Timeline of ISOC/PIR/Ethos Capital

[dorothy g]

Just heading for the ICANN meeting here at IGF ........

On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 2:06 PM Carlos Vera <cveraq at gmail.com> wrote:

> Really great contribution... it seems more than simple coincidences ..
>
> Carlos Vera
> Isoc Ecuador
>
>
> El 24 nov. 2019, a la(s) 22:54, Ayden Férdeline <icann at ferdeline.com>
> escribió:
>
> 
>
> Dear all,
>
>
> There have been so many different emails and articles floating around
> about the ISOC sale of PIR to a new, two-person investment firm with only
> one investment, it’s hard to piece together exactly what has happened and
> when. I have put together a timeline based upon what I have read, and I’m
> sharing it here in case you find it helpful. I think it raises more
> questions than answers, though…
>
>
>
> *2003*
>
>
>
> Andrew Sullivan is working at Affilias when it was then the vendor that
> supported the award of .ORG to ISOC
>
>
>
> *2012*
>
>
>
> Robert Beckstrom resigns as ICANN CEO, and ICANN COO Akram Atallah takes
> over as interim CEO before his childhood friend Fadi Chehadé joins as CEO.
>
>
>
> Under Chehadé, Atallah becomes president of ICANN’s Global Domains
> Division.
>
>
>
> *2016*
>
>
>
> Chehadé leaves ICANN before his contract expired in order to start his own
> consulting firm and later joins Abry Partners. Abry has 3 partners, one of
> whom is Erik Brooks.
>
>
>
> *May 2018*
>
>
>
> ISOC suddenly appoints three new trustees to PIR.
>
>
>
> Brian Cute, PIR’s CEO of 7 years, resigns suddenly, with no explanation.
> One of the new trustees takes over as interim CEO.
>
>
>
> *June 2018*
>
>
>
> Andrew Sullivan is appointed CEO of ISOC, starting in September.
>
>
>
> *September 2018*
>
>
>
> Chehadé helped Abry close their acquisition of a majority stake in Donuts.
> Brooks took a board seat at Donuts.
>
>
>
> *October 2018*
>
>
>
> Donuts co-founder and chief counsel Jon Nevett steps down. Brooks replaced
> the Donuts CEO with Akram Atallah.
>
>
>
> *December 2018*
>
>
>
> Nevett becomes the new CEO of PIR, responsible for .ORG
>
>
>
> *March 2019*
>
>
>
> ICANN proposes removing price caps from .ORG registrations. It is unclear
> whether PIR requested this, whether ICANN offered it unsolicited, or if PIR
> worked behind the scenes to make this happen under the guise of contract
> harmonization.
>
>
>
> ICANN receives 3,300 comments uniformly opposed to the change and 6 in
> favor of removing price caps, and sides with the 0.2% minority.
>
>
>
> *May 2019*
>
>
>
> PIR responded to the comments with an open letter that said, “We are a
> mission-based non-profit, and would never betray the trust that you have
> put into .ORG and us.”
>
>
>
> On 7 May, Chehadé registered the domain for EthosCapital.com.
>
>
>
> On 13 May, ICANN decided to lift the price caps anyway.
>
>
>
> On 14 May, Ethos Capital was incorporated as a new investment firm founded
> by Brooks. Ethos Capital has two staff: Brooks and Nora Abusitta-Ouri, a
> former ICANN SVP who later worked for Chehadé and was also a classmate of
> Chehadé.
>
>
>
> *November 2019*
>
>
>
> Out of the blue, ISOC announced that Nevett and Sullivan had approved the
> acquisition of PIR by Ethos Capital for an unspecified amount.
>
>
>
> The only support for the deal that I have tracked has come from Vint Cerf,
> who for some reason appears to have access to non-public information about
> the deal (and was cited in ISOC’s press release as supporting the sale).
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
>
> Ayden Férdeline
>
>

-- 
Dorothy Gordon
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