New York: One of the most cherished domain name in the history of Internet domains - Democracy.com -- is up for sale, and the bid starts at $300,000.
First registered in the mid-1990s by online startup Intraactive in Washington, DC, the domain name is currently owned by entrepreneur Talmage Cooley who has put it up for sale as the company has run out of money, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Intraactive claimed the domain name on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), according to an article in "In These Times" magazine.
"I'm bummed that we're selling it," Cooley was quoted as saying.
Heritage Auctions has decided to sell Democracy.com in a sealed-bid auction, in which each potential buyer is blind to what others have offered.
The platform signed up thousands of candidates and organizations at its peak.
Intraactive later sold the domain name to John Carrieri sometime around 1998.
"I wanted to spread democracy," said Carrieri, now the CEO of an energy management business.
Unable to give time to his democracy project, Carrieri sold the domain a little more than a decade after buying it.
"He declined to name the buyer, citing a nondisclosure agreement that was part of the sale, but a domain name reseller announced auctions that included Democracy.com in both 2010 and 2012, the same year that Cooley said he began licensing Democracy.com from a domain name broker," said the report.
