# Gary Kremen
**Gary Kremen** is an internet entrepreneur, a Stanford MBA best known as the founder of [Match.com](https://www.edgepedia.org/match-com) and as the plaintiff in *Kremen v. Cohen*, the three-year legal battle over the domain name sex.com that produced a leading United States precedent holding that a domain-name registrant has an intangible property interest capable of conversion.[1](https://www.internetlibrary.com/pdf/kremen-cohen-9th-cir.pdf) • [2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) • [3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Education | Bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, Northwestern University, 1985; MBA, Stanford University, 1989[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) |
| First company | Electric Classifieds, Inc., founded 1993, described as the first internet classified ads company; Match.com launched 1995 with venture backing led by Canaan Partners[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) |
| Match.com outcome | Sold in 1997 over his objections; Kremen received $50,000 cash, and his retained Electric Classifieds stock became worthless when the company failed in 2004[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/) • [4](https://www.businessinsider.com/match-gary-kremen-2011-12) |
| Sex.com registration | Registered with Network Solutions on May 9, 1994, under his company Online Classifieds, when registrations were free; he never built a site on it[5](https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/kremen-v-cohen-no-895435373) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-mar-26-fi-42825-story.html) |
| Sex.com judgment | November 2000: $40 million compensatory plus $25 million punitive damages, $65 million total, after the court found a forged transfer letter; the figure reached $82 million with interest by October 2005[1](https://www.internetlibrary.com/pdf/kremen-cohen-9th-cir.pdf) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-oct-28-fi-sex28-story.html) |
| Legal precedent | The Ninth Circuit held in *Kremen v. Cohen* that a domain name registrant has an intangible property interest capable of conversion[1](https://www.internetlibrary.com/pdf/kremen-cohen-9th-cir.pdf) |
| Sex.com sale | Sold to Escom LLC in January 2006 for about $12 million in cash and stock, with reports of $14 million; at the time the largest sum paid for a domain name[8](https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-01-24-sexcom_x.htm) • [2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) |
## Early life and career
Kremen earned bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from [Northwestern University](https://www.edgepedia.org/northwestern-university) in 1985 and an MBA from Stanford University in 1989.[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) In 1993, noticing that more and more people had email addresses, he foresaw that classified advertising would migrate online and formed a company called Online Classifieds.[9](https://www.mgross.com/books/focus/focus-footnotes/) He founded Electric Classifieds, Inc., described in a reference biography as the first internet classified ads company.[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/)
In May 1994 he registered a batch of classifieds-style domain names, Jobs.com, Housing.com, Autos.com, and [Sex.com](https://www.edgepedia.org/sex-com), and also bought the defunct Match.com domain for $2,500.[9](https://www.mgross.com/books/focus/focus-footnotes/) Kremen's own account puts the Match.com purchase at about $2,400 to $2,500, while the other names were free under the [National Science Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-science-foundation) program then administering registrations.[10](https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-kremen-interview/) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-mar-26-fi-42825-story.html)
## Founding Match.com
With venture backing led by Canaan Partners, Electric Classifieds launched Match.com in 1995.[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) Kremen left the dating site in March 1996 but stayed on the board of the parent company.[11](https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/love-s-labor-lost-online-matchmaker-still-seeks-3013097.php)
The sale that followed is reported inconsistently. Wired states that over Kremen's objections Match.com was sold for $8 million in 1997 to Cendant, a [Connecticut](https://www.edgepedia.org/connecticut) consumer services company.[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/) [Business Insider](https://www.edgepedia.org/business-insider), citing Canaan's Deepak Kamra and Kremen himself, gives $7 million.[4](https://www.businessinsider.com/match-gary-kremen-2011-12) In a 1999 interview Kremen said CUC paid Electric Classifieds more than $6 million in cash for Match.com.[11](https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/love-s-labor-lost-online-matchmaker-still-seeks-3013097.php) In his own Mixergy account, the board sold the Match business unit for $7 million to a company called SendIt.[10](https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-kremen-interview/)
The resale figures diverge the same way. Wired reports Cendant sold Match.com to Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch for $50 million about a year and a half later.[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/) Kremen's recollection is that SendIt sold it to Citysearch, Ticketmaster, and IAC for about $15 million nine months later.[10](https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-kremen-interview/) Kamra later called spinning off Match at that price one of the biggest missed opportunities of his career.[4](https://www.businessinsider.com/match-gary-kremen-2011-12)
