ICANN revenue rises 12 percent while new gTLD program costs reach $39.1 million
in plain words
ICANN, the group that runs the internet's domain name system, published its yearly money report. It earned more and spent more on the program that adds new website endings.
Full summary
ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers The nonprofit that coordinates the global DNS and gTLD policy. Full definition of ICANN has published its audited financial statements for the fiscal year that ran from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. Revenue rose 12 percent to $174.4 million. Payments from registrar A company that registers domain names for customers with the registry. Full definition of registrar climbed 18 percent, and registry The central database and system of a top-level domain, or loosely the organization that runs it. Full definition of registry payments grew 7 percent to $97.8 million. Registrar payments reached $67.3 million, up from $56.8 million a year earlier. ICANN attributes the increase to a larger number of registered domains. Auditors Baker Tilly issued an unqualified opinion on the statements.
Total expenses rose almost 10 percent to $192.1 million, leaving an operating surplus of $18.4 million. The new gTLD A generic top-level domain added to the internet through ICANN's New gTLD Program. Full definition of new gTLD program cost $39.1 million, of which $27.2 million went to the 2026 round. The previous year's total was $28.9 million. ICANN recorded $3.1 million in 2026 round revenue by the end of June and had another $3.0 million in application fees not yet recognized as income, since the application window The fixed period in which ICANN accepts new gTLD applications in a round. Full definition of application window was still open until August 12.
Net assets grew by $18.1 million to $574 million, helped by investment income of $35.7 million. The 2012 round The first round of ICANN's New gTLD Program, which opened for applications in 2012. Full definition of 2012 round auction proceeds reserve stood at $238.5 million at the end of June, and ICANN paid out nearly $4 million from its related support program. Staff numbers rose from 449 to 454.
Country-code domain operators made voluntary contributions totaling $2.3 million. DENIC Deutsches Network Information Center The Frankfurt-based cooperative that runs Germany's .de domain. Full definition of DENIC paid $130,000 for .de, as in previous years, and nic.at paid $20,000 for .at. Contributions for .ch were $12,000, down from $24,000 the year before.