Essex-based British Money have appointed leading intellectual property advisors HW Corporate Finance to broker the deal and anticipates bidding for x.uk to reach around £10million.
Burgess describes the domain name as the rarest and most prestigious in the UK, likening it to "online Mayfair real estate".
He said: “It is the shortest web address in the world near impossible to ‘cyber squat’ - ie plagiarise and pass off as something else - and has a brand equity no other can match. X has universal appeal and gravitas, just think of XBox, X-Men or the X Factor. No wonder PayPal owns x.com.”
HW Corporate Finance Associate Director, Mark Barry, agreed, adding: “This represents a really attractive asset for potential purchasers and we are delighted to be involved in this unique opportunity.”
Burgess is confident in achieving his anticipated price tag, buoyed up by feedback from Professor Ian Hargreaves who in his independent report, Digital Opportunity - a review of intellectual property and growth, said: "Every year in the last decade, investment by UK businesses in intangible assets has outstripped investment in tangible assets: by £137billion to £104billion in 2008. Global trade in IP licences alone is worth more than £600billion a year: 5% of world trade and rising’.
And with intellectual property values appreciating more quickly than tangible properties, Burgess added: “Some of our shrewdest investors have overlooked this valuable asset class and are now having to play catch-up and compete to secure premium domain names that are vital to continued growth of new and ongoing product and service revenue streams.”
“Chinese interest in the domain name is already high due to so many people having forenames beginning with x - confirming overseas investors are keen to buy online assets as well as properties in the Capital.”
Burgess is releasing the domain name in order to fund his new loan venture and which is supported by a number of other intellectual property assets including a UK registered trade mark and other supplementary domains.
Andrew Bennett, independent domain expert from www.28.co.uk, said: "In the age of social media ultra-short domains have become increasing popular. With x.uk being only four characters long, this makes it extremely valuable."
