The Great Sex.com Bidding War of 2010 Is At An End

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When it comes to the Internet, sex and simplicity are a winning combo.

With a racy history spanning more than two decades, Sex.com has opened a new chapter to its roller-coaster lineup of owners. InformationWeek reports that Clover Holdings, a Caribbean-based company, shelled out $13 million for the rights to the snappy, sexy domain. The URL became available once previous purveyor Escom filed for a July 2010 bankruptcy. (See the top 10 bankruptcies.)

As the Washington Post‘s Melissa Bell adds, Sex.com’s timeline has historically leaned toward controversy. It all began with a 1994 registry by high-profile Match.com owner Gary Kremen. His vision was to snag basic domains like sex.com or jobs.com before they lost their free tag. But as Wired reminisced in 2003, Kremen’s plan grew complicated via a con artist, who allegedly made bank off of a combination of forged letters and fruitful sales of banner ads to porn sites.

The sale is expected to be finalized in late October, with little detail on what the site plans to showcase. Whatever that decision may be, it will be hard to top the book detailing the past — Sex.com: One Domain, Two Men, Twelve Years and the Brutal Battle for the Jewel in the Internet’s Crown. (See five little-known truths about American sex lives.)