Verisign reports $171.4 million total cost for .web
in plain words
Verisign spent a lot of money to get the .web web address ending. It says it will open the ending to people in mid-December. Many people who own a matching .com name will get the first chance to buy the matching .web name.
Full summary
Verisign The company that operates the .com and .net registries. Full definition of Verisign has disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the total cost of acquiring the .web top-level domain was $171.4 million. Most of that amount was already known. In 2016, Nu Dot Co won an auction of last resort An ICANN-run auction that settles competing applications for the same gTLD. Full definition of auction of last resort for the name for $135 million, and its later quarterly filing reported paying $145 million for the domain.
Verisign now says Nu Dot Co ended up receiving $145.2 million, along with an additional $26.2 million in other acquisition costs that it described as individually not material. The source does not say what those costs were, though it suggests some of them may have been a settlement with Altanovo, a party that had also contested the .web name. The source notes that the company has not confirmed whether it deferred and capitalized legal costs.
On its investor conference call, Verisign said it expects to launch .web with a 30-day sunrise An early phase when trademark owners can register matching names first. Full definition of sunrise in mid-December. A limited registration Obtaining the right to use a domain name for a set period. Full definition of registration period would follow, in which most holders of .com domains would be able to acquire the matching .web name. Verisign has not yet announced pricing for that match period.
The source questions whether registrar A company that registers domain names for customers with the registry. Full definition of registrar will promote the match period and whether customers will take it up. It also asks whether companies still need a generic extension of their brand, and whether the term web remains relevant. The author argues that the limited registration period will show what return Verisign may get for .web.