Nice article. Here's another one in the same subject published on macleans.ca recently:
Masters of our domain (names), the cash cows of the Internet
Meet the kings of those ugly websites full of ad links that are a multi-billion-dollar industry
COLIN CAMPBELL
Yun Ye is one of the most elusive, and successful, businessmen in Canada. His fortune is worth over US$150 million. Yet he has no known address, office or employees. Even his former lawyer refers to him as more myth than man. People have spent years trying to secure a business meeting with him. The few who do leave wondering if it was really Yun Ye that they met. For all that's known about Ye, a Chinese citizen rumoured to have been living until recently with his family in a modest condo in downtown Vancouver's Wall Centre, he might just run his affairs from a laptop computer and a lawn chair. He's what's known as a "domainer." He is, in fact, the world's most successful domainer, a pioneer in a highly lucrative industry based on buying, selling and developing Web addresses, or domain names.
Outside his shadowy world, almost no one has heard of Ye -- though anyone with an Internet connection is likely familiar with his stock-in-trade: those simple websites that, like snippets ripped from the Yellow Pages, offer nothing but lists of links to advertiser sites. The sites may seem purposeless, but behind them lies a multi-billion-dollar industry.
More on
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/bu..._122704_122704