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Double-charging claims as registries ramp up new gTLD refund demands

Registry operators have stepped up demands for ICANN to dip into its $100 million new gTLD cash pile to temporarily lower their “burdensome” accreditation fees. A new missive from the Registries Stakeholder Group to ICANN this week also introduces a remarkable claim that ICANN may have “double charged” new gTLD applications to the tune of […]
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Domain Registries, gac, rebate, rysg, tmch

Millions spent as three more new gTLDs auctioned

Two or three new gTLDs have been sold in a private auction that may well have seen over $20 million spent. The strings .inc, .llc and (I think) .llp hit the block at some point this month. They are the first new gTLDs to be auctioned since Verisign paid $135 million for .web a little […]
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.llp, Domain Registries, dot registry, mmx

MMX revenue slips despite domain growth

MMX today posted a smaller loss for the first half of the year, despite managing to grow domains under management and hit some important financial milestones. The new gTLD registry formerly known as Mind + Machines, which announced a few months ago that it’s looking to be acquired, reported an H1 loss of $526,000 compared […]
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.vip, Domain Registries, mmx

.xyz back on sale in China

Chinese registrars have started to carry .xyz domains again, about five months after a Chinese government ban. West.cn and Net.cn are two of the China-based companies that appear to be selling .xyz names at the yuan equivalent of a US dollar, based on a spot check this morning. West.cn flagged the “restoration” of service on […]
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Domain Registries, west.cn, xyz.com

L’Oreal is using “closed generic” .makeup in an interesting way

What do you call a registry that defensively registers names on behalf of the very people that would be its most likely customers if the TLD weren’t so hideously overpriced? L’Oreal, apparently. About half of its .makeup new gTLD comprises the names or nicknames of social media “influencers” in the make-up scene, and they all […]
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.makeup, closed generics, Domain Registries, findie, l'oreal, welove.makeup

Another ccTLD plays down the “com”

Another ccTLD operator has decided to allow registrants to register domains at the second level. Following a trend that has swept the country-code world over the last few years, Malta’s NIC (Malta) said direct .mt registrations will become available December 1. Previously, only third-level regs under .com.mt, .org.mt, .net.mt, .edu.mt and .gov.mt were possible. NIC […]
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.mt, Domain Registries, nic (malta), second-level

.CLUB HQ trashed by Irma, nobody hurt

.CLUB Domains returned to its new digs in Fort Lauderdale, Florida yesterday to find the building trashed by hurricane Irma. Fortunately, none of the .club gTLD registry’s 17 employees were hurt during Irma, the category 5 hurricane which lashed Florida over the weekend. Irma caused at least 10 reported deaths in the state and untold […]
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.club domains, Domain Registries, hurricane irma

XYZ slashes $10 million a year from premium stash

XYZ.com has slashed the asking price of a few thousand “premium” .xyz domain names, in some cases by many thousands of dollars. Overall, it looks like the company has dropped prices by a total of $10.8 million. At the top end of its reserved list, several single and double-character domains previously priced a $55,000 per […]
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Domain Registries, xyz.com

CentralNic extends XYZ deal until 2032

CentralNic and XYZ.com have extended their registry services pact for the next fifteen years, according to CentralNic. Announcing its first-half 2017 financial results today, CentralNic said the back-end contract has been extended until 2032. It’s an unusually long duration for a registry services contract, which are usually much more likely to run about five years. […]
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Domain Registries, financials, instra, internet.bs, xyz.com

Registry bosses to talk ICANN “tax cuts” at private meeting

The CEOs of 20 or more gTLD registries are due to meet privately this month to discuss, among other things, the possibility of a reduction in their ICANN fees. The Registry CEO Summit is being held in Seattle at the end of September, I’m told. Jay Westerdal of Top Level Spectrum (.feedback etc) and Ray […]
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.club domains, Domain Registries, registry ceo summit, top level design, top level spectrum