Domain Sex.com to be sold; $1 mil needed up front

The Sex.com domain name will be sold at auction on March 18 in a foreclosure sale in New York, according to a statement from auctioneer David R. Maltz & Co.

The domain name was sold for $14 million in 2006, according to a list of high-value domain name sales posted by Boston-based Patent Kinetics LLC.

The auction will be held in the offices of New York law firm Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf LLP. All potential bidders must show a bank certified check for $1 million, made payable to the firm as escrow agent.

Escom LLC acquired the domain name in January 2006, according to a statement. Financing for that purchase was provided by Domain Capital LLC of Fort Lee, New Jersey, a financial-services company specializing in Internet domain names.

Escom planned for sex.com to "become a destination for "broadband premium services representing the best in entertainment of adults," according to an October 2006 statement.

The sale includes the domain name and all cash proceeds, accounts receivables, licensing rights and IP rights associated with the URL, according to the notice of the foreclosure sale. The domain name is sold "as is" with no warranty as to whether it's subject to any lien or other encumbrances.

Michael Mann, a former investor in sex.com, told the Domain Name Wire news Web site that sex.com is "clearly the best domain in the world that is for sale." He said he would buy it if he had access to $25 million. Mann is the founder of buyDomains.com, a buyer and seller of domain names.