ICANN has spent $120 million on new gTLDs
The new gTLD program has cost ICANN almost $120 million so far, according to a quarterly financial report published earlier this week.
It’s the first time ICANN has published a quarterly statement. Normally it only files a formal report annually.
According to the report, ICANN has spent $119.2 million of its original £344.9 million program budget (which comprises application fees net of refunds).
As of September 30, it still had $225.7 million in cash dedicated to the program, which is accounted for separate to ICANN’s regular operating budget.
ICANN estimates its total spend will be $204.3 million. If you factor in the $108.9 million “risk reserve”, that would put the program $3 million over budget by the time it concludes.
None of this includes the likely proceeds of contention set auctions, which are expected to amount to many millions. This cash will also be accounted for separately, but the community discussion on how to spend it is only just beginning.
Warning. Warning. Warning. That leaves them not nearly enough to offset the .com tidal wave with effective gtld advertising as was originally planned.
The program will surly fail without it.
I am pleased to see that they are tracking ngTLD personnel separately, especially in light of Fadi’s projections for headcount growth in 2014.