hi,

not so long ago you could buy web hosting on google.com.au, now the name belongs to google.

the way back machine shows that google.com.au used to contain content for Dedicated Hosting
prior to the the current google page.

NSW BN97829549 GOOGLE WEB HOSTING
which strangely enough also belongs to DEDICATED HOSTING PTY LTD

the Google web hosting name was deregistered on 24 sep 2002. google australia pty ltd was
incorporated on 4/10/2002 as a foreign owned company.

I am very curious how this name went from dedicated hosting pty ltd to "Google INC". given the above
timing of the deregistration of the business name (which did not expire) and the registration of the
australian google company.

given the timing of the above events, its is pretty clear a transfer took place.

and  from search engine watch:

GOOGLE has its own issue in having a local Australia site. The company
is trying to obtain through legal channels the google.com.au domain name,
which is owned by someone else. This is why it hasn't yet launched a Google
Australia site, something the audience said it definitely wants, for it would
make narrowing searches to Australia information easier.

which confirms some form of transfer did take place.  given auda forbids transfers between unrelated
companies I am curious as to how this feat was achieved.  did dedicated hosting cancel the name
allowing google to register it and did money change hands?

Vic