Giant toy retailer Toys “R” Us has paid £3.6 million ($5.1m) for the domain name Toys.com.

Giant toy retailer Toys “R” Us has paid £3.6 million ($5.1m) for the domain name Toys.com, four times the amount it sold for on 5 February to Faculty Lounge Partners.

Having originally been auctioned in early February by The Parent Company, which filed for bankruptcy in December 2008, the sale of Toys.com was halted by the bankruptcy court and the domain name auctioned again.

In the original auction Faculty Lounge Partners bought the domain for £886,000 ($1.25m). As part of the sale to Toys “R” Us (bidding as Eagle, LLC), Faculty Lounge Partners will pick up a $37,500 break up fee (3% of its stalking horse bid) and legal fee reimbursement.

The amount paid suggests a strong commitment from Toys “R” Us to online retailing, further reinforced by its purchase of the domain name etoys.com, also from The Parent Company, which included the acquisition of e-commerce site BabyUniverse.com, and the parenting resource website, ePregnancy.com.

It is believed to be the biggest payout for a domain this year but has some way to go to reach the $14m paid for sex.com in 2007 or the $9.5m paid for porn.com.