[NA-Discuss] ICANN Layoffs

[Evan Leibovitch]

Thanks for sharing, Glenn.

This brings to mind two points, one of them obvious.

1) I hope that the people who have been involved in working with At-Large
were not affected. It's a great team.

2) As I said in a previous email, those who looking to tinker with the way
At-Large travel is allocated ought to think long and hard about the
consequences of their actions.
Decoupling designated slots from elected and appointed leadership invites
ICANN to reduce their total number. Obviously the org is already resorting
to extreme cost-reduction measures; why call attention to something they
could cut easily, without complaint from most of a broader community that
already thinks we're over-funded?

- Evan



On Sat, Jun 1, 2024 at 12:00 PM Glenn McKnight via NA-Discuss <
na-discuss at atlarge-lists.icann.org> wrote:

> ICANN is laying off 33 staffers, the non-profit domain overseer announced
> <https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/organizational-changes-to-ensure-icanns-financial-stability-and-sustainability-30-05-2024-en>
>  today.
>
> That represents about 7% of the organization’s ranks of 485 positions.
>
> ICANN said it is facing a deficit of $10 million a year, thanks in part to
> sluggish domain name growth.
>
> In a blog post, the organization stated:
>
> This decision is part of a broader effort to evaluate costs and
> activities, focusing on resource management, ensuring operational
> efficiency, and achieving financial sustainability. Other key areas of
> focus include reviewing travel and meeting costs, optimizing the use of
> regional offices, exploring opportunities for greater cross-collaboration
> and process improvements across functions and regions, and evaluating
> ICANN’s fee structure to ensure it scales realistically with inflation.
>
> That last line is likely to raise eyebrows amongst contracted parties and
> domain registrants. It suggests that ICANN might consider raising the
> “taxes” it charges on domain name registrations.
>
> ICANN has faced deficits in the past and even took money from new top
> level domain name auctions
> <https://domainnamewire.com/2018/11/06/icann-will-use-36-million-of-new-tld-auction-proceeds-to-cover-shortfall/> to
> replenish its coffers.
> Share this post...
> Glenn McKnight, MA
> Virtual School of Internet Governance
> Chief Information Officer
> www.virtualsig.org
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-- 
Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada
@evanleibovitch / @el56
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