I accidentally ended up running one of the new gTLD registries for a while. It’s a lot more than $185,000 - that’s just the ICANN application fee. It’s all the other stuff that surrounds running a registry that is expensive. Might be cheaper if it’s “private” registry but you’d probably be looking at as least as much again on top.
We spent well over a million dollars on the various bits and pieces that were required to get set up - this was legals, consultancy fees, and all the paperwork and so on necessary to comply with the ICANN registry agreement terms, as well as our registry back end infrastructure provider - but that was for a registry selling domains to end users. That included putting a substantial sum in escrow for “registry continuity” - so if your registry goes bankrupt ICANN can ensure the registrants of domains are not left high and dry.
A big part of my role was to try and moderate costs as much as possible because the registry owners had been talked into the whole project by a consultant who had convinced them that their particular registry was going to make them $100m a year in registrations and renewals.
My job quickly became persuading them that spending $100k on some crazy thing was not going to achieve anything and trying to stop cash being burnt before they realised the whole thing was a crazy pipe dream.
I don’t recall the terms for private registries, but I’m pretty sure the detail will be on the ICANN site somewhere. Searching for “private registry operating agreement” or something similar might surface the relevant documents.
The application fees aren't that much. Lots of people have access to that kind of money, although it'd be pretty foolish to spend it on a TLD. If you were planning on selling domains from the TLD, you probably need a lot more money to set that up, but why would I let anybody else use .toast???
Strictly speaking, Li’s Field is (was?) his dad’s. Not sure whether Richard inherited it, and even if he did, whether he has mastered it to the same level as his dad.
BTW, the Wikipedia article says “repels” tropical cyclones, but that seems not entirely accurate according to the latest “theory”: the field can also attract cyclones if Li Ka-shing deems it advantageous to his wealth - e.g. if the Hang Seng Index is dropping and Li wants to put a quick halt to the drop (as a typhoon signal no. 8 would force the stock exchange to close early). :P
The more relevant question is if US would agree to sell their TLDs in exchange for Liechtenstein paying for administration of _their_ governmental domains. Look up Liechtenstein GDP & wealth per capita.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 65.1 ms ] threadMore specifically head of PCC - a digital conglomerate from/in HK.
Thinking to have root domain for a holding company, wondering the cost.
> The evaluation fee is US$185,000. Applicants will be required to pay a US$5,000 deposit fee per requested application slot when registering.
https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/global-support/faqs...
A big part of my role was to try and moderate costs as much as possible because the registry owners had been talked into the whole project by a consultant who had convinced them that their particular registry was going to make them $100m a year in registrations and renewals.
My job quickly became persuading them that spending $100k on some crazy thing was not going to achieve anything and trying to stop cash being burnt before they realised the whole thing was a crazy pipe dream.
I don’t recall the terms for private registries, but I’m pretty sure the detail will be on the ICANN site somewhere. Searching for “private registry operating agreement” or something similar might surface the relevant documents.
realistic daydream is like an oxymoron because it conveys the idea that it is unreasonable for most people, but practical for him.
If someone has low expenses like paying less than half their salary per year, they can save that much after two years.
I make that amount per year doing something else, but I'd rather spend it on a ticket to space rather than a TLD.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li%27s_field
BTW, the Wikipedia article says “repels” tropical cyclones, but that seems not entirely accurate according to the latest “theory”: the field can also attract cyclones if Li Ka-shing deems it advantageous to his wealth - e.g. if the Hang Seng Index is dropping and Li wants to put a quick halt to the drop (as a typhoon signal no. 8 would force the stock exchange to close early). :P