2017-10-31

SoftBank Reportedly Ends Sprint $S & T-Mobile $TMUS Merger Talks

UPDATE Nov 4, 2017: Sprint and T-Mobile call off merger after months of talks | reuters.com.

 SoftBank (majority owner of Sprint) reportedly ended talks to merge Sprint (domain: sprint.com) with T-Mobile (domain: t-mobile.com) because of a dispute over control. T-Mobile's German parent, Deutsche Telecom, insisted on a controlling stake in the merged company--"SoftBank's board discussed at a meeting Friday that the company [Softbank] would not give up control. The decision was made Monday to call the talks off."--asia.nikkei.com.

DomainMondo.com Editor's note: This was easily foreseen and should have been a deal-killer from the very beginning, or before talks even began, since Deutsche Telekom (majority owner of T-Mobile US, Inc.), had always insisted on maintaining a controlling stake in the merged enterprise. SoftBank essentially bought a "pig in a poke" when it entered into the 2013 merger transaction that gave it controlling interest in U.S. fourth-place wireless carrier Sprint.

SoftBank Said to Halt Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Talks

Bloomberg.com video above published Oct 30, 2017: SoftBank's talks to merge Sprint with T-Mobile have hit a serious snag, according to people familiar with the matter, throwing the deal into jeopardy after months of talks. Bloomberg Intelligence's John Butler reports on "Bloomberg Markets."

Shares in both T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) and Sprint (NYSE: S) were down Monday on the news:
T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS)
Sprint (NYSE: S)
Infographic: App Data Usage Varies Hugely By Provider | Statista source: Statista.com

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2017-10-30

Digital Winners: Nvidia $NVDA & Halloween; Loser: Sheryl Sandberg (video)

Stranger Scotts

L2inc.com video above published Oct 26, 2017: Scott Galloway presents his latest take on digital "winners and losers"--

Winner: Nvidia, the company has released the first chip powerful enough to be used in the production of autonomous cars, sending its stock shooting up and proving that boring is sexy.
$NVDA shares up almost 184% over the past 12 months as of Oct 27, 2017
Loser: Sheryl Sandberg, who is fast becoming the information age's Sean Spicer by lying on behalf of her boss.

Winner: Halloween, on which Americans will spend $9 billion. 

sources:
(0:19) “NVIDIA Just Unveiled A Chip To Power Fully Self-Driving Trucks And Robot Taxis,” Business Insider, October 2017. 
(0:29) “NVIDIA Just Unveiled A Chip To Power Fully Self-Driving Trucks And Robot Taxis,” Business Insider, October 2017. 
(0:38) “Cray-1: The Super Computer,” Gizmodo, July 2009. 
(0:47) Yahoo Finance. 
(1:27) “News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017,” Pew Research Center, September 2017.
(1:34) “Chart: Here’s How 5 Tech Giants Make Their Billions,” Visual Capitalist, May 2017. 
(1:46) “The 2017 Halloween Shopper,” National Retail Federation, September 2017. 
(1:46) “U.S. and World Population Clock,” United States Census Bureau, October 2017. 
(1:57) “Halloween Spending Statistics, Facts and Trends,” The Balance, October 2017. 
(1:57) “2017: Holiday Sales Expected To Grow Between 3.6 And 4 Percent,” National Retail Federation, October 2017.
(2:06) “The 2017 Halloween Shopper,” National Retail Federation, September 2017.

