Car Advice website has sold for $35 million

Website founder Alborz Fallah with a Bugatti Veyron, the world's fastest car. Photo / news.com.au

A blog about cars - started by a 21-year-old in the spare bedroom of his parents' Brisbane home 10 years ago - has just been bought by Australian media company Channel Nine for a staggering A$35 million.

Eventually, it grew into a full-blown website called Car Advice, employing close to 40 staff with an estimated turnover of A$15m a year.

Car Advice's shareholders voted to accept an offer from Nine Digital in a meeting in Sydney late on Thursday this week.

The founder and largest shareholder - with approximately a 25 per cent share of the business - is Alborz Fallah, who came to Australia from Iran aged nine.

Fallah registered the domain name for just A$35, in 2006, giving him a one million per cent return on his investment.

Car Advice's current CEO is Andrew Beecher, the former head of marketing at carsales.com.au.

One one of the original investors in the business was Simon Baker, the former CEO of realestate.com.au.

News Corp Australia understands the founders and staff will be retained for at least three years.