Sex.com sold for $14 million

Previously owned by Gary Kremen, the domain has been sold to a US outfit called Escom. The price tag is double the price of the business.com domain name which sold in 1999 for $US7.5 million.

Kremen registered sex.com in 1994 along with a collection of other generic names, which at the time would have cost him next to nothing.

The domain name hit the news in 1995 when Stephen Cohen stole it and used it to build up a large pornographic empire.

After a long battle in the courts, ownership was restored to Kremen in 2000, and when Cohen was ordered to pay $US65m damages he scarpered and has not been seen since.

Escom appear to be fairly respectable. It is a publishing outfit known for making textbooks, workbooks and examination reviews for junior high school students. It markets clocks, household utensils, music tapes, office and sports equipment.

We visited Sex.com, in the interests of research, and found that it had been converted to what we are told is a classic porn page. We made our excuses and left.

More here. µ