You can’t even imagine how expensive can some domain name be! No, not thousands of dollars. We are talking millions! Domain flipping, the practice of selling domain names, has been getting extremely popular and amazingly profitable. Especially for some.
Here are the top 10 most expensive domain names of all time. They are ordered by the absolute value of the deal, but I calculated the impact of inflation, so you can see the real price in today’s money.
I spent a lot of time fact-checking if the deals were real or not and if there were some extra exchanges like brand, assets, or complete business. Here we are talking about 10 most expensive domain names, not online businesses that have websites.
1. Voice.com $30 million in 2019, (adjusted price 31.1M)
The company called MicroStrategy sold their Voice.com domain name for the jaw-dropping amount of 30M dollars! Now, the cool domain is used by Block.one, a blockchain company that uses its technology to provide a social media site, where everybody is a real person or business, not a robot.
MicroStrategy still has an interesting portfolio with more domain names like Emma.com, Glory.com, Strategy.com, Hope.com, Alert.com, and more!
2. 360.com $17 million in 2015 (adjusted price 19.0M)
Vodafone sold that domain for the insane price of 17M! The buyer was a Chinese company called Quihoo 360 that already had 360.cn, but it wanted the even more attractive 360.com. It is a software giant that is probably worth more than a $1B. It produces famous software: 360 Safeguard, 360 Secure Browser, 360 Mobile Assistant, and it owns almost completely Opera Software.
3. Sex.com $13 million in 2010 (adjusted price 15.6M)
Ah, yes, the Internet’s number 1 priority. Escom sold to Clover Holdings Sex.com for a staggering 13M. You could think that Escom got a great deal, but it was a part of a bankruptcy process, and even this pile of money couldn’t save them.
4. Fund.com $12 million in 2008 (adjusted price 14.8M)
Eastern Services Group (now Fund.com Inc) is a New York-based company that focuses on fund management. The deal was kept far from the public’s eyes, although different media do confirm it happen.
5. Hotels.com $11 million in 2001 (adjusted price 16.4M)
Even back in 2001, you could tell that the Internet will be everything. As much as it sounds 11M, now, at the moment, it could cost hundreds of millions. Now, hotels.com is one very popular hotel booking site that earns big amounts of money each year.
6. Tesla.com $11 million in 2014 (adjusted price 12.3M)
When we are talking about Tesla and its owner Elon Musk, no money seems unreasonable. Its company Tesla had a very rough start, but now it is one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers.
Back in 2014, Telsa Motor Company had TeslaMotors.com, but it couldn’t resist the shorter and easier to remember Tesla.com. Now, with the new domain name, it is already in the league of Apple and its apple.com.
7. Porn.com $9.5 million in 2007 (adjusted price 12.2M)
Just like Sex.com, it is an incredibly attractive name for a porn site. And the internet is full of those kinds of sites. The company that bought it is called MXN Limited.
8. Porno.com $8.8 million in 2015 (adjusted price 9.8M)
If porn.com costs a lot, so should porno.com, right? Yes! Not as much as the shorter domain name, but 8.8M is still a massive number. The person who bought it. Rick Schwartz claims that he has earned around 15M before the sale from PPC ads. It sounds like a real gold mine!
9. Fb.com $8.5 million 2010 (adjusted price 10.2M)
As a no surprise to anyone, the company that was most interested in this domain was Facebook. It paid a huge sum. For a company of its size, the money is not so much, and if Fb.com sounds better for the Facebook executives, who are we to judge.
10.HealthInsurance.com $8.13 million in 2019 (adjusted price 8.4M)
There is not a lot of information about the deal. The domain name sure sounds attractive. Health is a number one priority for many people.
Business.com ($345M in 2007) is not on the list because it was a purchase of a business, not just a domain name.
LasVegas.com ($90M in 2005) is an outgoing deal that also involves the trademark, so it is not just the domain name.
Other domain names that don’t enter in the list because their deals also included more assets or conditions are Carinsurance.com, Insurance.com, VacationRentals.com, Privatejet.com (not actually happened), and more.
So do you have a great idea for a domain name? Do you feel like it is your time to be a millionaire? Go ahead and find the best domain names possible. Make an ultra interesting portfolio of them, and good luck with the Domain Flipping!