Billionaire Mark Cuban is the new owner of the domain 'Democracy.com'

Jin S. Lee

• Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who is known for his role as an investor on the show "Shark Tank," bought the domain Friday in an auction for an undisclosed price, The New York Times reported.
• The investor made the purchase on a whim "to make sure someone didn't do something crazy with it," he told The Times.
• Talmage Cooley, the site's previous owner, told The Times he emailed Cuban about the auction days before it was set to close, and the billionaire investor made an offer a few minutes later.
• "I'm glad that somebody in the US bought it, as opposed to a Russian counter-democracy organization," Cooley told The Times.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Democracy.com has an unlikely new owner - billionaire businessman Mark Cuban.

Cuban, who is known for his role as an investor on the show "Shark Tank," bought the domain Friday in an auction for an undisclosed price, The New York Times reported.

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The minimum bid set for the auction was $300,000 and Cuban paid a sum higher than the minimum bid, according to The Times.

The businessman made the purchase on a whim "to make sure someone didn't do something crazy with it," Cuban told The Times.

"Someone sent me a cold email," Cuban said. "I gave them a price I would be willing to pay. They said yes."

Talmage Cooley, the site's previous owner, used it as "a start-up social platform where politicians and civic groups could connect with supporters," The Times reported. Once the platform ran out of money earlier this year, Cooley orchestrated the auction, which was managed by Heritage Auctions.

Cooley told The Times that he emailed Cuban about the auction days before it was set to close, and the billionaire investor made an offer a few minutes later.

"I just made it super succinct and talked about the importance of this name being used for good," Cooley told The Times. "I'm glad that somebody in the US bought it, as opposed to a Russian counter-democracy organization."

This isn't the first time Cuban has had a hand in the political realm. In 2016, he endorsed former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and even floated the idea of running in the 2020 race as an independent, but his family shut the idea down.

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