In May 2007, Steve Hirsh was waiting for Stephen Paul Jones at a meeting.  Jones was an unknown name when it came to adult entertainment.  Why was Jones late?  His private plane broke down and had to fly on a commercial plane. 

What did Jones want?  To sell his site, YouPorn.com to Vivid Entertainment.  YouPorn is the equivalent of YouTube, but the videos uploaded are strictly pornography.  YouPorn is currently the #1 most highest visited pornography website with over 15 million unique visitors per month.  YouPorn is currently ranked the #36 most visited website in the world according to Alexa.

Jones graduated with an MBA from Stanford University.  The only two owners of YouPorn.com are himself and another individual in Malaysia.  Jones essentially saw YouPorn.com as “The Virgin of adult entertainment.”  Hirsh’s biggest concern with YouPorn was validation of the audience.  How would the site prevent underage children on the Internet from accessing the site?  If underage visitors end up on the site, it could lead to legal battles.

YouPorn.com makes about $120K per month, but Jones said he was willing to cash out at $20 million. 

“It doesn’t make any sense!” stated Hirsch in an interview with Portfolio.com.  “They’re giving porn away. You can’t make money on this.”  Sites like PornoTube and YouPorn have taken away a lot of market-share from pornography DVDs and other forms of adult entertainment. 

Jones, the one interviewed for the piece featured in The Portfolio denies that he owns the site.  Many porn sites are dominating the top sites on Alexa, but exit strategies for these types of sites are quite difficult due to the raunchy content surrounding their properties.  Despite the raunchy content surrounding YouPorn, $20 million would be a good price for acquiring the #32 most trafficked site on the Internet.  About 8 months ago, Penthouse bought out AdultFriendFinder for $500 million. 

Related Link:
1. Portfolio.com