CEO DATELINE - ICANN delays decision on sale of .org
CEO DATELINE - ICANN delays decision on sale of .org
- February 3, 2020 |
-
Walt Williams
Consider joining CEO Update. Membership gives full access to the latest intelligence on association management, career advancement, compensation trends and networking events, as well as hundreds of listings for senior-level association jobs.
The organization that oversees the assignment of web addresses is delaying a decision on the proposed sale of the .org top-level domain after receiving a request from the California attorney general's office for more information about the transaction.
The private equity firm Ethos Capital has proposed purchasing the Public Interest Registry—a nonprofit entity that manages the .org domain—from the Internet Society for $1.135 billion. The proposed sale has alarmed nonprofit groups, with many groups fearing Ethos Capital will raise prices significantly for continuing to use .org.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers announced Jan. 30 that it would push back its decision whether to allow the sale to go forward after being contacted by the California attorney general's office, which wants more information about the transaction. PIR also is seeking more time to comply with the request. The original deadline for ICANN to end its review was Feb. 17. The deadline is now April 20.
"ICANN remains committed to being as transparent as possible in the processing of PIR's request, as we are demonstrating by the posting of both letters," the group said in a statement.
MORE CEO DATELINE