Sex.com sells! Web domain sold for US$13m

22 Oct 2010

Who says Sex.com doesn’t sell? The domain has been sold for the highest amount ever paid for a web domain after its previous owner went into bankruptcy.

The successful bidder for the Sex.com domain name is a Caribbean-registered company called Clover Holdings, which bid US$13m for the choice domain.

The Sex.com domain has had a chequered history. The domain was originally registered by Gary Kremen of Match.com. However, it was nabbed in 1994 by Stephen Cohen.

It took Kremen years to win back the domain name and Cohen was convicted and fined US$65m.

The last owner, Escom, bought the domain in 2006 for a reported US$14m and hired domain marketplace Sedo.com to find potential buyers.

However, Escom went into bankruptcy and in a deal yet to be approved by the bankruptcy court in California, the domain was bought by Clover Holdings for US$13m.

It is unclear what Clover Holdings intends to do with the domain.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com