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Question: what even gives ISOC the right to sell it? IIRC, they were granted control by the US gov, but that is not the same as ownership.
by rmah 7y ago
Question: what even gives ISOC the right to sell it? IIRC, they were granted control by the US gov, but that is not the same as ownership.
- slantedview 7y agoThis x 1000000.
- hanniabu 7y agoThat's a very good question
- adventured 7y agoLikely the same contractual basis that granted the transferal of Network Solutions to VeriSign via acquisition, which brought along control over .com and .net. There are probably terms that allow for the control to be transferred via sale in some manner. Ultimately, either way, the US Government allows it to happen; they could intervene if they cared to and make the sale untenable. It's such a good rent extraction business that Berkshire Hathaway has accumulated 11% of VeriSign. Last year VeriSign's gross profit margin was 82% and their net income margin was a staggering 47% (a level you never see from major public companies, outside of rare cases like Visa or Facebook).
- fanf2 7y ago.org was moved from Network Solutions / Verisign to PIR by ICANN. ISOC can (apparently) sell PIR without affecting the .org contract.