Amazon has bought the .buy top level domain (TLD) name for $4.6bn, beating rival Google for ownership of the potentially lucrative web destination.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) held an auction for three TLD names on 17 September, saying that there has been a lot of interest in them and that an auction was the best way to resolve this.
It called the issue “string contention” explaining that it occurs when more than one applicant applies for a top level domain name.
The three auctioned suffixes were .buy, .tech and .vip, and you can imagine the sort of demand that these were likely to elicit.
The .buy TLD name was in demand by four parties. Amazon and a bid of $4,588,888 won out there. Icann said that the other three participants were called Bitter Sunset LLC, Buy limited and the Charleston Road Registry Inc. The last of these is the part of Google that is responsible for domains.
Meanwhile .tech was won by a company called Dot Tech with a $6,760,000 bid. The .vip domain was won by a company called Minds + Machines with a $3,000,888 bid.
“The proceeds from these auctions will be separated and reserved until the board determines a plan for the appropriate use of the funds through consultation with the community,” said Akram Atallah, president of Icann’s global domains division. “We continue to encourage parties to reach agreements amongst themselves to resolve contention.”
Meanwhile, global registry operator Afilias announced that six leading organic brands are participating in the .ORGANIC domain pioneer program and plan to launch sites using the socially responsible top-level domain created for organic products and services.
Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice President and CMO, Afilias said, “It’s exciting to see these organic leaders adopt the .ORGANIC domain so quickly. And it’s especially gratifying to be able to announce this adoption at Natural Products Expo East 2014. The speedy adoption by such reputable organizations reinforces our belief that .ORGANIC will really help distinguish the organic space on the Internet. And for consumers, a special Internet space for verified organic providers means they can have confidence that the information they find at .ORGANIC sites is from confirmed organic community members.”