No One Has Ever Spent This Much on a License Plate

An auction bidder in the United Arab Emirates just made history in paying $15 million for a license plate—and no, it doesn't come with a fancy car attached. The unnamed individual likely to find their name in the Guinness World Records book nabbed a license plate reading "P 7" in a charity auction. It's not quite a single-digit license plate—a coveted status symbol in many parts of the world, including the UAE—but it's close. As Bloomberg reports, it "looks like the number 7 alone, with the P off to the side." CBS News adds the P is part of "the format of Dubai license plates."

Single-digit license plates are a booming business. Earlier this year, a Hong Kong resident paid more than $3 million for such a plate. But that was well shy of the record $14.2 million Abu Dhabi businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khour paid for a plate carrying the number 1 in a 2008 Emirates Auction sale. His record was stolen in Saturday's Emirates Auction sale, with proceeds going to the 1 Billion Meals Endowment, which aims to address food insecurity in communities around the world. (More license plates stories.)