Transcript (auto-generated via YouTube.com):
00:00  a winner nvidia by the way my brand
00:04  strategy course I claim with confidence
00:07  that you can't build a successful
00:07  company without having a successful name
00:10  and this is proof that I am wrong the
00:12  company that builds processors and chips
00:14  for gaming and 3d graphics has released
00:17  the first chip powerful enough to be
00:19  used in the production of autonomous
00:21  cars processing power is one of the main
00:23  obstacles to mass production of
00:25  self-driving cars this new chip can
00:28  process 320 trillion operations per
00:32  second more than 10 times its
00:34  predecessors power by comparison the
00:36  cray-1 supercomputer used to render
00:39  graphics for the movie Tron did 160
00:42  million operations per second the
00:44  company's stock is soared a hundred and
00:46  seventy percent the past year boring a
00:49  sexy it's not about creating the first
00:51  self-driving car it's about creating the
00:53  chip or operating system that powers it
00:55  it's not about the minors it's about
00:57  selling them picks a loser Sheryl
01:00  Sandberg who is fast becoming the
01:01  Information Age Sean Spicer thrashing
01:04  her own credibility by lying on behalf
01:06  of her boss miss Sandberg and says
01:08  Facebook is not a media company earlier
01:11  this month she stated at our heart we
01:13  are a tech company we don't hire
01:16  journalists and last August Facebook is
01:19  focused on making tools it's not a media
01:21  company when your tools and technology
01:24  determined which new stories are seen by
01:26  45% of Americans who get their news from
01:28  your platform and more than 97% of your
01:32  revenues come from advertising against
01:34  those news stories boom you're a media
01:37  company here's a deal miss Sandberg will
01:39  lean in if you stop lying to us a winner
01:43  Halloween one in two Americans will
01:45  partake in Halloween's festivities this
01:47  year spending an estimated nine billion
01:50  dollars up 8% over 2016 while that pales
01:54  in comparison to Black Friday and
01:55  Christmas bending it's still impressive
01:58  given the consumers are throwing down
02:00  2.7 billion for nearly 600 million
02:03  pounds of candy and 3.4 billion for
02:06  costumes
02:12  banana Wonder Woman yo float - yo float
02:21  - yo float - what am I gonna be this
02:28  year the same thing I am every year
02:31  drunk we'll see you next week
02:34  [Music]

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2017-10-29

News Review | ICANN60, Abu Dhabi, ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Work

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-10-29) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN60, Abu Dhabi, ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Work, 2)Other ICANN news: a. WS2 Plenary re ICANN Jurisdiction, ... e.Will Puerto Rico Be Ready for ICANN61, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Verisign $VRSN Q3 2017 results,  Blockchain & Domains, ccTLD .AU, 4) ICYMI: Apple, China and Internet Censorship, 5) Most Read Posts.

1)  ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi | Annual General Meeting 28 Oct - 3 Nov 2017
graphic: ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi ©2017 DomainMondo.com

 ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi meeting schedule--mobile: https://schedule.icann.org/mobile/#page:page-schedule--highlighted sessions (times shown are local Abu Dhabi unless otherwise indicated):
  • Sunday, Oct 29, 13:30 - 14:00 GAC Meeting with Amazon.com "The GAC will be meeting with the Amazon Company in order to discuss the Independent Review Process (IRP)"
  • Tuesday, October 31 • 12:15 - 13:15 Internet Governance Public Forum "This Public Session will explore and discuss the global Internet Governance agenda making reference to the outcome of the ITU WTDC and looking forward to the 2017 IGF and GCCS conference. It will also consider trends in the Internet Governance Ecosystem post the IANA Transition."
  • Wednesday, Nov 1, 14:00 - 15:00  ICANN GDD: Update on ICANN Domain Name Registrant Work: "This session will provide the community with an update on the Domain Name Registrant work being carried out by GDD, including how information from registrants' contact with ICANN Global Support Center is used to inform the work, the registrants educational series, as well as engagement with the community."
ICANN60 Oct 28, 2017: ICANN Board Suspends Work of SSR2 Review Team
UPDATES:
Nov. 3: SSR2-RT Face-to-Face meeting in Abu Dhabi (see session link above for more info)

Nov 2: ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi: Joint Meeting: ICANN Board & SSR2 Review Team (closed meeting) Thursday, November 2 • 13:45 - 15:00.

