GoDaddy $GDDY Q4 FY2017 Results, LIVE Webcast Feb 22, 5pm ET

$GDDY shares are up over 51% since Feb 22, 2017 (as of Feb 21, 2018)

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), the world's largest domain name registrar, financial results release for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017, on Thursday, February 22, 2018, after the stock market closes. GoDaddy management will host a conference call and LIVE webcast at 5:00 p.m. ET, Feb 22.  To hear the call via phone, dial (866) 393-4306 in the United States or (734) 385-2616 from international locations, with passcode 7396408. The live webcast of the call and recorded replay will also be available on GoDaddy's investor relations website at https://investors.godaddy.net.

View the Presention ( PDF )

Excerpt from the release:

• Total revenue of $602.2 million, up 23.9% year over year.
• Total bookings of $657.9 million, up 25.4% year over year.
• Net cash provided by operating activities of $104.3 million, up 17.1% year over year.
• Unlevered free cash flow of $109.2 million, up 42.6% year over year.
• Customers of 17.3 million at December 31, 2017, up 17.6% year over year.
• Average revenue per user (ARPU) of $139, up 7.4% year over year.
• Domains revenue of $281.6 million, up 16.1% year over year.
• Hosting and Presence revenue of $228.8 million, up 29.5% year over year.
• Business Applications revenue of $91.8 million, up 37.6% year over year.
• International revenue of $207.3 million, up 52.9% year over year.

Operating Highlights

• GoDaddy's GoCentral is seeing continued strong adoption, increasing conversion from free to paid, and generating positive customer feedback and rising net promoter scores.
• GoDaddy continues to enhance GoCentral's features, recently launching Online Appointment scheduling, payments via Square, blogging capabilities, and integration with Google My Business, among many other features. GoCentral users can now book client appointments online 24x7, sync with the most popular calendars, get paid easily offline or online, and create powerful online identities via Google.
• GoDaddy continued its successful integration of HEG, including the recent launch of localized marketing efforts in multiple European markets.
• GoDaddy announced it will acquire Main Street Hub for approximately $125 million in cash plus up to $50 million in potential future earnouts. Main Street Hub provides small businesses with a complete "do-it-for-me" service for managing engagement on the most popular social networks. The transaction is expected to close late in the second quarter of 2018.
• GoDaddy appointed Mark Garrett to its board of directors. Mr. Garrett, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Adobe, brings deep financial technology leadership to the board.
• GoDaddy announced it will host an Investor Day on March 28, 2018 at its Global Technology Center in Tempe, Arizona. Given limited space, interested shareholders and analysts are encouraged to email investors@godaddy.com for an invitation.
• GoDaddy completed a secondary offering of 7.2 million shares of its Class A common stock sold by certain of its stockholders at $47.32 per share in December 2017, increasing the publicly available float.

SeekingAlpha.com: GoDaddy Q4 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.47. Revenue of $602.2M (+23.9% Y/Y) beats by $7.63M.

GoDaddy's (GDDY) CEO Scott Wagner on Q4 2017 Results | Earnings Call Transcript | Seeking.com

About GoDaddy (source: GoDaddy.com)

"GoDaddy powers the world's largest cloud platform dedicated to small, independent ventures. With over 17 million customers worldwide and nearly 73 million domain names under management, GoDaddy is the place people come to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers and manage their work. Our mission is to give our customers the tools, insights and the people to transform their ideas and personal initiative into success."

Tweets by GoDaddy

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Tucows $TCX Q4 2017 Earnings LIVE Webcast, Feb 14, 8:00 am ET

$TCX shares are up 25% YOY

Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ: TCX) (domain: tucows.com) 
UPDATE: NASDAQ: TCX Feb 14, 4:00 PM EST US$57.55 price increase $0.30 (0.52%)

• Earnings release Feb 14 at 7:00 a.m.: tucows.com/investors/financials/

http://www.tucows.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/q4-2017-financial-statements.pdf

Tucows Reports Continuing Strong Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 | Tucows Inc.: "... Financial Results Net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2017 increased 86% to $90.6 million from $48.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2016. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2017 increased to $11.2 million, or $1.06 per share, from $2.8 million, or $0.27 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2016. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2017 was positively impacted by the tax related implementation impacts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 for $5.8 million or $0.55 per share. Adjusted EBITDA2 for the fourth quarter of 2017 increased 108% to $15.3 million from $7.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2016. The increase in adjusted EBITDA2 was the result of the acquisition of Enom in January 2017, an outsized domain portfolio sale and growth in Ting Mobile. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 increased to $18.0 million from $12.5 million at the end of the third quarter of 2017 and $15.1 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016 ..."

