GMO goes shopping for .Shop: #6 in 2016

A story regarding GMO’s $41.5 million auction win for .shop was the sixth-most read story on Reglike this year.

An ICANN auction of last resort for the .Shop top level domain name took place in January. It closed at a then-record $41.5 million.

This price came as a shock, especially given the track record of most top level domain names so far.

But as GMO Registry CEO Hiro Tsukahara told me on Reglike Podcast #102, his firm is taking the long view.

It has that luxury since it’s connected to GMO, the sizable Japanese internet firm that’s rebranding to Z.com for its global presence. (Hiro told the funny story during the podcast of what solidified the branding move.)

.Shop is off to a good start with regarding 100,000 registrations and lots of six-figure sales. But it will be many years ahead of we can say whether or not the $41.5 million investment was worth it.