Oct 30: Transcript--ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi--ccNSO/GNSO Joint Council Meeting, Monday, 30 October 2017 12:15 GST (pdf) embed below, highlighting added starting at page 21:

Oct 29: reaction to the Board's letter of October 28 (below) at ICANN60, ranges from shock (SSR2 Mail List) to befuddlement at the ICANN GNSO session today, as apparently no one at ICANN60 knows the specifics (other than the Board and SSAC--and so far neither is talking specifics) which caused the ICANN Board to take this unprecedented and questionable action. A key video replay from an ICANN60 session today has been hidden from the public behind a VPN sign-in which forced this complaint to be filed today.--Update Oct 30: the issue has now been fixed per ICANN Complaints Office, and I reviewed Sunday's Adobe Connect replay of the SSR2 outreach public session, but no information was disclosed relating to the Board's or SSAC's issues with SSR2. Co-Chair Denise Michel told GNSO on Sunday that the SSR2-RT had received no "actionable information" from either the Board or SSAC.

UPDATE via Public Forum #1 Oct 30, 2017:
Steve Delbianco:  "Thank you, Steve Delbianco with the Business Constituency within ICANN … I was troubled this week when the Board under that mandate decided to pause one of the reviews, the SSR2 review, and Rinalia Abdul Rahim [ICANN Board member] today explained that in your obligation to cause a review, you certainly would want to hit pause if you had any reason to believe the review wouldn't happen according to the bylaws.  And I appreciate a heads-up, if that's the case. But my question for you is: having hit pause, does the community need to come back to the board to hit the play button, to hit the resume button again?  Or can we exercise the authority I think the bylaws give us to pay attention to your heads-up, your alert, but it's up to us to resolve any considerations with respect to the scope, composition, or structure and it's up to you in the ACs and SOs to determine we're going to go ahead and resume or hit the play button after you hit the pause button?  So I'd love to hear your answer on this so we can get past this and move on.  Thank you."
Cherine Chalaby, ICANN Board Vice Chair:  "Steve, thank you very much for the question. The answer is very simple.  It's really the Board is backing the community's hand and it's up to you to resume when you want to resume.  It's not for the board to tell you when.  All we did is we fulfilled our fiduciary responsibility.  We saw something wasn't working well.  We raised it to you.  We asked for a pause.  And you then -- it's up to you to decide when you want to resume and how you want to resume."
Later comment at the Forum from Jonathan Zuck (Innovator's Network): "... following on Steve Delbianco's comment,  I guess I fear that he let the Board off the hook maybe a little too easily in his presentation  and I really want to bring to the surface the notion that the optics of how this all went down with the SSR2 are not good ..."  
Response from Steve Crocker, ICANN Board Chair: "... The current situation is that the issues have been identified, we can spend time here if we want to go into it a little bit more.  We wrote a letter a couple of hours ago laying out more background and so forth, that's intended to be the beginning of a consultation process that the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees are intended to partake in.  The Board does not like -- I can absolutely assure you that we took no relish in this.  We don't view it as a comfortable situation  and we absolutely are not trying to either stop it or control it in detail.  And we have no stake for ourselves for sure in any of the issues and we're not particularly trying to protect the organization, but we do care a lot about the use of the resources, we do care a lot about whether there is a sensible, organized process and that the internal dynamics are effective.  So I'll stop there, unless you want to press further.”
Oct 30 Update: Editor's note: the "letter" identified by Steve Crocker above was published late today (pdf) by ICANN, embed below (highlighting added):


[Editor's note: Like most domain name registrants, I will not be in Abu Dhabi, and like most in North America, I will be fast asleep during most ICANN60 sessions. Next week's News Review will have an ICANN60 recap drawn from various sources, including some of those shown below.]

 ICANN Meeting Media Resources:
ICANN FY17 Audited Financial Statements [PDF, 212 KB]--p.27: "ICANN’s President and CEO, Göran Marby, has an employment agreement with ICANN through May 2021. Pursuant to that employment agreement, Mr. Marby is entitled to an annual base salary of $653,846 and at-risk compensation of up to $196,154 – not to exceed a total of $850,000 annually per year based on the President’s and CEO’s achievement of the established performance goals."
PTI FY17 Audited Financial Statements [PDF, 124 KB].
Payments to ICANN Directors (1 Jul 2016 - 30 Jun 2017) highlighting added:

ICANN60, Abu Dhabi (click on image below to go to Google Map of ICANN60 venue):
وكالة أنباء الإمارات - TRA hosts ICANN’s 60th Public Meeting | wam.ae: "The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, TRA, will host the 60th International Public Meeting, ICANN60, of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, ADNEC, from 28th October to 3rd November 2017." 

