Shopify paid $99 million for Shop.com, a domain sale record
A $99 million intangible asset spend in Shopify's filing has been linked to Shop.com, the largest publicly known domain sale.
E-commerce platform Shopify appears to have paid $99 million (about Tk 1,200 crore) for the Shop.com domain name, which domain industry publications describe as the largest publicly known domain sale on record.
The acquisition was announced in late September without a price. On November 3, Shopify released its results and 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, showing $99 million spent on the acquisition of intangible assets, compared with nothing a year earlier. Domain researcher George Kirikos was first to link the figure to Shop.com, although the filing does not name the domain.
Domain broker Andrew Rosener had earlier said he heard the name sold for about $100 million. According to Domain Name Wire and DN Journal, the price surpasses the previous record holder, AI.com at $70 million.
WHOIS records show Shop.com was first registered on June 2, 1994. Sales database DNPric.es lists a private sale for $3.5 million in 2003. Direct-selling company Market America acquired the domain in 2011 and used it for about 15 years. On September 28 it announced the sale to Shopify and moved its operations to MarketAmerica.com.
Shopify has since moved the web version of its Shop app from shop.app to shop.com. According to Shopify’s changelog, shop.app links redirect automatically and merchants do not need to change anything.
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