999, Domain Name Wire reported. While this price may sound fairly high, it indicates a 40% decline from 2009, when the same domain was sold for $50,000.
The domain was registered back in 2007. A year later, it was acquired by Cyber2Media company headed by Daniel Negari, who now is the CEO of the new .XYZ top-level domain name. Soon after that, the domain went under Whois privacy. As mentioned, in 2009, it was sold for $50,000. The name of the new owner and the reasons why the domain was sold, especially for so much less money, are unknown.
Some link the deal’s disadvantageous terms with recent developments in India. Lately, a number of Indian politicians have been pushing to recognize the Taj Mahal as a Hindu landmark, not an Islamic one. They insist that this architectural landmark was first built as a Hindu temple that was later taken over by the emperor Shah Jahan and rebuilt as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. That is why right-wing and nationalist Indian politicians are demanding that the Taj Mahal be renamed. But it is very unlikely that these events, which do not get much coverage outside of India, could have driven the domain investor to get rid of the domain; more likely it is the result of a poorly negotiated deal for an otherwise potentially very profitable domain name.
