Internet Society (ISOC) has sold the .org registry under the Public Interest Registry (PIR) to private equity company Ethos Capital.
This move has raised question regarding the future of the .org domain name and ICANN has made it confusing with removing all price controls on .org and their renewal prices which in future might fluctuate over time. Now since .org is a private equity company now surely it will try to maximize the value of the registry.
According to statistics, PIR generated $101 million in revenue in 2018 and contributed nearly $50 million to Internet Society. It contributed $74 million to ISOC in 2017.
Ethos Capital is a new private equity firm lead by Erik Brooks. Brooks was at Abry Partners until earlier this year.
Internet Society in its press realese has stated, “The transaction will help the Internet Society to secure its future through more stable, diversified and sustainable financial resources than it has at present, allowing the organization to plan for the long term and advance its vision of an Internet for everyone on an even broader scale. It will also enable PIR to continue expanding its mission and important work under new ownership — including its goal of keeping .ORG accessible and reasonably priced — while further strengthening and deepening its commitment to the .ORG Community.”
The question now is to see how the goals of Ethos Capital will affect the .org community in future.
