Domain Name Registration: Who's Banking?

[aim]

This came up in a conversation with a friend, and I didn't know the answer.

I'm trying to get a better understanding of the domain name registration eco-system, perhaps somebody familiar with this process can chime in.

When you register a domain with an "ICANN-Accredited Registrar" there is some profit there for the registrar I'm sure, but how much I have no idea how or for how much the registars grab the domain, if there is a fee at all.

I'm trying to follow the money and see where it ends up... Who is really banking off the [roughly] 75 Million registered .com's that are renewed each year, for example. The Registars? ICANN?

Even if ICANN got $2.00 (random number) per renewed domain, that's $150 Million in revenue, can that be right for a non profit? Where's all that money going?

 

[nachoninja]

ICANN gets $0.20 per/year for each .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .name, .jobs, .mobi, and .asia. domains

 

[Dullspace]

The registries are not owned by registrars. For example, Verisign owns the .com and .net registries. They are the ones getting $6 per .com and $5 per .net. Then ICANN takes a small fee and the rest goes to the registrar.

It sounds like you're asking who owns the registries, and it is different for different TLDs, but .com and .net are Verisign.

 

[aim]

VRSN - Verisign, Inc. - Google Finance

I'd be interested to know how much of their 1.5 Billion in revenue last year came from owning the .com / .net registries.

So if they're making $5-6 per domain per year, what does that money go toward? Maintaining a giant database of domains that are either registered or not?

 

[trigatch4]

Interesting stuff... I'm pretty sure the folks SELLING domains, the Dotsters and GoDaddys of the world, aren't bringing much to the bank. Domains are a commodity so the profit margins are very small.

Thats why you see them branching out into hosting, website creation services, etc... because domain reselling fees aren't enough to sustain a growth business.

I don't know much about this topic but am gonna keep an eye on this thread.... interesting stuff.

 

[Dullspace]

So if they're making $5-6 per domain per year, what does that money go toward? Maintaining a giant database of domains that are either registered or not?

A little bit more than that, but mostly yes.

 

[Dullspace]

I'm pretty sure the folks SELLING domains, the Dotsters and GoDaddys of the world, aren't bringing much to the bank.

GoDaddy can afford superbowl commercials. They aren't doing too badly.