Gary Kremen

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Gary Alan Kremen (born 1963) is an entrepreneur who founded personals site match.com, and registered several premiere domain names in the early days of the internet, including sex.com, jobs.com, housing.com, and autos.com.^[1] Born in the Chicago area, he graduated Niles West High School in 1981, then graduated with bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from Northwestern University in 1985, and a MBA from Stanford University in 1989.^[2]^[3]

Kremen launched software firm Los Altos Technology after graduating from Stanford in 1989, and headed the company until investors replaced him with a new CEO in 1993.^[4]

In 1993, Kremen founded Board of Electric Classifieds, Inc. the first company to bring classified ads to the internet. Funded by private investors in November 1994, it launched online personals service match.com in April 1995.^[4] After troubles with venture capitalists, he left match.com in March 1996, remaining on the board of Electric Classifieds. Over Kremen's objections, match.com was sold to Cendant Corporation for $7 million in 1998,^[4] and sold by Cendant to Ticketmaster a year and a half later for $50 million, although Kremen's proceeds amounted to $50,000 and a lifetime account on match.com.^[5]

From 1995 to 1996, Kremen founded and served as president of NetAngels.com, Inc., an internet profiling and personalization company^[3] that suggested web sites to users. He left when NetAngels merged with Boston personalization software firm Firefly Network, Inc.^[4] in 1997,^[6] and Firefly was sold to Microsoft in 1998 in a reported $40 million deal.^[7]

In 1999, he was listed as an equity-holding officer or director of Brightcube Inc.^[3]

Kremen is credited as a primary inventor on a 1995-filed patent for dynamic web pages, US patent number 5706434,^[8] which was later sold for over $1,250,000.^{[citation needed]} as per [1].

A 2007 New York Times article on "millionaires who don't feel rich" reported that Kremen estimated his net worth at $10 million.^[9]

Kremen currently resides in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and is the founder and acting CEO for residential solar financing start-up Clean Power Finance, Inc.

[edit] Sex.com saga

Kremen first registered the domain name sex.com in 1994.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996 Stephen M. Cohen, contacted Network Solutions and fraudulently had the domain transferred to his name.^{[citation needed]}

Kremen took the matter to the courts where he struggled to make a case, on limited resources, against Cohen's multi-million dollar pornography empire.

Kremen took the upper hand when two of Cohen's rivals in the pornographic industry, Seth Warshavsky and Ron Levi, helped fund Kremen's case. After a long and complicated legal battle headed up by cyberlawyer Charles Carreon, the domain was eventually returned to its original owner, Kremen.

In the meantime, however, Cohen had profited vastly through the property and Kremen tried to wrest back some of these profits through further court action. He was awarded a judgment of $65 million against Cohen. Kremen also successfully litigated against Network Solutions.^[10]

Cohen fled to Mexico and moved the money offshore.

On October 28th, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that Cohen had been arrested in Mexico and turned over to US Authorities.^[11]

Kremen sold sex.com in 2006 to Boston-based Escom LLC for $12 million in cash and stock,^[12] and sold sex.net for $454,500 later that year.^[13]^[1]