 2) Other ICANN news
a. ICANN Jurisdiction: CCWG-Accountability WS2 Plenary, Friday Oct 27, Abu Dhabi | DomainMondo.com: links to recordings, documents, chat, transcripts. The Jurisdiction Subgroup Draft Recommendations passed a successful second reading at the WS2 Plenary on Oct 27, 2017.

b. DNSSEC Root Key Operations and the Infineon Smartcard Bug | ICANN.org: "... we believe that the DNSSEC KSKs are not subject to this vulnerability. However, no system is perfect ..."  (emphasis added) [Editor's Note: comforting words from ICANN?]

c. ICANN Public Comment periods closing in November at  23:59 UTC on closing date indicated (subject to change):

 d. IANA Transition costs through Sep 2017? $33.4 million of which lawyers grabbed $15 million:

 e. ICANN61 | San Juan: Will Puerto Rico be ready by 10-15 Mar 2018? See status.pr and FEMA.gov. 17 Oct 2017: "Over the next several months, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Department of Energy, and private industry will unite to restore emergency power to Puerto Rico’s electric grid, which was heavily damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria. Currently, only 14 percent of Puerto Rico has electricity ...."--FEMA.gov. 

 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
•  Verisign $VRSN Q3 2017 results:
  • Financials: revenue of $292 million for the third quarter of 2017, up 1.7 percent from the same quarter in 2016. Verisign reported net income of $115 million and diluted earnings per share (diluted “EPS”) of $0.93 for the third quarter of 2017, compared to net income of $114 million and diluted EPS of $0.90 for the same quarter in 2016. The operating margin was 61.9 percent for the third quarter of 2017 compared to 60.8 percent for the same quarter in 2016.
  • .COM and .NET: At the end of September, 2017, domain name base registrations in .COM and .NET totaled 145.8 million, consisting of 130.8 million .COM domain name registrations, and 15 million .NET. The .COM and .NET domain name base increased by 1.47 million net names during the third quarter after processing 8.9 million new gross registrations which benefited from continued strength from U.S.-based registrars.
  • Renewal Rate: Verisign projects renewal rate for third quarter of 2017 will be 74.3%.
  • Q4 2017 guidance: Verisign expects increase to the .COM and .NET domain name base during Q4 2017 between 0.4 million to 0.9 million registrations, consistent with a full year 2017 growth rate of 2.8% to 3.1%.
  • New gTLD .WEB update: no new news, although there is activity, the process is ongoing. "We are continuing to cooperate with the Justice Department regarding the CID ..."--James Bidzos, Verisign CEO, October 26, 2017.

•  Blockchain & Domains? Undeveloped.com Oct 20--The Future Of The Domain Industry Lies In Blockchain--"... Domains are currently illiquid assets. We can change that. Anyone will be able to invest in premium domains and entire domain portfolio’s after we introduce fractional domain ownership. This can lead to the inception of the first stock exchange for domains. And that’s just the start ..."

 •  ccTLD .AU: auDA welcomes Federal Government review of .au domain | auda.org.au. The next step is Australia's Department of Communications and the Arts will shortly release a discussion paper seeking input from interested industry and community stakeholders with the review expected to be finalized by early 2018.--Terms of Reference for a review of the .au Domain Administration | Department of Communications and the Arts.