• Q4 2017 LIVE earnings webcast replay (recorded Feb 14, 2018, 8:00 am ET). 

• Tucows' (TCX) CEO Elliot Noss on Q4 2017 Results - Earnings Call Transcript | SeekingAlpha.com: "... Enom's largest customer Namecheap has migrated the bulk of their registrations off the platform. They have moved 2.65 million domains, and there are another 450,000 or so that will move when agreement is reached. While there was a dispute still ongoing between us and Namecheap as to the method of them leaving, there was never any expectation that Namecheap will be part of the ongoing business that we bought. We expected they would have left much earlier, and most importantly, all expectations we set around contributions of the Enom business assumed them to be leaving expeditiously. There were absolutely no surprises here ..."

• Subsidiaries: Hover, OpenSRS, eNom, Ting

Participants can also access the conference call via 1-888-231-8191 or 647-427-7450 or the Internet at tucows.com/investors.

SeekingAlpha.com: Q4 EPS of $0.51 (miss by $0.11). Revenue of $90.62M (+85.7% Y/Y) (beat by $1.32M). See also: Why Tucows Inc. Shares Fell 23% in January | nasdaq.com.

 The earnings call will be archived for replay both by telephone and via the internet beginning approximately one hour following completion of the call. To access the archived conference call by telephone, dial 1-855-859-2056 or 416-849-0833 and enter the pass code 7376628 followed by the pound key. The telephone replay will be available until Wednesday, February 21, 2018 at midnight. To access the archived conference call as an MP3 via the internet, go to tucows.com/investors.

Tucows Announces $40 Million Stock Buyback Program | Tucows Inc.: "February 14, 2018 – Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ:TCX, TSX:TC) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program to repurchase, from time to time, up to $40 million of its common stock in the open market.    The new $40 million buyback program will commence February 14, 2018 and will terminate on or before February 13, 2019.  Purchases for the new $40 million buyback program will be made exclusively through the facilities of the NASDAQ Capital Market.  The previously announced $40 million buyback program for the period March 1, 2017 to February 28, 2018 has been terminated.   All shares purchased by Tucows under the stock buyback program will be retired and returned to treasury. The timing and exact number of common shares purchased will be at Tucows’ discretion and will depend on available cash and market conditions. Tucows may suspend or discontinue the repurchases at any time, including in the event Tucows would be deemed to be making an acquisition of its own shares under Rule 13e-3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Subject to applicable securities laws and stock exchange rules, all purchases will occur through the open market and may be in large block purchases. Tucows does not intend to purchase its shares from its management team or other insiders. The purchase will be funded from available working capital and existing credit facilities. As of February 13, 2018, Tucows had 10,588,958 common shares outstanding ..."

See also on Domain Mondo: Tucows $TCX Q3 2017 Earnings, LIVE Webcast, Nov 9, 5pm ET.

Tucows Inc. is a publicly traded internet services and telecommunications company, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the second-largest domain registrar worldwide and operates Hover, eNom, and OpenSRS, a platform for domain resellers. CEO is Elliot Noss (Aug 2001–). Founder: Scott Swedorski, Founded: 1993, Flint, MI.

About Tucows (source: Tucows.com)
"Tucows, Inc. is a provider of network access, domain names and other Internet services. Ting (ting.com) delivers mobile phone service and fixed Internet access with outstanding customer support. OpenSRS (opensrs.com) and Enom (enom.com) manage a combined 29 million domain names and millions of value-added services through a global reseller network of over 40,000 web hosts and ISPs. Hover (hover.com) makes it easy for individuals and small businesses to manage their domain names and email addresses. More information can be found on Tucows’ corporate website (tucows.com)."

