Million Dollar Homepage Sold Out: Last Pixels and DDoS Attack

The day the Million Dollar Homepage sold out was a landmark for internet business ideas. In 2005, British student Alex Tew sold a 1000×1000 pixel grid for $1 a pixel to pay for university. Within months it sold out, and we covered the finale in January 2006, when the last 1,000 pixels went on eBay. Here’s how the sell-out happened, the DDoS attack that followed and what became of its creator. For the full story of how the idea started, read our main guide to the Million Dollar Homepage.

Quick answer: The Million Dollar Homepage sold one million pixels at $1 each in blocks of 10×10, with each block linking to the buyer’s site. It sold out in January 2006; the final 1,000 pixels fetched $38,100 on eBay, taking total sales past $1 million. The page is still online, but many of its links now point to dead or changed sites. Alex Tew later co-founded the meditation app Calm.

How the Million Dollar Homepage worked

• A single page with a 1000×1000 pixel grid, one million pixels in total.
• Pixels sold at $1 each, in minimum blocks of 10×10 ($100).
• Buyers uploaded a small image and a link; hovering showed a short text.
• The novelty earned huge media coverage, which drove more traffic and more buyers.

How the Million Dollar Homepage sold out: the final 1,000 pixels

As we reported when it launched, the idea spread fast. The last 1,000 pixels went to eBay, where Elijah Kliger of Brooklyn, New York, won with the highest of 99 bids: $38,100 for his site MillionDollarWeightLoss.com, compared with the $1,000 they’d originally have cost. His ad got a prominent spot at the top of the page.

The DDoS attack

Soon after selling out, the site suffered a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, with many computers flooding the server so it slowed or went offline, followed by a demand for money. The site recovered after a few days.

The Million Dollar Homepage today

The page is still online as a piece of internet history. Over the years many of the advertisers’ websites have closed or changed hands, so a large share of the links no longer lead where they once did. It’s often cited as an example of “link rot”.

What happened to Alex Tew

Tew tried several follow-up projects, including the “Do Nothing for 2 Minutes” website, before co-founding Calm, one of the best-known meditation apps. We list similar tools in our post on web apps to calm down.

Lessons from the Million Dollar Homepage

• Simple ideas spread: anyone could understand it in one sentence.
• Scarcity sells: a fixed number of pixels created urgency.
• First movers win: hundreds of copycat pixel pages followed, but none came close.
• Plan for success: popularity attracted attackers too.

FAQ

Is the Million Dollar Homepage still online?

Yes, though many of its links no longer work as originally intended.

How much did the Million Dollar Homepage make?

Just over $1 million in gross sales, including $38,100 for the final 1,000 pixels.

Who created the Million Dollar Homepage?

Alex Tew, a 21-year-old student from Wiltshire, England, in 2005.