ICANN is currently sitting on an astounding $350 million in cash reserves, something that no other agency has achieved in such a short period of time.
ICANN 100 – Coming soon on the Moon.
One can ‘blame’ it on the aggressive marketing and roll-out of the new gTLDs; with applications costing $185k it’s quick money in the ICANN vault.
“The future of ICANN is looking brighter and grander, with it attaining a more internationalized role as I have committed,” said ICANN president and CEO, Fadi Chehadé.
Amidst heavy applause from hundreds of ICANN delegates, he continued:
“I therefore ask the ICANN committee, above and beyond the increases I have earlier requested for food and lodging activities, to provide the funds which are needed to meet the following goals: I believe that the Internet should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing the members of ICANN on the Moon and returning them safely to the Earth. No single Internet project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space venues; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. In a very real sense, it will not be just one ICANN committee going to the Moon – if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire Internet community. For all of us must work to put the ICANN members and firmly plant the ICANN flag there.”
The usually somber hall was filled with laughter, applause and some threw their hats and scarfs up in the air, as Chehadé announced that the ICANN Centennial Conference will take place on the lunar surface, preferably in a special 5 Star Hotel built in advance in the most prestigious of all lunar craters, Bailly, by the picturesque mountains of Montes Dörfel.
ICANN 100 will be easily funded, according to Fadi Chehadé, as the introduction of thousands of new gTLDs will fund the exploration of space, solid rocket boosters, and the provision of comfortable beds and gourmet space meals for the committee members.
We plan to be there!