Tweets by enom

How will the GDPR's right to erasure affect your #business? Get some insight: https://t.co/Epx0ZWEb9C #GDPR #DomainReseller #WebHosting

— OpenSRS (@OpenSRS) February 1, 2018

There are many factors at play when choosing the next Ting Internet town. Learn more: https://t.co/uRothPvx4V #fiberinternet #tingask pic.twitter.com/GXVfNs7HsT

— Ting (@tingFTW) February 12, 2018

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Verisign $VRSN Q4 2017 Results, LIVE Webcast Feb 8 Replay

$VRSN up 32% YOY as of Feb 7, 2018

Verisign Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Financial Results:

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) (domain: verisign.com), registry operator for .COM and .NET top-level domains, and an internet security services provider, held its earnings call for the fourth quarter and full year 2017 on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, at 4:30 p.m. (EST).

NASDAQ: VRSN - Feb 8, 4:13 PM EST
105.62USD Price decrease $3.49 (3.20%)

Q4 2017 Verisign Earnings Webcast (Listen to the Replay)

VeriSign's (VRSN) CEO Jim Bidzos on Q4 2017 Results - Earnings Call Transcript | SeekingAlpha.com

Earnings Presentation (pdf) (graphic excerpt below)

Earnings Results Fourth Quarter GAAP Financial Results VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries (“Verisign”) reported revenue of $296 million for the fourth quarter of 2017, up 3.2 percent from the same quarter in 2016. Verisign reported net income of $103 million and diluted earnings per share (diluted “EPS”) of $0.83 for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to net income of $106 million and diluted EPS of $0.84 for the same quarter in 2016. The operating margin was 59.7 percent for the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to 59.0 percent for the same quarter in 2016.

Verisign ended the fourth quarter with 146.4 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 2.9 percent increase from the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, and a net increase of 0.57 million during the fourth quarter of 2017. • In the fourth quarter, Verisign processed 9.0 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 8.8 million for the same quarter in 2016. • The final .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2017 was 74.4 percent compared with 73.0 percent for the same quarter in 2016. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter. Estimate 72.2% renewal rate for Q4 2017.

Editor's note: .NET is continuing its decline in registrations (losing 500,000 registrations QoQ to end at 14.5 million end of Q4), but more than offset by gains in .COM registrations (131.9 million at end of Q4, up from 130.8 Million at the end of Q3). No 2018 guidance based upon .WEB and whether it will even launch in 2018 (timing is dependent on ICANN). No news whether NTIA will extend the Cooperative Agreement (with reference to .COM) beyond Nov 30, 2018.

See also Verisign's SEC filings.

Quarterly VRSN Convertible Debenture Dilution Q4- 2017

The Top 20 Tech Companies by Revenue Per Employee:

Courtesy of: VisualCapitalist.com August 23, 2017

Rank--Company--Revenue per employee:

#1 Apple $1,859,000
#2 Facebook $1,621,000
#3 Alphabet $1,253,000
#4 VeriSign $1,154,000
#5 Visa $1,062,000
#6 Mastercard $906,000
#7 Broadcom $843,000
#8 Lam Research $785,000
#9 Qualcomm $772,000
#10 Microsoft $748,000

About Verisign:
Verisign ensures the security, stability and resiliency of key internet infrastructure and services, including .com and .net domains and two of the internet's root servers, as well as performs the root zone maintainer function for the core of the internet's Domain Name System (DNS). Verisign's Security Services include Distributed Denial of Service Protection and Managed DNS. (source: Verisign.com).

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Twitter $TWTR Q4 2017 Financial Results & LIVE Webcast Feb 8 Replay

$TWTR up 44% YOY as of Feb 7, 2018

Twitter | NYSE: TWTR Q4 2017 Financial Results, LIVE Webcast, Feb 8, 8:00am ET

Twitter Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call  REPLAY: Listen to webcast

UPDATE Feb 8, 2018--Results: Twitter Q4: first ever profit of $91.1M, revenue of $731.6M, up 2% YoY, vs. $686.4M est.; MAUs up 4% YoY but flat QoQ at 330M vs. 333M est.; stock up 19% 11:10am ET.

