Company pays £560,000 to add "s" to domain name

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 6 Feb 2008 at 10:39

A cruise operator has paid £560,000 for a domain name, blasting the previous British record sale out of the water.

Cruise.co.uk bought the domain Cruises.co.uk from German travel company Nees Reisen, adding just one letter to its existing domain.

The deal eclipses the previous British record which saw recycle.co.uk snapped up by City financiers ASAP Ventures for £150,000. However, the figure doesn't even dent the global record held by Sex.com, which was purchased for a reported £7 million by Escom in 2006.

The new owner of Cruises.co.uk says it intends to turn the domain into a social networking site for enthusiasts.

"Cruises is consistently ranked first on Google, with cruise just behind," claims Cruise.co.uk's managing director, Seamus Conlon, bracing himself for the following pun.

"We wanted the top positions so that when internet users are searching for cruise deals, reviews or news we are the first port of call."