Sex.com Sold for $14 Million

By theWHIR.com , January 20, 2006
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January 20, 2006 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Gary Kremen, owner of the valuable Sex.com domain name, reportedly sold the name he registered in 1994 to Boston-based firm Escom for $14 million on Wednesday.

According to reports, Kremen plans to spend at least some of his time working to collect the $65 million in damages he is owed by con artist Stephen Cohen, who stole the domain from Kremen in 1995 by defrauding registry operators.

While Kremen battled to have the name returned, Cohen used the domain - arguably the Internet's most valuable piece of real estate - to rake in tens of millions of dollars. The domain, along with the $65 million in damages, was awarded to Kremen in 2000.

After losing the legal battle, Cohen fled to Mexico, where he remained on the run for years. In 2005 he was captured in Tijuana, and returned to a US jail. He has been ordered to remain there until he cooperates with authorities in locating funds he has stashed in offshore accounts.

Under the terms of the domain's sale, Kremen reportedly retained ownership of the technology he had built around the Sex.com domain, as well as the trademark for the name Sex.com. There is also speculation that Kremen retained a minority stake in the domain itself.

According to reports, Kremen plans to spend some of his newfound time and money on other adult Web projects, making use of the pay per click technology developed at Sex.com and 5,000 adult domain names he recently purchased.

While Cohen has been made to give depositions on his finances while in jail, intended to help locate the money he owes Kremen within the network of shell companies he operates, he claims to have amnesia brought on by a stroke he suffered while on the run.

Kremen has not received any of the $65 million he is owed by Cohen, but he currently owns and resides in a San Diego mansion seized from Cohen.