Record price paid for domain name

British "cruise community" website Cruise.co.uk has set a record price for a .co.uk domain, paying £560k to secure Cruises.co.uk from German travel outfit Nees Reisen.

The previous most-expensive British domain was Recycle.co.uk, bought in October 2007, by ASAP Ventures for £150,000.

The two URLs will remain different sites. Cruise.co.uk will focus on cruising deals, while Cruises.co.uk will encourage user-generated content in order to create an online community for fans of cruises.

Seamus Conlon, head of Cruise.co.uk, said: "'Cruises' is consistently ranked first on Google with 'cruise' just behind. 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."

Top five highest prices for .co.uk domain names
1. Cruises.co.uk, £560,000 - purchased January 2008
2. Recycle.co.uk, £150,000 - purchased October 2007
3. Ink.co.uk, £130,425 - purchased in 2007
4. Mobile.co.uk, £120,000 - purchased in 2007
5. Taste.co.uk, £110,000 - purchased in 1997

World's most expensive domain names (USD)
1. Sex.com, $12m - purchased in 2005
2. Porn.com, $9.5m - purchased in 2007
3. Business.com, $7.5m - purchased in 1999
4. Diamond.com, $7.5m - purchased in 2006
5. Beer.com, $7m - purchased in 1999

www.cruises.co.uk

Stumble It!