GoDaddy has changed its mind about the registry side of the industry yet again, and has acquired the business of Neustar, one of the largest and oldest registries. The deal will see GoDaddy purchase, for an undisclosed sum, all of Neustar’s registry assets, amounting to 215 TLDs and about 12 million domains. It means the [...] Continue reading →

ICANN is consider whether to cancel its in-person ICANN 68 gathering at a meeting of its board of directors tomorrow. The agenda for its meeting tomorrow has one line item: “Impact of COVID-19 on ICANN68”. The four-day Policy Forum is currently scheduled to take place from June 22 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I think the [...] Continue reading →

Top Level Design is delaying its general-availability launch of .gay domains for an indeterminate period due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company said that the new gTLD, which had been slated to go GA May 20, will instead carry on in its trademark holders’ sunrise period indefinitely, until it’s figured out a new launch date. [...] Continue reading →

CentralNic, the triple-play domain company, has told the markets that the coronavirus pandemic is not having an impact on its financial health. In a statement yesterday, the company said: To date, CentralNic has not experienced interruptions in its services to customers or in its supply chain, and the Company confirms that its current trading is [...] Continue reading →

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is expected to have a “significant” impact on ICANN’s budget, according to an update from the organization. The organization published its expectations of a $140.4 million budget for the fiscal year that begins this July last December, and opened it up for public comments. In its summary of those comments (pdf), [...] Continue reading →

The head of ICANN’s Global Domains Division, Cyrus Namazi — arguably ICANN’s number-two exec — has resigned from the organization, according to multiple sources. I believe it’s related to allegations of sexual discrimination. ICANN staffers were told this evening that he’s resigned “effective immediately” and that a public announcement will follow. Long-time ICANN staffer Theresa [...] Continue reading →

ICANN has given Verisign its ability to increase .com prices by up to 7% a year, despite thousands of complaints from domain owners. The amendments give Verisign the right to raise prices in each of the last four years of its six-year duration. The current price is $7.85 a year. Because the contract came into [...] Continue reading →