**Kremen's take.** All sources agree it was small. Kremen received $50,000 cash from the sale and a lifetime account on the site with the login "The Founder."[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/) • [4](https://www.businessinsider.com/match-gary-kremen-2011-12) He retained stock in Electric Classifieds, but the company went out of business in 2004 and the stock became worthless.[4](https://www.businessinsider.com/match-gary-kremen-2011-12)
## The Sex.com dispute
Kremen registered sex.com with Network Solutions on May 9, 1994, identifying Online Classifieds as the registering organization, and never built a website or commercially exploited the name.[5](https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/kremen-v-cohen-no-895435373) In a letter dated October 15, 1995, someone purporting to be Sharon Dimmick of Online Classifieds told Stephen Cohen that the company had decided to abandon sex.com and authorized its transfer.[5](https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/kremen-v-cohen-no-895435373) The district court found the letter was a forgery and ordered the domain returned to Kremen.[1](https://www.internetlibrary.com/pdf/kremen-cohen-9th-cir.pdf)
In November 2000, at the end of a three-year legal battle, the court ordered Cohen to return the domain and pay $65 million in damages: $40 million compensatory and $25 million punitive.[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/) • [1](https://www.internetlibrary.com/pdf/kremen-cohen-9th-cir.pdf) The court also invoked the constructive trust doctrine and California's unfair competition statute, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200, to reach Cohen's profits.[12](https://issuesininternetlaw.com/cases/kremen.html) Cohen appealed; the Supreme Court declined to hear the case in June 2003.[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/)
**The conversion holding.** The district court had rejected Kremen's conversion claim against Network Solutions, but on appeal Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that the registrant of a domain name has an intangible property interest capable of being converted.[1](https://www.internetlibrary.com/pdf/kremen-cohen-9th-cir.pdf) • [13](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2006/10/sexcom_an_updat.htm)
**Collection.** Cohen fled the country and was extradited from Mexico on October 27, 2005, by which time the judgment had grown to $82 million with interest.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-oct-28-fi-sex28-story.html) • [2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) What Kremen actually collected was Cohen's Rancho Santa Fe mansion, land in Tijuana, a Mexican shrimp farm, and a partial interest in a Mexican strip club.[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) Kremen has said he never collected the $65 million judgment and lived in Cohen's house for a couple of years.
## Sex.com by the numbers
Under Cohen's management, sex.com took in roughly $500,000 a month selling banner ads to other online porn sites; one reference work gives a range of $500,000 to $750,000 monthly.[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/) • [2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) Kremen's experts, working from partial records, put the site's five-year profit under Cohen at $43 million.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-mar-26-fi-42825-story.html) Cohen testified he had turned down $48 million for the domain, a figure Kremen said he believed, which would have dwarfed the record $7.5 million paid in 1999 for business.com.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-mar-26-fi-42825-story.html)
After Kremen regained the site, revenue dropped by two-thirds within a year, a fall he attributed in part to free porn on peer-to-peer networks; it later recovered to about $300,000 monthly with 2,300 advertisers and 60 search-engine partnerships.[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/) He bought a pay-per-click search engine and added fraud algorithms, at a time when Overture, then called GoTo, had pay-per-click.[10](https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-kremen-interview/)
The litigation itself was expensive: an estimated $5 million in legal fees by one account, $5.6 million in Kremen's own statement.[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) He pursued the case through six lawyers, two dismissals, and a host of setbacks, and was on the verge of bankruptcy when he won.[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/)
In January 2006 Kremen sold sex.com to Escom LLC, a Boston-based group. The deal was structured at roughly 90 percent cash and 10 percent stock, worth a minimum of $12 million and potentially up to $20 million depending on the stock's performance.[14](https://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2006/march.htm) Reuters reported about $12 million in cash and stock, while the adult trade site XBiz had first reported an agreed price of $14 million; the reference biography states $14 million as the final figure, at that time the largest sum ever paid for a domain name.[8](https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-01-24-sexcom_x.htm) • [2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) Eric Goldman, who writes the Technology & Marketing Law Blog, put Kremen's total receipts from the saga at over $30 million plus two properties.[13](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2006/10/sexcom_an_updat.htm) Sex.com had accounted for 10 to 20 percent of his company GrantMedia.com's traffic; Kremen used part of the proceeds to buy a portfolio of 4,000 domain names to replace it.[14](https://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2006/march.htm)
## Later ventures and investing
Kremen co-founded Net Angels, merged it with the company Firefly, and sold the combination to Microsoft.[10](https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-kremen-interview/) He wrote first checks into Resonate, which went public; [Interwoven](https://www.edgepedia.org/interwoven), in a 90/10 split with Peng Ong; and Mediaplex.[10](https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-kremen-interview/) He is credited as primary inventor of a dynamic web pages patent, which he sold for more than $1.25 million.[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/)
In 2006 he founded Clean Power Finance, a company to help homeowners finance residential solar installations that often totaled $30,000; he hired employees but brought in someone else as CEO. The company later merged with Kilowatt Financial and was renamed Spruce Finance.[10](https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-kremen-interview/) • [2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/)
