[CPWG] A white knight on the horizon for .ORG?

[Roberto Gaetano]

Hi David.
One sentence in your email prompts another element that we want to consider if we want to build a complete picture.

> On 08.01.2020, at 20:51, David Mackey <mackey361 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> < ….. >
> 
> I guess it's not totally surprising as we've seen the Internet expand over decades across the globe to the point where organizations like PIR are valued in the billions of dollars.
> 
> < ….. >
> 

I am not an expert of finances, but I believe that the sale price of PIR is appropriate for granting ISOC a steady income - once invested - that is at least what PIR was providing.

OTOH, I am not convinced that the current value of PIR is above a billion - but I may be proven wrong. Whatever the case, we should wonder why Ethos believes to be able to extract from PIR a higher revenue than what PIR produces today.
IMHO, the ability to raise price is not the good answer. This ability is provided by the contract with ICANN, and predates the sale - so it is something that ISOC has without doubt factored in the sale price.
The best chance to increase the profitability comes from a different business model or a different corporate structure (or both, obviously). The first thing that comes to my mind, that I have hinted already in my early comments - but then not elaborated upon - is vertical integration. I am not claiming to be an expert on the domain name business, but as co-chair of the Vertical Integration Working Group I have learned a lot.
PIR, as registry, has to treat all the registrars equally. When PIR owned a registrar, it was obliged to provide to all other registrars the same information given to it. However, a registrar can pick and choose registries to partner with and with whom to share information even of strategic nature. Considering the relationship that folks in Ethos have with Donuts, it would not be surprising to see in the future a collaboration where - to be compliant with ICANN rules - Donuts is running the show, and PIR would set its business accordingly.

Should we take this also into account to assess the situation? Maybe we should. But maybe the first step could be to discuss whether this is a reasonable scenario or whether I am off the mark.

Cheers,
Roberto