The acquisition of the PIR Registry by Ethos Capital might have been cockblocked for now, as ICANN put the brakes on the transaction.
Bending flat under pressure, ICANN announced that apparently PIR is doing just fine right now, as a profitable company with a valuation of more than $1 billion dollars. Relinquishing their non-profit status would set them back about $360 million bucks in debt, right in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In contrast, PIR has a great opportunity to improve their financial status further, by increasing .ORG prices, of course. ICANN has removed all price caps from the PIR contract, in case you forgot.
What that means is, that while Ethos Capital might have been a surprise entity taking over the .ORG namespace, they attempted to commit to a timetable of gradual, “reasonable” base price increases.
On the other hand, PIR has not committed to any of that, and is now free to do as it pleases. And there’s so much more to be worried about.
Isn’t this a demonstration of how natural selection gets its revenge?
Had the Ethos Capital acquisition gone through, the ensuing transition would have involved more scrutiny by the US government, and the Attorney General of California. ICANN would have been obligated to open up its quarters to a potential investigation. Many believe that the problem lies not within PIR and its now cancelled sellout to a for-profit corporation, but with ICANN and its status quo as a non-profit; a bureaucratic, self-ruling state with privileges to decide on the Internet’s future, all while relinquishing the function of “price regulator.”
Perhaps domain investors should focus on that, next.
PIR could try pissing on registrants by raising prices. But raising prices during an economic crisis with all the world’s nonprofits and the California Attorney General watching your every move is like pissing into a hurricane. PIR are the only ones who would get soaking wet.