The $13 million sale price for the sex.com domain is more than 5,000 times the average price of a domain from Sedo.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — After placing the highest bid for the in-demand domain last month, Clover Holdings has now officially bought the domain sex.com for $13 million following the bankruptcy of former domain owner Escom (www.escom.com), proving yet again the adage that sex sells.
Domain name firm Sedo (www.sedo.com), which oversaw the sale on behalf of Escom in accordance with an order issued by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, announced the sale Wednesday evening. The sale was brokered by Sedo senior domain broker Jeff Gabriel, who conducted a three-month search for a buyer.
Sex.com was reportedly sold to Escom in January 2006 for $14 million, making it the highest priced domain sale on record. Facing bankruptcy, in February 2010, Sex.com was ordered to be sold at a foreclosure auction. Escom’s creditors, however, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition against Escom in March, helping to reverse the foreclosure auction, and prevent a possible loss of value.
“It is very rare when a domain name of this quality and value becomes available, and we are delighted that Sedo was involved in this historic event,” Gabriel said. “To our knowledge, this sale represents the single largest recorded price paid for a domain name in the history of the Internet.”
Descriptive domains that define a category have historically been the most valuable properties on the Web. Not surprisingly, “Sex” continues to be one of the most searched for terms on the Web and its mainstream appeal has only grown over the past few years.
BBC News has characterized the new owner, Clover Holdings, as “an obscure company registered on the Caribbean island of St Vincent.” According to the BBC and other reports, a bankruptcy court had to rule in favor of the transaction in order for the deal to proceed.
Considered to be one of the world’s most valuable domain names, the owner of sex.com will get a clear competitive advantage because of superior organic search rankings, traffic from direct navigation, and the ability to drive online marketing and branding initiatives.
The coveted three letter domain, it should be noted, has been the subject of much drama.
In the 90’s, the site was hijacked from its original owner by Stephen Michael Cohen, who reportedly forged a letter to domain registrar Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com) requesting the domain be transferred to him, saying that Kremen had been fired, to which the register obliged. Kremen eventually regained control over the domain, and the hijacker was arrested in 2005 in Tijuana, Mexico, where he been living off tens of millions of dollars from sex.com.
No related posts.