• Q4' 2017 Shareholder Letter

• Slide Presentation (excerpt below)

• Selected Company Metrics and Financials

• Earnings Press Release

Twitter, Inc. released financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017 on February 8, 2018, before the market open at approximately 4:00 a.m. Pacific Time (7:00 a.m. Eastern Time). Twitter hosted a conference call to discuss these financial results at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time (8:00 a.m. Eastern Time). The company follows the conversation about the earnings announcement on Twitter. To have questions considered during the Q&A, Tweet your question to @TwitterIR using #TWTR. To listen to a live audio webcast, please visit the company’s Investor Relations page at investor.twitterinc.com. Twitter has used, and intends to continue to use, its Investor Relations website and the Twitter accounts of @jack, @twitter and @TwitterIR as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.--investor.twitterinc.com (press release)

See also: Beware Twitter's Failing Revenue Growth, Look Deeper Into User Numbers | SeekingAlpha.com.

Tweets by TwitterIR

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DISCLAIMER

Tesla, Inc. $TSLA Q4 2017 Results, LIVE Webcast, Feb 7, 5:30pm ET

Tesla Enters Securities With a Boom

Bloomberg.com video above published Feb 1, 2018: Bloomberg's Alastair Marsh discusses Tesla slashing yields on new bonds as buyers can't seem to get enough. He speaks on "Bloomberg Surveillance."

Starman in his Tesla in Outer Space Feb 6, 2018

See on Domain Mondo: Falcon Heavy Launch LIVE Video Stream, Tuesday, Feb 6

Tesla Is Bringing Its Solar Tech to Home Depot

Fortune Magazine video above published Feb 2, 2018: Tesla is rolling out its own kiosks in 800 Home Depot stores that will sell solar panels and powerwalls.

Tesla, Inc. Fourth Quarter 2017 Financial Results Q&A Conference Call Webcast | Tesla Motors | ir.tesla.com: Feb 7, 2018, 5:30 PM ET (click link above or below to go to webcast)

Listen to webcast

Q4'17 Update Letter (pdf) excerpt below:Results: Tesla Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2017 Update

• Record Model S and Model X deliveries in Q4 2017 
• Cash balance of $3.4B entering Q1 2018 
• 2017 revenue of $11.8B, up 55% y-o-y from organic growth 
• 2018 revenue growth expected to significantly exceed 2017 growth 
• Continuing to target Model 3 production rate of 5,000/wk by Q2 end

Stock exchange: symbol  |  NASDAQ: TSLA
Market summary Feb 7, 4:39 PM EST  345.00USD Price increase $11.03 (+3.30%)
After-hours: 347.03  Price increase  +0.59%

As of Feb 6, 2018, TSLA up 30% YOY

See also:

• TESLA (NASDAQ:TSLA), Follow the Narrative?--"... why Tesla has succeeded. It hasn't been because the company is profitable and it hasn't been because the company is generating cash ... It is because the company has put forth a sexy looking vehicle and a narrative of eventually selling enough vehicles to become profitable. The company, and its founder, have put on a show."--SeekingAlpha.com

• Tesla's unfettered ambition will drain finances: analysts | reuters.com

Tesla, Inc. is a U.S.-based company specializing in electric automotives a/k/a electric vehicles (EV), energy storage and solar panel manufacturing based in Palo Alto, California.

• Latest models: 2018 Tesla Model S, 2017 Tesla Model 3, 2018 Tesla Model X
• Founded: July 2003, San Carlos, CA
• CEO: Elon Musk
• Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA
• Founders: Elon Musk, Martin Eberhard, Ian Wright, JB Straubel, Marc Tarpenning
• Subsidiaries: SolarCity, Tesla Advanced Automation Germany, MORE

Tweets by Tesla

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Facebook $FB Q4 2017 Earnings LIVE Webcast, Jan 31, 5pm ET

$FB up 44% YOY

Facebook | NASDAQ: FB Q4 2017 earnings conference call and LIVE webcast: Jan 31, 5:00pm ET

• Webcast

• Earnings Release (pdf)

• Slides (pdf)
• Investor Relations: investor.fb.com
• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
• Principal domain: facebook.com
• Number of employees: 23,165 (September 30, 2017)
• Subsidiaries: Onavo, Oculus VR, Atlas Solutions, WhatsApp Inc., more

From the earnings release:

Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.21 on revenue of $12.97 billion. vs. analysts' estimates of EPS of $1.95 on revenue of $12.55 billion.. Monthly active users (MAUs) of Facebook rose 14 percent to 2.13 billion, and average revenue per user (ARPU) came in at $6.18, exceeding consensus  estimate of $5.90.

• Monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 2.13 billion as of December 31, 2017, an increase of 14% year-over-year.
• Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 89% of advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2017, up from approximately 84% of advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Facebook with its Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram, owns four of the world’s largest social media / messaging services. Facebook alone is used by more than 2 billion people per month and both WhatsApp and Messenger also passed the billion-user milestone in 2016.
source: Statista.com

See also:

• Facebook's Aggressive Moves on Startups Threaten Innovation | WIRED.com: Will Facebook Kill All Future Facebooks?
• Facebook braces for new E.U. privacy law--WashingtonPost.com: General Data Protection Regulation commonly referred to as GDPR.

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Tech Review | Is Google Done? 'Can No Longer Innovate' Says Ex-Googler

Tech Review (TR 2018-01-27)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Is Google Done? 'Can No Longer Innovate' Says Ex-Googler, 2) Big Tech vs. Antitrust & Unfair Competition Laws, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1)  Is Google Done? Google 'Can No Longer Innovate' Says Ex-Googler (Former Engineer)

Error message on Jan 25, 2018, to users of Google's Blogger platform worldwide 

Engineer Steve Yegge leaves Google after 13 years, saying Google has lost its way due to risk aversion, politics, arrogance, and a focus on competitors over customers--Why I left Google to join Grab – Steve Yegge | Medium.com: "The main reason I left Google is that they can no longer innovate. They’ve pretty much lost that ability. I believe there are several contributing factors, of which I’ll list four here. First, they’re conservative ... Gatekeeping and risk aversion at Google are the norm rather the exception. Second, they are mired in politics ... Third, Google is arrogant ... the company strategy is a mess ... But fourth, last, and probably worst of all, Google has become 100% competitor-focused rather than customer focused ...." (Read more at the link above. The post is insider confirmation of what most of us had already sensed or experienced about Google in recent years.)

Alphabet Inc. (Google) $GOOG $GOOGL. Q4 2017 results will be released Feb 1, 2018, after market close.

2) Big Tech vs. Antitrust & Unfair Competition Laws

EU Fines Qualcomm, Are Facebook and Amazon Next?

EU fines Qualcomm €997M for abusing market dominance, says $QCOM paid Apple to buy LTE baseband chipsets from Qualcomm exclusively; Qualcomm appeals.

.@Qualcomm to pay fine of €997 mio. They illegally shut out rivals from market of LTE baseband chipsets for over 5 years. Misuse of dominant position. Don’t.

— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) January 24, 2018

See also HQ2 Much - Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) | SeekingAlpha.com by Scott Galloway: "I'm announcing a contest to decide which big tech firm should be broken up first. The finalists are Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Amazon [NASDAQ: AMZN], who both prioritize shareholders over the condition of our souls, or the country's prosperity."

3) Investing

The Week: Major U.S. stock indexes close at records as economy remains in growth mode | MarketWatch.com

Melt-Up? "Well, if there is such a thing as a "melt-up" then I suppose $58 billion in inflows over four weeks counts. One fund manager who spoke to Bloomberg this week described the mood over the past month as "totally insane" ..."--SeekingAlpha.com

Editor's note: The U.S. economy, stimulated by Trump's tax reforms, deregulation, and emphasis on U.S. domestic investment, could, in sum, easily handle an increase in Fed rates of 200 basis points or more. Ray Dalio says this "short-term stimulus" is producing a “12-to-18-month spurt, ... [during which] people feel stupid about holding cash," but instead, could we be looking at a 18-36 month "sprint"? Remember, Draghi and the ECB are dragging their heels, so that puts a brake on how fast the Fed will tighten, and at the same time, Draghi is scared of Mnuchin's cheap dollar. Read Steven Mnuchin vs. Mario Draghi: The ECB Loses | WSJ.com.

