The most expensive domain name ever cost RM50 million
Most of the older generation would find this very difficult to comprehend, and while reading the following might need safety glasses to ensure “visual security.”
It was reported in October 2009 that QuinStreet Inc has purchased the insure.com domain and “related assets” for USD16 million from the original owners, which then changed its name to Live Quotes Inc. That’s about RM50 million!
I guess the price was more than worth it, since QuinStreet had expected to get USD300 million in revenues for 2009 alone.
Live Quotes had bought the domain in December 2001 for an already-expensive USD1.6 million.
QuinStreet is a US online marketing company based in California with offices worldwide. According to Wikipedia:
It uses a performance-based advertising model with use of search engine marketing strategies to promote clients on Web sites in a number of verticals, including: education, home services, financial services, business-to-business (B2B), medical/health, brand advertising, and career services.
For the record, the second most expensive domain name ever sold is sex.com which went for USD12 million in 2006. The rest of the top ten is the usual mix, but what caught my eye was israel.com which changed hands for almost USD6 million in 2004. I wonder what made it so expensive.
For the rest of us mere mortals, you can usually get a dot com for less than USD10 (RM33).
