<div dir="ltr"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:25px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"avenir next",avenir,"segoe ui","helvetica neue",helvetica,Ubuntu,roboto,noto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">ICANN is laying off 33 staffers, the non-profit domain overseer <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/organizational-changes-to-ensure-icanns-financial-stability-and-sustainability-30-05-2024-en" style="box-sizing:inherit">announced</a> today.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:25px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"avenir next",avenir,"segoe ui","helvetica neue",helvetica,Ubuntu,roboto,noto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">That represents about 7% of the organization’s ranks of 485 positions.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:25px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"avenir next",avenir,"segoe ui","helvetica neue",helvetica,Ubuntu,roboto,noto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">ICANN said it is facing a deficit of $10 million a year, thanks in part to sluggish domain name growth.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:25px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"avenir next",avenir,"segoe ui","helvetica neue",helvetica,Ubuntu,roboto,noto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">In a blog post, the organization stated:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing:inherit;font-style:italic;margin:0px 0px 25px;padding:25px 30px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"avenir next",avenir,"segoe ui","helvetica neue",helvetica,Ubuntu,roboto,noto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px">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.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:25px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"avenir next",avenir,"segoe ui","helvetica neue",helvetica,Ubuntu,roboto,noto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">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.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:25px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"avenir next",avenir,"segoe ui","helvetica neue",helvetica,Ubuntu,roboto,noto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px">ICANN has faced deficits in the past and even <a href="https://domainnamewire.com/2018/11/06/icann-will-use-36-million-of-new-tld-auction-proceeds-to-cover-shortfall/" style="box-sizing:inherit">took money from new top level domain name auctions</a> to replenish its coffers.</p><div class="gmail-scriptlesssocialsharing" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:25px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"avenir next",avenir,"segoe ui","helvetica neue",helvetica,Ubuntu,roboto,noto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:18px"><h3 class="gmail-scriptlesssocialsharing__heading" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 10px">Share this post...</h3></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Glenn McKnight, MA </div><div>Virtual School of Internet Governance </div>Chief Information Officer<div><a href="http://www.virtualsig.org" target="_blank">www.virtualsig.org</a> </div><div><b>YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATION </b></div><div><b>Mobile  437-237-4655</b></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div>