 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
  • Apple, China & Internet Censorship--US Senators Cruz, Leahy Probe Apple’s Stance on Chinese Internet Censorship:"Cruz was a lead opponent of the U.S. government’s 2016 handover of technical internet oversight to a nonprofit—out of concerns that such a move could open the door to online censorship. Cruz had questioned the role of Fadi Chehadé, former CEO of the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in the China-organized World Internet Conference and whether that made ICANN complicit in China’s censorship practices."--BNA.com. See also: Senators press Apple to explain removal of apps in China | TheHill.com.
  • Sky Views: China has won the internet's future | news.sky.com: "... We're edging closer to the Chinese model. Perhaps because we've realised, with the original freewheeling dream of cyberspace gone, there's not much to choose between the Chinese approach and Facebook, Google and the rest. Both models of sovereignty - rule by an authoritarian state or rule by digital platform - rely on surveillance, whether in the service of political control or of free-market capitalism. For a long time, the Chinese approach to the internet appeared to be a relic of a repressive past. These days, depressingly, it looks like the future."
5) Top 4 Most Read Posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: 
     1. News Review (Oct15)| ICANN Pays Senior VP Sally Costerton Secret Contract $$$

     2. News Review (Oct22)| Brazil Opposes Draft Report re: ICANN U.S. Jurisdiction

     3. Q3 2017 Earnings Webcasts Oct 26: $TWTR, $GOOGL, $VRSN, $AMZN


-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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2017-10-28

Tech Review | Apple Struggles To Get iPhone X To Market (video)

Tech Review (TR 2017-10-28)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Apple Struggles To Get iPhone X To Market, 2) iPhone X Notch an Ugly Deception? 3) Investing: a.The Week, b. Netflix $NFLX House of Cards, c. Cryptocurrency "rational to be irrational"   4)ICYMI Tech News.

1) Apple Struggles To Get iPhone X to Market

Bloomberg.com video above published Oct 25, 2017: Bloomberg's Alex Webb reports on Apple's struggle to get the iPhone X to market on time. He speaks with Bloomberg's Sheryh Ahn and Vonnie Quinn on "Bloomberg Markets."

Oct 27, 2017: As pre-orders open, Apple says iPhone X screen replacement will cost $279, compared to $169 for iPhone 8 Plus; other out-of-warranty repairs will cost $549. [Editor's note: "There's a sucker born every minute."]

See also:
Also note Apple's troubles in China:

 2)  iPhone X Notch an Ugly Deception?--iPhone X "entirely screen"?--"It offends me. It's ungainly and unnatural,"  said influential Apple commentator John Gruber of the so-called "notch," adding, "I think Jony Ive either lost a bet or lost his mind. It looks silly, and to pretend otherwise is nonsense." The marketing, however, tries to turn the nonsense into magical truth says CNET.com. You decide:
The iPhone X "notch" | images source: Apple.com
See also: Apple’s iPhone X notch is an odd design choice | TheVerge.com: "adds a black cut-out to every YouTube video." [Editor's Note: iPhone X pre-orders began Oct 27, shipping to begin November 3.] Apple $AAPL reports its FY17 Q4 earnings Nov 2, 2017.

3) Investing
The Bulls Are Still Running on Wall Street - S&P500 index Oct 27, 2017
a. The Week: Q3 2017 earnings exceed estimates and expectations, markets end week higher.

 •  Markets:  CNBC.com: NASDAQ and S&P 500 rip to record close after blowout tech earnings; Amazon tops $1,100; and Stock market hits records as tech rally powers gains | MarketWatch.com.

 •  U.S. Notches Solid 3% Economic Growth, Despite Hurricanes | WSJ.com: "GDP growth strong in the face of storms that temporarily shuttered major population centers in Texas and Florida"--[Editor's Note: the "Trump Economy" continues to defy Wall Street & Beltway pundits' predictions.]
"The U.S. economy posted its best six-month stretch of growth in three years, rebounding quickly from two hurricanes and showing momentum for the final quarter."--Wall Street Journal Oct 27, 2017.
•  US Treasury Rates Hit Nine-Year Highs | WolfStreet.com Oct 22, 2017. Trump will announce his nominee to be next Fed Chair next week.

 •  University of Michigan: consumer sentiment in October was the strongest seen in 13 years.

b. The Netflix $NFLX House of Cards: "Netflix, whose shares went from $9.94 to $192.47 in five years, is on a peculiar and accelerating treadmill: It needs to borrow ever larger amounts just to cover its ever-larger negative cash flows year after year." --What Junk-Rated Netflix just Said about the Bond Market | WolfStreet.com. 

