The new gTLD .APP sold for $25 Million to Google today in a ICANN Last Resort Auction which I think is very good news for the new gTLD program in general.
This is the highest price paid in an ICANN Last Resort Auction.
It looks like Google was willing to pay over $30 Million based on the info published by ICANN today
The previously high price paid for a new gTLD in an ICANN Last Resort Auction was $6,760,000 which was paid by Radix for .Tech.
Radix was also a bidder for .APP
.APP had the largest number of new gTLD applicants of all new gTLD’s.
There were 13 companies that applied to operate the new gTLD .APP. One applicant withdrew their application months ago leaving 12 applicants.
This is only the 11th new gTLD contention set to be settled at an ICANN Last Resort Auction.
Most of the new gTLD extensions that had more than one applicant were settled in “private” auctions.
While, the results of private auctions are not disclosed, but since some of the participants in these auctions are public company’s there have been some good guesses as to how much the new gTLD’s have sold for in private auctions.
The highest price paid in a private auction has been reported to be around $20-$25 Million.
The proceeds of private auctions are basically split amongst the other applicants or losing bidders while at the ICANN auction all the proceeds go to ICANN (except for auctioneer fees).
ICANN took in almost $35 Million in the ten Last Resort Auctions that took place previous to the auction for .APP
.App had 12 bidders;
APP Registry Inc (Cayman Islands)
Afilias
Amazon
Aquent.com
Donuts
DotApp Inc
Famous Four
Merchant Law Group LLP
Minds + Machines
Radix
Straat.co
