Why Elon Musk buys Tesla.com domain for $11 Million

In one of the most controversial internet domain disputes in recent years, Elon Musk has persuaded Stuart Grossman to sell him the rights to tesla.com for nearly $11 million.

Musk took over 10 years to convince Grossman to part with the domain, a key part of Tesla's online presence since the company was founded in 2003.

While the purchase price is not public knowledge, it is believed to be one of the highest prices ever paid for a domain name.

The tesla.com domain has been an essential part of Tesla's identity and branding since the company's inception.

Elon Musk has stated that he views the domain as "an important asset" and that it was worth it.

Tesla is not the only company to have difficulty acquiring the desired domain name. In 2012, Facebook paid $8.5 million for the rights to fb.com from the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Likewise, Google has also spent millions of dollars on domains such as YouTube.com ($1.65 million) and Android.com ($12 million).

While the tesla.com domain dispute may be one of the most high-profile cases, it is certainly not the only instance of companies spending large sums of money on domains.

 A strong online presence is essential for businesses in today's digital age.

Tesla, a car company from California, was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning without owning the rights to the tesla.com web domain.

Which was registered as an honorific webpage name (Tesla.com) under Engineer Stuart Grossman's control since 1992 due to his dedication in honor of physicist and engineer Nikola Tesla.

However, Elon Musk joined the company in 2004, and Tesla's website was hosted under the teslamotors.com domain name, which was maintained for over 10 years.

Due to difficulty finding tesla.com on search engines, they eventually negotiated with Stuart Grossman and paid him an undisclosed amount for the tesla.com domain name in 2013.

This was one of the most expensive domain names ever sold, with some estimates putting the price tag at over $10 million.

While the company has not disclosed the exact amount, it is safe to say that Tesla paid a hefty price for the tesla.com domain name.

Who would have thought that purchasing a domain name could be so lucrative? 

Tesla managed to buy the tesla.com domain from Stuart Grossman for $11 million in 2016, an incredible example of how profitable it has become today with internet domains.