Amazon Outbids Google For .Buy Top-Level Web Domain

Amazon spent $4.6 million to buy the ".buy" web address, outbidding Google and several other smaller companies for the top-level domain, according to DomainNameWire.com.

Google also lost out on an auction for the top-level .tech domain, which was won with a $6.7 million bid from Dot Tech LLC, which aims to create an online environment for the entire technology community.

The new, generic top-level domains were offered for sale starting this year by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The 1,400 new top-level domains include names like .cheap, .ninja, and .sexy. Demand for those new domains has been slow, but the .buy and .tech auctions will take their place among the top-20 most-expensive domains ever sold.

ICANN had previously previously rejected a company effort to create a .Amazon domain because of the possible geographic implications. Amazon has already purchased a number of anti-Amazon URLs, including AmazonSucks.com, AmazonStinks.com, ScrewAmazon.com and others.