[Governance] Acquisition of Afilias by Donuts

[Ayden Férdeline]

Hi all,

Just flagging this press release that says Afilias has been acquired by Donuts:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/donuts-inc-to-acquire-afilias-inc-301177508.html

This means that Donuts now owns over 450 generic top-level domains (out of a total of 1,200). The (continued) consolidation in the domain name industry is something that civil society might want to track. I am not sure if this sale is problematic from a competition perspective (though that is my gut reaction), but it is significant nonetheless.

Donuts is owned by private equity firm Abry Partners, connected to former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade.

Afilias, which Donuts is now acquiring, is paid roughly $20 million a year by the Public Interest Registry to offer backend services. Late last year another Fadi Chehade-connected entity, Ethos Capital, attempted to acquire the Public Interest Registry.

Best wishes,

Ayden Férdeline
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