The “.web” Internet domain has been purchased by a company called Nu Dot Co. The domain is likely to be popular and the company expects to make a profit on licensing out the easy-to-remember link to websites. The $135 million tag exceeded the previous most expensive domain name, which was “.shop.” This consumer-oriented domain name was valued at a ‘mere’ $41.5 million. A full list of winning domain name bids indicates:
1. WEB won by NU DOT CO LLC for $135,000,000
2. SHOP won by GMO Registry, Inc. for $41,501,000
3. APP won by Charleston Road Registry Inc. (which is Google) for $25,001,000
4. TECH won by Dot Tech LLC for $6,760,000
5. REALTY won by Fegistry, LLC for $5,588,888
6. SALON won by Outer Orchard, LLC for $5,100,575
7. BUY won by Amazon EU S.à r.l. for $4,588,888
8. MLS won by the The Canadian Real Estate Association for $3,359,000
9. BABY won by Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. for $3,088,888
10. VIP won by Minds + Machines Group Limited for $3,000,888
The “.web” name was hotly contested and Nu Dot Co beat back some big name rivals in the bidding war. Contenders included Google, as well as companies the specialize in Internet registry firms like Afilias, Radix and Donuts.
Not only was the bidding outcome the most expensive, the bidding process, the BBC reports, has been long and drawn out. The process began back in 2012 and took until July 29, 2016 to complete. Leading up to this there was a lot of legal wrangling; even leading up to the decision an attempt was made by Radix and Donuts to block Nu Dot Co from the process.
Little is known about Nu Dot Co, however The Register speculates that VeriSign, an established company, is behind the winning bid or has a stake in it.
The decision was made by ICANN, a body that oversees the net’s address system. ICANN, or to give its full name The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance of several databases containing the “namespaces” of the Internet.
