The domain name FarsNews.com has expired and is in auction at GoDaddy.
The current bid of $49,500 USD is sure to be topped at some point and break the $50K barrier for this expired dot com domain name but why?
I myself had to question who be willing to drop 50k on this domain name but after a quick Google on the term Fars News, you discover that the number one ranking for the term is a popular CCTLD FarsNews.ir
Checking out Wikipedia we can discover more details about Fars News.
“The Fars News Agency is a news agency in Iran managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an armed wing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. While it describes itself as “Iran’s leading independent news agency”, it is widely described by Western news media to be a “semi-official” news agency of the Government of Iran. All its content is free content, Creative Commons licensed”
After the WashingtonJournal.com UDRP decision, I don’t understand why domain speculators would be willing to risk $50K+ on FarNews.com. I wouldn’t be surprised if the government of Iran is bidding so high.
I could see a government official being fired for allowing this domain to drop into private hands.