NewYork.com ownership transferred from West Philadelphia businessman to Florida business

Once billed as among the most valuable domains on the internet, the ownership of NewYork.com has quietly changed in recent weeks, from a pair of prominent Philadelphia businessmen to a nondescript Florida-based company, perhaps involving the same cast of characters.

A multilingual Wharton grad — a former boxer turned sports agent turned self-styled domain broker — named Leland Hardy first registered NewYork.com in 1994. A West Philadelphia native and long-time resident who has also listed Harlem as home, he partnered with Overbrook Farms businessman Tom Stafford to build out a straight forward booking and affiliate tourism sales sites at NewYork.com in the last decade.

Sometime in January, the WhoIs registration changed from Stafford’s Bala Cynwyd-based holdings company to the NewYork.com Entertainment Group, LLC registered in suburban Miami.

Whether the domain even fully changed control isn’t entirely clear, as the make-up of the new Florida ownership isn’t immediately clear. The staff members listed on the site have not changed since the switch over. Efforts to reach out to Stafford, Hardy or others have not been returned.

A cache Google search that shows former ownership of NewYork.com.