Chairman Joins Minds + Machines — Former ICANN
Peter Dengate Thrush joins publicly traded firm poised to profit from fresh top level domain names.
That was quick.
Less than a month following pushing through a vote approving the fresh top level domain name program at his last meeting as ICANN Chairman, Peter Dengate Thrush has joined a firm applying for fresh top level domain names.
Dengate Thrush will join Top Level Domain Holdings (parent firm of Minds + Machines) as Executive Chairman.
His compensation package will include options on 15 million shares at 8p per share.
This is certainly a big coup for Top Level Domain Holdings. But it also begs the question regarding why Dengate Thrush pushed through the vote in his last meeting as Chair. It’s highly likely that it was so it would be part of his legacy, but joining a fresh TLD applicant so quickly following the vote will certainly raise eyebrows.
It makes you wonder if ICANN staffers that remain with the non-profit during the fresh TLD gold rush are fools for doing so. Certainly there’s more money on the outside, at least during the application process.
