| This is a great idea and caused me to go down a rabbit hole of learning what it would take to actually register a new gTLD. Short version: The ICANN would need to do a new round of gTLD registrations. This is unannounced but rumored to begin some time this year. Then, a corporation would need to apply for the gTLD string. This application cost $185,000, non-refundable, in 2012 [1]. Smart money is a steeper fee. Next, they would actually need to be approved for the gTLD. This requires a company with enough funding to pass the ICANN's audit, and enough technical chops to maintain name servers with enough bandwidth and availability to serve the traffic generated by the new gTLD [2]. There is also a criminal background check and anti-cybersquatting check [3]. Finally, they would have to win in a contention process that involves any other registrar applying for the same string. This may be settled by an auction [4]. The buzz around the 2012 process is that it was generally a waste of time and money - many of the gTLDs far underperformed expectations by the registrars. Further, many of the corporate-owned gTLDs are unused (such as the 76! owned by Amazon)[5]. There were a few winners - the ICANN themselves made a hefty sum of money - some $212 million left over in 2020 [6]. Some other companies figured out the right way to "game" the contention process and intentionally lose the auction for the string [7]. Finally, a company named "Donuts, Inc", won some 270 gTLDs under various subsidiary companies. With such a massive portfolio, they were able to capture a few big winners (such as .guru) [8]. [1] https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/global-support/faqs... point 2.2 [2] https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/gtld-drd-ui-10se... [3] https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/guidebook-full-... module 2 [4] https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/guidebook-full-... module 1.1.2.10 [5] https://domainnamewire.com/2019/02/28/new-tlds-five-years-in... [6] https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/annual-report-20... page 33 [7] https://www.circleid.com/posts/20130603_icann_auctions_or_pr... [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donuts_(company) |
> In January 2021, Donuts announced that Ethos Capital would be acquiring a controlling interest in the company.[0]
That would be the same Ethos Capital that tried to take control of .org.[1][2]
[0] https://donuts.news/ethos-capital-to-acquire-controlling-int...
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/technology/dot-org-privat...
[2] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/victory-icann-rejects-...