Hello Aluxers! Thanks for joining us for another top 10 countdown.  Today we look at the most expensive domain names ever purchased. The internet has revolutionised how things are valued and domain names have become incredibly hot property.  The whole concept would have seemed absurd to someone 50 years ago. Imagine explaining to your great grandparents that now there are virtual spaces on a world wide web that are worth millions of dollars.  They’d probably be flabbergasted! In 2018, there are individuals who make huge sums of money simply buying and selling domain names. If you are able to predict something that might become a household name in the future then you could make a fortune and never have to work again.  In 2011, for example, the Swedish company, Xcerion, owned the domain icloud.com. Apple purchased it for $4.5 million dollars. That was nearly half of the company’s entire net worth at the time! And just to keep you interested, a $4.5 million dollar purchase doesn’t even make it close to this top 10 list!  So let’s begin:

Number 10 - Fund.com - $9.99 million dollars

In 2008, Clek Media reported brokering a deal for fund.com inc. that bought the web domain for nearly $10 million dollars.  The share price for the company sky rocketed to more than $500 dollars. The idea was for the company’s domain to act as a platform for fund-management and investment purposes.  However, some poor business decisions meant that the company went into fast decline in 2011. Share prices dropped to 41 cents and the company seemed destined to fold. The executives at the time decided to ‘cut and run’, selling the fund.com domain to a private buyer for substantially less than the initial purchase.  However, in July 2018, the sale was deemed to be illegal and the domain name remains the property of fund.com inc. This has helped with a minor recovery on share prices which now stand at around $3 dollars (as of November 2018). It seems unlikely, however, that the domain name is worth anything near the amount it was purchased for in 2008.

Number 9 - Hotels.com - $11 million dollars

Hotels.com is a website for comparing prices of hotels all over the world.  They have 85 websites in 34 different languages listing 325,000 hotels in over 19,000 locations.  The company began in 1991 as a telephone booking service and was called the Hotel Reservation Network.  The company became part of Expedia in 2001 and the domain name hotels.com was bought in 2002 for a whopping $11 million dollars.  In hindsight, it was one of the smartest investments in travel agency history. The domain is said to be worth more than $200 million dollars today and Expedia's net worth is $1.76 billion dollars.

Number 8 - Sex.com - $13 million dollars

In 2010, sex.com broke the Guinness World Record for most expensive domain name ever purchased.  The domain had formerly been owned by Escom LLC but following bankruptcy, they sold the asset to Clover Holdings. The domain name itself has an interesting history before this purchase.  It was the subject of a huge litigation process surrounding the rights of ownership for cyber property. The former owner, Gary Kremen, bought the domain back in 1995 at the same time as purchasing match.com but did not develop it.  Stephen M. Cohen managed to fraudulently change the rights of ownership to himself and made millions from advertising since the website was getting more than 25 million hits a day. In 2005, Kremen won a longstanding court battle and Cohen was ordered to pay a settlement of $67 million dollars.  Following the purchase by Clover Holdings, the website was relaunched in 2012 and advertised as the ‘pinterest of sex’.

Number 7 - Insure.com - $16 million dollars

Insure.com was purchased in 2009 by Quinstreet Inc. to add to their portfolio of high-profile domain names.  The company focuses on search engine marketing and performance based advertising in order to make commissions on directing customers to businesses. The insure.com domain is one of the most lucrative websites in their arsenal producing revenues of more than $400 million dollars in 2017.  By entering basic details one can search through thousands of quotes for all kinds of insurance cover.

Number 6 - 360.com - $17 million dollars

360.com was purchased by Chinese company, Qihoo 360 in 2015 for a whopping $17 million dollars.  The company specialises in internet security and antivirus software. It has over 640 million users and has a net worth of $13.6 billion dollars. So the purchase of this lucrative domain name was just a drop in the ocean for this giant corporation.

And that’s the halfway point.  Have you already begun buying up domain names that you think might make your fortune in the future? If you’re enjoying this video then please check out some of our other top 10 lists.  Top 10 most expensive items sold on the black market is particularly interesting and disturbing.

Number 5 - PrivateJet.com - $30 million dollars

PrivateJet.com was purchased in 2012 for a reported $30 million dollars.  The company provides chartered flights for businesses who can afford to fly their employees around on private aircraft.  A flight from Miami to New York will cost $10,250 dollars for 6 passengers. Houston to Chicago can take 7 passengers for $9,400 dollars.  Or a same day return from West Palm Beach to Los Angeles will cost $57,000 dollars for 10 passengers. Business class seats on a regular flight don’t look quite so fancy in comparison!

Number 4 - VacationRentals.com - $35 million dollars

Another acquisition of the Expedia empire. Vacationrentals.com boasts listings for over 2 million properties in 190 different countries.  The website is held under Expedia's subsidiary group known as HomeAway Inc. which specialises in clientele from the U.S. The company brought in revenues of close to $500 million dollars for their parent company in 2017.  It seems that Expedia have absolutely nailed their domain name purchases in order to hold an almighty stake for online listings of flights, hotels and holiday homes by linking customers to the right businesses and making billions from commission.

Number 3 - Insurance.com - $35.6 million dollars

Yet another Quinstreet Inc. purchase. This domain was snapped up in 2010 for a reported $35.6 million dollars.  The company has managed to corner most of the online traffic involved for receiving insurance quotes and made billions from commissions in the process.  Insurance.com has listings from over 7,000 different insurance companies all over the globe. From auto insurance to life insurance, the website promotes companies that pay the largest commission.  In 2017, insurance.com produced revenue streams of around $600 million dollars for Quinstreet Inc.

Number 2 - LasVegas.com - $90 million dollars

Las Vegas is one of the largest earners from tourism on the planet.  In 2017, the city brought in more than $60 billion dollars. In 2005, the domain name LasVegas.com was bought in order to capitalise on a share of this huge sum.  The website offers hotels, tickets to shows, flights, and information about all kinds of attractions. The website is paid huge sums of money in order to promote certain businesses such as hotels or casinos.  They also earn commission when customers book through the website. What’s most astonishing about this gargantuan purchase is that it was only bought on a 35 year lease. In 2040, their rights to the domain will expire and the address will be up for sale once again.

Number 1 - Cars.com - $842 million dollars

No that’s not a mistake.  The most expensive web domain ever purchased actually cost $842 million dollars! Cars.com is the most comprehensive website for listings of used and new cars for sale in the U.S.  There are currently over 4.5 million cars listed for sale on the database and cars.com will gain commission every time one is bought through the website. The domain was previously owned by Classified Ventures but they were bought out by Gannet LLC in 2014 for $2.5 billion dollars.  As part of the deal, the web domain was bought for an incredible $842 million dollars!

And that’s the end of our top 10 list.  Number 1 was a huge jump and we hope it shocked you! Now a question:

Which domain name are you going to buy right now in the hope it will be worth millions in the future? Leave your comments below and then buy it fast before someone else does!

Thanks for watching all the way to the end, our wonderful Aluxers.  We’d like to show our gratitude by throwing in one more bonus fact for you:

One of the largest services for buying website domains is offered by godaddy.com.  Bob Parsons sold his stake in the company to private equity investors for $930 million dollars in 2014 bringing his net worth up to $1.9 billion dollars.