Sex.com Revamps Image After Legal Ruling

Sex.com, one of the oldest and most lucrative adult sites on the Internet, is under new management.

The change in control comes after years of legal wrangling by the domain names original owner, Gary Kremen. Kremen won a landmark $65 million judgment last week against Stephen Cohen, who stole the name shortly after Kremen registered it in 1994. Kremen also won control of the site and its assets. An arrest warrant has been issued for Cohen, who is reportedly on the run.

The sites popularity is due mainly to its name. Cohen made millions of dollars running banner ads linked to fee-based sex sites. Sex.coms new manager, Daron Babin, said the new site will try to appeal to a broader audience by being a search engine and content portal.

"We want to make something of it besides a disgusting banner farm," Babin said.

Babins plan is to include columns, health information and a full-service search engine for adult content. The goal, like that of so many other portals, is to provide "stickiness" that keeps users coming back.

Sex.com plans swinger, gay and singles content pages. The cruder, more offensive content often considered synonymous with the online adult industry will not be at the fore.

"I want to make this site as palatable as we can, so your 65-year-old grandmother will find something [interesting] there," Babin said.

Granny might require a personality change before that happens. The new site debuted last week with little more than a link directory and a banner ad for "cheerleader gang bang."

Babin said content improvements will take place over the next four to six weeks.