Why Didn't The Market React To The Government Shutdown Threat? | SeekingAlpha.com: "going to take more than yet another example of legislative ineptitude to do any lasting damage to this rally."

Investing Notes:

• Another Good Year Ahead | Blackstone.com: "In my view, we have at least a year or two before the next major downturn in either the market or the economy, barring a major geopolitical conflict ... A 10%+ correction could occur at any time because sentiment is so optimistic, but the signals that usually warn of a recession, like a loss of economic momentum or an inverted yield curve, are not in place."--Byron Wien
• U.S. government forecasts U.S. oil production will climb to 11 million barrels a day by late 2019, rivaling Russia, the world’s top producer.
• How to Fix the Euro Zone Without Setting Off Alarms | Bloomberg.com

• Senate Confirms Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chairman | WSJ.com: confirmed by a 84-13 vote, new Chairman's term effective when Janet Yellen's 4-year term expires Feb 3, 2018.
• Central Banks: From Coordination to Competition | charleshughsmith.blogspot.com

• Immigration in the Trump Era: Senator Hatch's bill would dramatically increase H-1B visas | TheHill.com: "the bill would make sure that holders of U.S. master’s degrees or higher, foreign Ph.D.’s and U.S. STEM bachelor degrees are prioritized ..."

• “Blockchain” Stocks Collapse by 40% to 90% | WolfStreet.com.

Q4 2017 Earnings Season on DomainMondo.com

• Facebook | NASDAQ: FB Jan 31, 5:00pm ET

• Alphabet | NASDAQ: GOOG / NASDAQ: GOOGL Feb 1, 4:30pm

• Apple | NASDAQ: AAPL Feb 1, 5:00pm ET

• Amazon | NASDAQ: AMZN Feb 1, 5:30pm ET

• Twitter | NYSE: TWTR Feb 8, 8:00am ET

• Verisign | NASDAQ: VRSN  Feb 8, 4:30pm ET

• GoDaddy | NYSE: GDDY Feb 22, 2018 5:00pm ET

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• Easy Come, Easy Go?  Apple discontinuing iPhone X in 2018?--mashable.com. See also:"disinterest in China is the main reason"--forbes.com

• What If Children Should Be Spending More Time With Screens? | WSJ.com: "New guidance on children and technology makes the distinction between passive exposure and active play and learning with screens"

• Coming soon: 3 Mega Video Platforms: Disney vs Netflix vs Amazon? But what about Google Play/YouTube and Apple?

• Whoops! Intel tells users to stop deploying buggy Spectre patch--TheVerge.com

• Leaving Windows: How the Pixelbook replaced my Surface Pro 4, no regrets | ZDNet.com: "I went all in with a Chromebook."

• Security fears spark [U.S.] crackdown on Chinese tech | TheHill.com

• Google and Coursera launch program to train more IT support specialists | TechCrunch.com

• India puts up tariffs on Chinese solar panels | Financial Times | YouTube.com (video)

• GE Requiem? General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) | SeekingAlpha.com 

• Help Me Mama! Deutsche Telekom Calls on Merkel to Counter U.S., China Tech Threats | Bloomberg.com

• China’s JD.com Prepares to Take on Amazon on Its Home Turf | Bloomberg.com: JD.com is in talks to sell 15% of its logistics unit to Tencent, others, as it prepares to launch in Los Angeles in 2018.

• China: Ken Rogoff Warns "China Will Be At The Center Of The Next Global Financial Crisis" | ZeroHedge.com: "China is probably the place most at risk of having a significant downturn in the near term. It’s certainly the leading candidate for being at the center of the next big financial crisis."

Crypto Watch:

• Scammers getting rich using social media, scam news sites, and private pump and dump group chats to spread false information about cryptocurrencies--buzzfeed.com

• Stripe ends support for bitcoin payments April 23, citing volatility and long transaction times. Bitcoin had been supported since 2014--TechCrunch.com.

