Winning .web gTLD Buyer Unidentified Amid Reports of $135 Million Top Bid

ICANN's public auction for the registry rights to the .web generic top-level domain concluded with a winning final bid, but the final results aren't confirmed, two domain names industry executives told us Thursday. ICANN and the industry executives separately told us they weren't able to confirm reports the winning bid for .web was $135 million. If true the result would be far higher than the previous highest price paid for a gTLD in a public auction -- GMO Registry's January purchase of the .shop TLD for $41.5 million -- one industry executive said. The identity of the winning bidder for .web wasn't revealed, but the seven parties bidding included Google and domain registry Donuts. ICANN was able to proceed Wednesday with the .web auction after the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles rejected a bid by Donuts to delay the sale amid its lawsuit claiming ICANN was negligent and in breach of contract for not more thoroughly investigating the ownership of rival .web bidder Nu Dot Co (see 1607270027 and 1607250051). ICANN said it would publish the results of the .web auction within seven days of its conclusion.