Google Spends a Whopping $25 Million to Seize .app Web Domain
Google, today, added one more domain to its list of top-level domains (TLDs). The internet search giant paid a hefty sum of $25 million to procure a whole web domain.
As per Business Insider, Google made the highest bid of $25 million for .app, a top-level domain. Following this, ICANN, an organisation that holds a control over world’s domain names, declared Google as the winner of the domain. Google applied for .docs, .android, .free, .fyi, .foo, and .app; only managing to acquire the last one. The company presently owns four more web domains namely .soy, .minna, .foo and .how.
This isn’t a first, there have been several companies throwing millions on web domains. In fall 2014, Amazon spent nearly $5 million to purchase ‘.buy’, and $2.2 million for ‘.spot’. For now, users can register for ‘.how,’ ‘.soy,’ and ‘.minna’ domains under Google’s own domain registry service licensed by ICANN, which is still in beta version.
The company hasn’t revealed what it expects from this purchase, but it is likely that it may use the domain to promote apps in its mobile division.
