Google paid $25,000,001 for the .app gTLD in an auction held last Wednesday (25/2) making it by far the largest amount paid in an auction for a new gTLD string.

And as a result ICANN now has net proceeds of $57,015,622 in its piggy bank as a result of auctions for new gTLDs that were in contention. All proceeds from auctions are being segregated and withheld from use until ICANN’s Board of Directors define a plan for an appropriate use of the funds through consultation with the community.

In the latest auction twelve applicants participated in the two day auction for .APP with one of Google’s entities, Charleston Road Registry Inc., prevailing.

Previously the highest prices paid for a gTLD string was for .blog, which Domain Incite estimates was sold for less than $20 million.

In the .app application, Google “originally proposed .app as a closed registry in which only Google and its partners could register names,” reports Domain Incite.

“However, after the Governmental Advisory Committee pressured ICANN to disallow ‘closed generics’, Google changed its application to enable anyone to register.”