Amazon just forked out $4.6 million to own the .Buy domain

US online retail giant Amazon is embracing the era of new internet domain names after it forked out nearly $4.6 million to gain exclusive access to .Buy websites.

Domainnamewire.com — a blog that keeps an eye on all things domain name-related — reports that Amazon beat out Google and two other companies to win the auction. Google was also unsuccessful in its efforts to buy .VIP, while .Tech sold for $6,760,000 — a figure that Domainnamewire.com says may be a record deal for a top level domain.

ICANN, the organization that governs top level domains, is expected to hit the switch on a range of new domains before the end of the year. Amazon poised to take first dibs on the most attractive .Buy URLs — adding them to its collection which already includes ‘hate domains’ like AmazonSucks.com — but you will still be able to snap one up when they go live.

In other Amazon news today:

• Amazon announces new 6″ and 7″ Fire HD budget tablets, starting at $99
• Amazon introduces the next-gen Fire HDX 8.9 tablet with the latest Fire OS 4 Sangria
• Amazon unveils the $199 Kindle Voyage, a premium e-reader with haptic page-turning

Headline image via AFP / Getty Images