Concerns Re: ISOC/PIR/Ethos Sale

[Caleb Olumuyiwa Ogundele]

The question also is... Was there any due diligence or audit carried out on
Ethos.
Or have we seen any tax filing for Ethos either?
So many questions about this deal.

Caleb Ogundele

On Wed, Nov 27, 2019, 4:11 PM Sam Lanfranco <lanfran at yorku.ca> wrote:

> Colleagues,
>
> I would like to expand on Ayden's question about whether there are serious
> non-financial concerns around the potential ownership of PIR by what
> amounts to a particular type of venture capital company.
>
> Think of three types of venture capital company. Some invest in a
> portfolio of start up companies, hoping that some succeed and the portfolio
> is profitable. Some invest in successful "boutique" operations to sell to
> major corporations (or major corporations buy directly) to improve their
> product line without doing in-house research and development. The third
> type looks for undervalued companies, buys them, does things to make them
> look more attractive (cost cutting, "lipstick on the pig") and usually
> flips them for a relatively quick profit.
>
> My experience as an economist is that firms such as Ethos are of the third
> type. If the sale goes through that is a hypothesis to be tested. There is
> nothing about the history of the investors to suggest that they have a long
> term interest in PIR, .org, or the Internet ecosystem, other than as a
> source of profits. That means that any declarations that are not carved in
> legal stone are just "statements of policy for the moment", and all subject
> to change "as circumstances (including ownership) change".
>
> The move to private ownership for PIR and .org exposes .org domain names,
> and domain name holders, to many more risks, more than just rate increases.
> Ayden's concern here would exist if the .org registry goes to private
> ownership, no matter who the owners are, and who they retain for advice.
>
> Ayden asks:
> I think this is an area of divergence where a PIR under ISOC's management
> may behave differently to a PIR owned by a company whose advisor has strong
> business interests in China.
> Do others share this same concern as me?
>
> Sam Lanfranco
>
> *Postscript: I should declare that at the moment I have a nominal position
> as a Visiting Professor at  Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool Univ, Suzhou, China. I
> do not teach courses. My only role is to advise on curriculum around the
> global Internet ecosystem. I only have travel expenses covered, with
> accommodations at the university when there (once two years ago). I am not
> paid for my advice. If you have questions, please ask. *
>
>
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