Nissan sells Z.com domain name to GMO for $6.8 million: Wow

GMO to use Z.com domain name to fuel global expansion.

GMO Internet, operator of Japan’s largest domain name registrar, has purchased the one letter domain name Z.com for JPY800 million ($6.8 million), the firm disclosed today.

Japanese car manufacturer Nissa sold the domain name, which it previously used to promote its Nissan Z car.

GMO states it’s going to use the domain name, one of only three single letter .com domains available, to accelerate its global market expansion:

As one of only three single-character domain names right now existing in the .com space, Z.com is highly memorable and offers unparalleled marketing opportunity. With over 100 million registrations, .com is one of the most instantly recognizable and easily identifiable domains in the world. Z.com was purchased to spearhead GMO Internet Group global growth strategy, and securing “Z” under the .com Top Level Domain, provides the Group with a powerful tool to build a strong global brand.

The firm elaborates on its global brand expansion in a separate release.

In 2010, Verisign worked on a plan to auction off one letter .com domain names, most of which have been unavailable for registration. Although prices would be lower if all were released at once, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Verisign work up a similar plan again in the future.

Many fresh top level domain names are offering one letter domain names for registration. Donuts has offered some in the range of $400/year.