Sex.com sells for $13m

[best-url]

Sex.com sells for $13m

Posted in Financial News, 20th October 2010 15:09 GMT

The storied domain name sex.com is set to be sold for $13m, The Register has learned.

Bankrupt Escom LLC sex.com's current owner, has sealed a deal to hand over the domain to a company called Clover Holdings Ltd, according to documents filed this week in a California court.


Escom purchased the domain from its previous owner in 2006. The price then was variously reported as being between $12m and $14m, making it one of the most expensive domains of all time.

According to bankruptcy court documents, Clover Holdings was chosen from among 12 bidders after making the "highest and best offer".

Clover itself is a bit of a mystery. It is based on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent, and the email address listed in court documents is @hushmail.com, the privacy-conscious webmail service.

The sale includes a couple of trademarks related to the domain.

The negotiations were handled by Sedo.com, a domain name auction company. Sedo, which will take a cut of the sale price, started soliciting offers in July.

The deal is subject to bankruptcy court approval. Escom sought a hearing on an accelerated timetable, which was granted yesterday. The hearing will be held next Wednesday, 27 October.

Sex.com is a domain with history. Originally registered by entrepreneur Gary Kremen in 1994, it was soon hijacked by convicted conman Stephen Cohen.

The theft was challenged in court, but it took Kremen five years to recover the domain, during which time Cohen was reportedly making up to $500,000 a month from advertising on the site.

A court ultimately issued a $65m judgement against Cohen, who fled to Mexico and was eventually arrested. He was released from prison in 2006.

The domain had almost as turbulent a time under Escom's ownership. A fight broke out between the company's creditors earlier this year when one of them pushed the domain to auction.

A few days before it was due to commence, other entities involved in Escom's complicated ownership structure filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition, effectively putting the stoppers on the auction.

These entities, controlled by Mike Mann, claimed that the selected auction house, which does not specialise in domain names, was not the place to get the best price for the domain.

A deal was eventually reached which allowed the bankruptcy court to order, in June, that Sedo could handle the sale instead.

Had a private sale not been agreed, sex.com was scheduled to go to public auction next week. ®

http://idnclub.com/showpost.php?p=32880

[哈啦]

才一千三百萬美金？比原先估計可能上億的少很大。

[cony]

這樣價格不知道會不會更高

Had a private sale not been agreed, sex.com was scheduled to go to public auction next week. ®

[chat]

Sex.com 出售 世上最貴網域名
更新日期:2010/10/23 16:00

（路透紐約22日電） 性產業很賺錢，而網域Sex.com是世上最有價值的網站，近日以1300萬美元出售。

Sex.com的原有者、破產的艾思康公司（Escom LLC）本週向法院提出申請，由克勞夫控股有限公司（Clover Holdings Limited）得標，艾思康公司稱之為成功的得標者。據報艾思康公司在2006年以1400萬美元買下該網域名。

在破產法院27日同意後，交易即告生效。網域交易平台Sedo.com代表聲稱，Sex.com是目前世上最高價出售的網域名。
中央社（翻譯）991023

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/101023/16/2fj4p.html

[chat]

雖然慢了一天,
中文版的 sex.com 域名新聞終究上了台灣的網路新聞

[哈啦]

情色網域 Sex.com賣天價1,300萬美元

* 2010-10-26
* 工商時報
* 【記者顏嘉南／綜合外電報導】

　網域名稱Sex.com近日以1,300萬美元天價出售，可望躍居為全球最高價的網域名稱，專家預計本交易將引發一波網域名稱淘金潮。

　Sex.com的現任所有者Escom公司，於2006年斥資1,400萬美元取得該網域名稱，但該公司在今年稍早聲請破產，並向法院提出Sex.com的拍賣申請，Clover控股公司以1,300萬美元的出價得標，若本周破產法院批准該項交易，Sex.com將成為全球最有價值的網域名稱，較第2名的Pron.com高出350萬美元。

　色情出版產業不敵網路上免費的色情照片和視訊，業績每下愈況，Sex.com卻能以千萬美元出售，著實跌破許多專家眼鏡，部分產業觀察家原本預期，Sex.com的售價約在500萬美元至1,000萬美元之間。

　網域名稱雜誌的編輯暨發行人傑克森（Ron Jackson）表示，「售價數百美元的網域名稱希鬆平常，10、20萬美元的交易也很常見，25萬美元以上的交易就比較稀有，越過百萬美元門檻的更是罕見。」

　產業專家認為，網域名稱天價交易可能引發淘金潮，吸引更多買家投入網域名稱市場，而現行所有者則尋求高價出售。傑克森表示，「每當市場出現高價交易，就會激發網域名稱註冊潮和相關交易，雖然只是1筆大交易，但龐大的金額格外具吸引力。」

　經營網域名稱註冊、銷售和開發的Oversee.net公司執行長庫彼斯基（Jeff Kupietzky），對於Sex.com以高價出售則較不驚訝，他表示一般的網域名稱總帶有超額價值，他以公司今年稍早經手的案件為例指出，Dating.com即以175萬美元出售。

　庫彼斯基表示，越來越多網域名稱買家進行策略性投資，就和房地產投機者一樣，等待網域名稱價值上揚，希望日後能藉此大撈一筆。

[meme]

"Sex.com的現任所有者Escom公司，於2006年斥資1,400萬美元取得該網域名稱，但該公司在今年稍早聲請破產，並向法院提出Sex.com的拍賣申請"

用高出市場估價甚多的價格標下,
也許新買家會步上賣家的後塵