## Did he lose money on his own best ideas?
The trope has real support. He received $50,000 from Match.com, which resold for $50 million about a year and a half later, and his retained stock became worthless.[3](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/) • [4](https://www.businessinsider.com/match-gary-kremen-2011-12) He spent $5 million to $5.6 million on lawyers and never collected the $65 million judgment, so on the Sex.com litigation alone he did not break even.[2](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-oct-28-fi-sex28-story.html)
But the fuller ledger is different. Goldman put Kremen's total receipts from Sex.com at over $30 million plus two properties, and the 2006 sale alone brought a minimum of $12 million in cash and stock.[13](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2006/10/sexcom_an_updat.htm) • [14](https://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2006/march.htm)
## The Kremen precedent and legacy
The Ninth Circuit's holding that a domain-name registrant has an intangible property interest capable of conversion made *Kremen v. Cohen* the leading case on domain-name property rights, and it is taught in law school casebooks, which frame Kremen as a computer-geek-turned-entrepreneur who saw opportunity in 1994 when domain names were free for the asking.[1](https://www.internetlibrary.com/pdf/kremen-cohen-9th-cir.pdf) • [15](https://opencasebook.org/documents/2515/)
Its practical reach is narrower than its fame. Goldman's 2006 citation count found a surprisingly small number of cases citing the decision, none of particular note, and he concluded the ruling is so fact-specific that it is unlikely to be a true watershed precedent.[13](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2006/10/sexcom_an_updat.htm)
## References
1. [Kremen v. Cohen, Ninth Circuit opinion](https://www.internetlibrary.com/pdf/kremen-cohen-9th-cir.pdf)
2. [Gary Kremen, EBSCO Research Starters biography](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/gary-kremen/)
3. [The Prisoner of Sex.com, Wired (2003)](https://www.wired.com/2003/08/sex-com/)
4. [How Match.com's Founder Created the World's Biggest Dating Website, Business Insider (2011)](https://www.businessinsider.com/match-gary-kremen-2011-12)
5. [Kremen v. Cohen, 99 F.Supp.2d 1168 (N.D. Cal. 2000)](https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/kremen-v-cohen-no-895435373)
6. [Tangled Tale of the Pilfered Porn Site, Los Angeles Times (2001)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-mar-26-fi-42825-story.html)
7. [Hijacker of 'Sex.com' Is Arrested, Los Angeles Times (2005)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-oct-28-fi-sex28-story.html)
8. [Reports: Sex.com appeals, sells for $12M, Reuters via USA Today (2006)](https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-01-24-sexcom_x.htm)
9. [Focus: Footnotes, Michael Gross](https://www.mgross.com/books/focus/focus-footnotes/)
10. [Gary Kremen Mixergy interview](https://mixergy.com/interviews/gary-kremen-interview/)
11. [Love's Labor Lost, San Francisco Chronicle (1999)](https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/love-s-labor-lost-online-matchmaker-still-seeks-3013097.php)
12. [Kremen v. Cohen, Issues in Internet Law](https://issuesininternetlaw.com/cases/kremen.html)
13. [Sex.com: An Update, Eric Goldman, Technology & Marketing Law Blog (2006)](https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2006/10/sexcom_an_updat.htm)
14. [Be Careful what You Wish For, DNJournal (2006)](https://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2006/march.htm)
15. [Kremen v. Cohen, H2O legal casebook](https://opencasebook.org/documents/2515/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Founders, operators, and investors › Consumer, industrial, and services founders › United States and Canada*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 10, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 10, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license