LOS ANGELES — The domain name Porno.com has sold for $8,888,888 in an all-cash transaction.
Purchaser of the prime domain is the Prague-based operator of Swingers.com and PornoTV.com.
The seller is Rick Schwartz, self-described as the “Domain King,” who purchased the domain in August 2007 for $42,000 “from a college student who bought it the week before for $5,000″
Schwartz said that Porno.com “has earned well in excess of over $10 million via parking and redirects without ever providing actual adult content,” according to TheDomains.com.
Schwartz said that he turned down a $5 million offer for Porno.com, and that he most recently received a bid of $7.5 million before settling on the nearly $8.9 million sales price with the PornoTV.com and Swingers.com operator.
The sale, handled by Escrow.com, reportedly ranks as the 4th-highest publicly reported, all-cash, domain sale of all time. In comparison, Sex.com sold years ago for $13 million, Porn.com sold for $9.5 million and Sex.xxx sold for $3 million.
Schwartz has quite a history selling domains. He sold Men.com for $1.3 million in 2003, eBet.com for $1.365 million in 2013, Candy.com for $3 million (plus a 12 percent ownership stake) in 2008 and Property.com for $4 million (plus a 5 percent stake) in 2009, among others.