From the Reuters.com feed:

• More than 10 percent of $3.7 billion raised in ICOs has been stolen: Ernst & Young

• Top Swiss cryptocurrency lawyer questions 'stupid' ICO structure

• Amazon Go: Amazon's automated grocery store of the future

• Qualcomm signs $2 billion sales MOUs with Lenovo, Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO

• FTC makes second request on Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm: anti-competitive merger?

• Exclusive: U.S. sanctions curb Microsoft sales to hundreds of Russian firms

• SAP, Symantec, McAfee let Russia probe software widely used by U.S. government

• AT&T urges Congress to rewrite net neutrality rules

One Last Thing: 

The End of Blogs? "In 2015, Grantland, an ESPN venture with bloggy intimacy, was shuttered. In 2016, the indie women’s blog the Toast folded for lack of a financial future ... the beloved, uncategorizable blog TheAwl.com announced that it, along with its sister site, TheHairpin.com, would cease operations at the end of the month"--The New Yorker

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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News Review | Reply Brief: Ruby Glen vs ICANN (new gTLD .WEB)

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-01-07) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) Reply Brief: Ruby Glen (Donuts affiliate) vs ICANN,  2) ICANN news: GDPR, Gravy Train, Org Chart, CCT-RT, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Verisign $VRSN Q4 2017, UDRP, New gTLDs, 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News, 5) Most Read Posts.

1) Ruby Glen, LLC [Donuts affiliate] v. ICANN [re: new gTLD .WEB]

Plaintiff's Reply Appellate Brief [PDF, 387 KB] 20 December 2017, full embed below, excerpt (at pp. 31-32 of 34) emphasis added:

"Ruby Glen submits that despite the district court’s prior denial of its motion for limited discovery ... it has discovered additional facts to bolster the claims asserted in the FAC [first amended complaint]. Ruby Glen also has grounds to assert a direct claim for fraudulent inducement by alleging facts demonstrating that ICANN falsely indicating that it would abide by its Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation, as well as the provisions contained in the Guidebook and New gTLD Program Auction Rules in administering the .WEB auction in an effort to fraudulently induce Ruby Glen to submit its application. A similar claim survived summary judgment in the DCA [new gTLD .AFRICA] matter ... See DotConnect Africa Trust v. Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers ... Ruby Glen deserves the same opportunity .... For the foregoing reasons and those contained in its Opening Brief, Ruby Glen respectfully requests that this Court reverse the district court’s order dismissing Ruby Glen’s First Amended Complaint ... and allow this matter to proceed on the merits." 

Editor's note: briefing is now complete, the next step is oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which should occur later this year.

More info:

• New gTLD .WEB Appeal by Ruby Glen (Donuts), ICANN's Answering Brief | DomainMondo.com (Nov 8)

• Plaintiff's Opening Appellate Brief [PDF, 370 KB] 30 August 2017

• Ruby Glen, LLC v. ICANN | ICANN.org (current appeal of the District Court Order dismissing Ruby Glen's lawsuit, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit)
• Ruby Glen, LLC v. ICANN | ICANN.org (lawsuit filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California and dismissed by the District Court)
• DotConnectAfrica Trust v. ICANN | ICANN.org (dismissed appeal in United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit)
• DotConnectAfrica Trust v. ICANN | ICANN.org (lawsuit now pending in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, Central District)
• News Review Aug 20: Last Round of ICANN New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation? | DomainMondo.com

Reply Brief embedded in full below:

2) ICANN news

a) GDPR: ICYMI--Letter from Andrew Mack, Chair of ICANN Business Constituency to ICANN CEO Göran Marby | ICANN.org 08 Dec 2017:

• Issue: ICANN Compliance for WHOIS and GDPR. Excerpt mack-to-marby-08dec17-en.pdf (emphasis added): "... During the ICANN60 meetings you read a statement that ICANN Contractual Compliance would be deferring action against any registry or registrar for noncompliance with contractual obligations related to the handling of registration data. ICANN Org subsequently posted the Statement from Contractual Compliance (the “Statement”) We are concerned that this unilateral action makes no reference to ICANN’s published Revised ICANN Procedure For Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law (the “Procedure”) that implements the applicable consensus policy (Policy) in this situation. While some overtones of the Procedure are present in the Statement, the lack of transparency, community involvement, and process for comment and discussion, among many other procedural safeguards of the Procedure, are missing. Missing too are the basic principles of transparency applicable to ICANN operations ..."

