The 44.0.0.0/8 frequency band was allocated to amateur radio in 1981, and was used for digital communication experiments through radio with AMPRNet. However, due to the depletion of IPv4 addresses, 4 million copies, corresponding to a portion of the address, were sold in mid-2019. Who was the target of the sale and the price was not known because of the confidentiality agreement, but a year later, the financial report was released and it became known.
The sale of the AMPRNet IP address itself was announced through the official website of ARDC, the management organization at the time of sale in 2019. In question and answer, the number of IP addresses was 44.192.0.0/10, 4 million, and it is disclosed that the IP addresses that were not intended to be used were sold due to lack of IPv4 addresses.
However, it was revealed that it was a significant conglomerate about who purchased it, and it was not revealed in detail that it had agreed not to disclose the amount until tax returns. In 2018, one case was $17, but it was only indicated that it increased from that time.
A year later, when the financial report was released, it was revealed that the buyer was Amazon. The purchase price by Amazon was $108 million. This is equivalent to $27 per address. It is as stated in the question and answer at the time of purchase that it was higher than the price in 2018.
ARDC will continue to raise at least $5 million annually in the proceeds of the sale to support digital communications subsidies and scholarship programs, including amateur radio, and AMPRNet operations. In fact, the program started with a $2.5 million subsidy to the digital communications business. Related information can be found here .