Acute and dramatic fight for the new gTLD .SHOP came to a spectacular ending. Domain Incite reports that one of the contenders bought the domain on the ICANN auction for a record sum of $41.5 million.
Initially, there were 9 companies that claimed the domain, including such “heavyweights” as Google, Amazon, Donuts, Radix and Famous Four. It’s funny that the Japanese company GMO Registry, it seems, wanted the domain so much that by mistake applied for it two times (one of the applications had to be withdrawn later on). The bidders couldn’t agree between themselves and as a result the fate of the domain was decided on the ICANN open auction, to which only 7 of the initial 9 contenders were allowed. GMO Registry won the auction. The company has not only applied for the domain twice but also offered a record amount of money for it. The previous record-holder was domain .app, which was auctioned off by ICANN and bought by Google for more than $25 million. It’s possible that some of the new domains were purchased for larger sums. However, the results of closed auctions that are held between the bidders traditionally remain a mystery.
GMO Registry plans to use the domain as open, however, only for the resources that are engaged in online trade. Thus, attempts to register names for, let’s say, further resale will be considered a violation of domain’s rules of usage.
