Sex.com – one of the world's most desired web addresses – is once more up for sale, with owners Escom LLC in foreclosure.
The sex.com address has managed to create huge amounts of controversy over the years, and was bought last time out for a whopping $14 million (£9.1m).
It was Gary Kremen, best known as the founder of match.com, that got that particular fee, but only after years of wrangles involving fraudster Stephen Cohen – who made millions during the dotcom boom.
Fraud
Cohen had wrested control by persuading an employee of Network Solutions to change over ownership of the site with a fraudulent fax.
In November 2000, a court decided that Kremen was the legal owner and awarded him what amounted to $65 million, which prompted Cohen to flee the US before being returned and eventually jailed.
Escom LLC bought the name in 2006 – but despite having one of the most valuable online domains – the company is now bust and flogging its asset.
It's unlikely that it will retrieve the money that it paid for the domain, and you do have to wonder if the world is still typing sex.com into a url bar any more anyway.
Via The Register
Your comments (4) Click to add a new comment
1000daysoframen
February 23rd 2010
4. spellcheck strikes again, eh?
Alert a moderator
patrickgoss
February 23rd 2010
3. hmmm. Yes. Corrected
Alert a moderator
volatileacid
February 23rd 2010
2. before the advent of Google search - I guess the domain name played a more pivotal role in how people found (and also memorised) sites.
This guy Gary Kremen is quite the serial entrepreneur - first he had the foresight to register sex.com (and albeit lose it for a while! (in its prime!)), and then went on to create a successful dating site.... not bad.
Alert a moderator
lexrst
February 23rd 2010
1. I'm not sure how you would flea the US, but I do know how you would FLEE the US.
Alert a moderator
Tell us what you think
You need to Log in or register to post comments