See also: Data Protection and Privacy (GDPR) Update – Plans for the New Year | ICANN.org: "submit your feedback before 10 January 2018 ... Email your comments and suggestions to gdpr @ icann.org." (more info at links above and below)

We want your feedback on the layered access data protection/privacy approach described in Part 3 of the Hamilton legal analysis. Read my #ICANN blog for more info: https://t.co/wvwyFKfwTg Visit the data protection/privacy page available here: https://t.co/Kelc3D6uUV

— ICANN President (@icann_president) January 3, 2018

The latest GDPR legal analysis for ICANN gets the purpose issue fundamentally wrong: the purpose of Whois cannot be equated with a grab-bag of functions that people currently use it for. https://t.co/WeuCPW9woC
#whois #GDPR

— IGP Alert (@IGPAlert) January 4, 2018

b) ICANN Gravy Train: if you're not getting your "travel expenses" paid (hotel, airfare, etc., including even a per diem) to go to ICANN meetings (and parties), you're a chump--ICANN tries to bury and hide who is being "paid off" but the travel $$$ reports (except for ICANN Directors, officers and staff) are here: Travel Report - Constituency Travel  (though you will have to download and then open each report--good luck if you only have mobile phone web access). For commentary and a ranking of the ten biggest "moochers" go to  @EyeOnICANN:

In 1st place with $27,396 in 2017 #ICANN travel spending is elite Mideast airline flyer and superfan of the foot foto, Cheryl Langdon-Orr. An increase of over $10,000 year over year. https://t.co/nZW8mUgqho

— Eye On ICANN (@EyeOnICANN) January 3, 2018

ICANN spends untold $$ millions for each of its meetings (3 per year). For an example of ICANN's wasteful spending:  ICANN a Steward? LOL! This Is How ICANN Wastes Registrants' Money | DomainMondo.com.

c) Overstaffed & Overpaid: ICANN Management Organization Chart 01 Jan 2018 (pdf) [131 KB]

d) CCT Review Team (CCT-RT):  Public Comment Period Extended until Monday 15 January 23:59 UTC – New Sections to Draft Report of Recommendations | ICANN.org: "... The new sections seek to reflect results from the "Statistical Analysis of DNS Abuse in gTLDs" Report (see here for more information), and address costs of the New gTLD Program for trademark holders, based on the results from a survey conducted by the International Trademark Association (INTA) (see here [PDF, 1.4 MB] for more information). In addition, the CCT Review Team requests feedback on updates made to its parking and consumer choice related sections ..."

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

• Verisign $VRSN Q4 and full year 2017 earnings call on 8 Feb 2018, 4:30 p.m. EST. 

• The Emergence of Consensus in the UDRP | IPLegalCorner.com: "some panelists continue to act as though there were no consensus which has a negative effect on “the overall credibility of the UDRP system.”"

• The UDRP and Judicial Review | circleid.com: "The unwillingness of U.K. courts to review UDRP decisions is a serious problem for domain name registrants."

• 2018 finds New gTLDs below the 20 million domain name registration mark | OnlineDomain.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

• Censorship by Google, Twitter, Facebook, et al: US regulator says Silicon Valley is threat to internet | yahoo.com: "These providers routinely block or discriminate against content they don't like."
• 2018 prediction: The endangered hyperlink | ZDNet.com: "criminal organizations and secret foreign government agencies step up attacks on Domain Name System (DNS) servers to hijack traffic, inject spyware into corporate networks and dupe consumers into exposing private financial data."
• UK may use taxes to get tech giants to do more to fight extremism, minister says | Reuters.com: "tech giants like Google and Facebook"  

5) Most read posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

1. News Review | 12 Questions for 2018: Domains, ISOC, Internet, ICANN

2. Starbucks $SBUX Makes A Super-Sized Bet On China (video)

3. Blackstone's Byron Wien's 10 Surprises for 2018 (video)  

4. Sam Zell: The Importance of Lowering the Corporate Tax Rate (video)

5. Tech Review | The Big Issues Affecting Tech and Global Economy 2018

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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