Insure.com has announced they have sold their domain name and company name for $16 million (£10.1 million) making it one of the biggest figures in domain name sales history.

The buyer was marketing company QuinStreet – who also bought Internet.com from WebMediaBrands for $18 million in a similar asset style deal. They have purchased the domain name and its associated assets, causing Insure.com to change its name to Life Quotes.

According to the press release the sale included ‘related media assets’ which indicates that this wasn’t just a pure domain name sale. Insure.com – a publicly traded company that controls the website – sold the domain, brand name, website and website content.

However this essentially doesn’t leave much else to the transaction – as all that seems to have been sold are the domain name and the trademark, making the sale pretty much a domain name sale. This deal has however sparked much debate across the domains world as it shows how the dot-com is still very much the most sought-after domain name.

Insure.com was originally bought in 2001 for just $1.6 million, a sum quite small compared to its recent sale price.

"We have sold our Insure.com name and specified website content in a significant cash transaction that we think is in the best long-term interest of our shareholders," Robert Bland, chairman and CEO of Insure.com, said.

"This transaction has other benefits to our shareholders and employees in that it will allow us to focus on our brokerage operation and insurance marketing businesses."

Are we entering another dot-com bubble?