[Chapter-delegates] Arithmetic, orJoin our call to stop the sale of .org

[Coenraad Loubser]

Hi John

The intention of my writing was to highlight the opportunity to set an
example in good governance, in addressing this.

Op Do. 28 Nov. 2019 om 18:34 het John Levine <isocmember at johnlevine.com>
geskryf:

> In article <
> CADZv+ua+qfcHf_SD5TVp-bCT3gkHq-wsPBMxu1zL7DemHUP7Og at mail.gmail.com> you
> write:
> >The main concern, seems to me that common sense would seem to dictate that
> >the new PIR owner would demand a 10%+ return on their investment, which
> >would translate into a doubling of .ORG fees, ...
>
> Can you explain where these numbers came from?  How much do you think

I don't think that I'm entitled to say anything on this - and I'm hardly
the person to answer this - and I have dangerously little experience in
issues such as this. I can only shed light on what a lay observer such as
myself would come up with. Seeing as that ISOC should be representing lay
observers such as myself, I suppose that my opinion is merited, and this is
nothing more.

ISOC financials
<https://www.internetsociety.org/about-internet-society/financial-reports/>
show recent income of between $30m and $40m for "Programme Support" - which
is presumably PIR (I couldn't find clearer information, and I have not been
around long enough to know better.) There is mention of 10 million domains.
That equates to ISOC receiving $4/domain.

.org makes now?  How big do you think the investment is?  Here in the
>
An investment that would yield 2%, and pay $40m, would need to be $2bn. At
4% it would need to be $1bn. At 8% it would need to be $500m. (Please
correct me if I'm wrong, I am still learning about this.)

US where PIR is located ten year government debt pays under 2% and
> nothing I can think of pays 10%.
>

Virtually everything on the US Stock Exchange yields more than 10%:
https://www.thebalance.com/stock-market-returns-by-year-2388543
https://www.pionline.com/section/endowments
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1hlc1hjfsbwfq/Ivy-League-Endowments-Fail-to-Beat-a-Simple-U-S-60-40-Portfolio-Again
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1cxtckwq8s99s/Here-s-How-the-Top-Endowments-Did-Last-Year


> Surely you don't think that doubling the fees would double the income,
> since parked domains and other casual registrants would likely not
> renew.
>
Do you know of anyone who will cancel or move their website, emails, and
update their whole corporate identity, in order to save $10/year?

I can't give you a professional opinion as I have no domain interests, but
personally? I think they could easily up the annual fees to $50, and suffer
minimal cancellations. That's less than 3 months of Netflix or less than 10
Big Macs. Even if half of all .orgs are "casual" or bulk registrations,
they'd still be making more than 10%.

If I made a huge and obvious mistake here somewhere, I would love to be
corrected. I don't think any of this information should be shrouded in
secrecy.

Again, the intention of my writing was not to heighten emotions, but to
highlight this as an opportunity to set an example in good governance, and
to tilt the scales toward consultation.


> Tnx,
> John
>
>

-- 
Coenraad Loubser

W.I.S.H. (Pty) Ltd.
6 Spin Street, Cape Town, 8001, ZA

Office: +27 21 565 0145
Skype: Coenraad_Loubser
Email: coenraad at wish.org.za
Cell: +27 73 772 1223
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