Why can’t Netflix find a self-sustaining business model? Because, like many other high-flying Silicon Valley companies, it doesn’t have to. It can always borrow the money instead of making it. What’s Netflix's secret? Netflix’s stock price. Investors in $NFLX shares are not only subsidizing Netflix subscribers, they also provide a "guarantee" to the bondholders (at least in the minds of the bondholders). Netflix bonds carry little premium for risk of default because the bondholders reason that Netflix can always sell more stock to pay off the bonds--which is true, until the stock crashes, and it can't. Rue the day!

c. Cryptocurrency: A Letter to Jamie Dimon | Chain.com: "Bitcoin is up 5x in a year, Ethereum is up 30x. The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies is ~$175B, up from $12B just a year ago. Why? As in every mania in history, it is currently rational to be irrational ... on almost every dimension, decentralized services [cryptocurrencies] are worse than their centralized counterparts ... slower; They are more expensive; They are less scalable; They have worse user experiences; They have volatile and uncertain governance."  See also: Reuters.com: Backroom battle imperils $230 million cryptocurrency venture; Chaos and hackers stalk investors on cryptocurrency exchanges--Reuters.com; Big money stays away from booming bitcoin--Reuters.com: "too lightly regulated, too volatile and too illiquid."

4) ICYMI Tech News:
  • Amazon offered billions in tax breaks for second U.S. headquarters; Amazon added 159,500 employees in the last quarter,  now has 541,900 employees worldwide after the Whole Foods acquisition, nearly 7 times that of Google and 4 x Microsoft, and is now the second-largest US employer after Walmart. Amazon $AMZN shares soared this week after releasing Q3 2017 earnings. Amazon Key takes deliveries to new level: Inside your home--CNET.com.
  • Google-Cisco cloud deal | CNBC.com: Google still racing to catch Amazon AWS.
  • Snap badly overestimated demand for Spectacles, has hundreds of thousands of unsold units in warehouses, either fully assembled or in parts.--The Information.com.
  • Pay With Google, now lets Android users shop faster by using a debit or credit card setup previously on a Google service such as YouTube. Android 8.1: Oreo's AI future--"Pixel Visual Core and Mate 10 event offer clues about what's next for Android and AI."--AndroidCentral.com
  • Bad Rabbit: Ten things you need to know about the latest ransomware outbreak | ZDNet.com: "4. It spreads via a fake Flash update on compromised websites."
  • U.S. warns public about attacks on energy, industrial firms--Reuters.com
  • Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab has acknowledged its security software took source code for a secret American hacking tool from a personal computer in the United States. [Editor's note: this illustrates another problem with "security software"--a program used for "security" ends up creating a vulnerability--identifying and taking files off a client's computer.]
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2017-10-27

ICANN Jurisdiction: CCWG-Accountability WS2, Friday Oct 27, Abu Dhabi

ICANN CCWG-Accountability-WS2 Plenary of 27 Oct 2017,  09:00am Local Abu Dhabi  Time Convert (05:00 UTC) (1:00am EDT). Location: ​HALL 3​, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (remote observation details below).
Local Time Abu Dhabi 
CCWG WS2 Co-Chairs: Jordan Carter (ccNSO), Thomas Rickert (GNSO), Leon Sanchez (ALAC)

UPDATES (after meeting concluded):
The Jurisdiction Subgroup Draft Recommendations (embed below) passed a successful second reading at the WS2 Plenary on Oct 27, 2017.
•  Recording:

•  Document: Stress Tests for WS2 Jurisdiction

•  Chat: AM SESSION and PM SESSION

•  Transcripts when available will be posted here.

Meeting Web page: ​https://schedule.icann.org/event/CbHn/ccwg-accountability-ws2-face-to-face-plenary-session-icann-60
​ ​
Background: News Review | Brazil Opposes Draft Report re: ICANN U.S. Jurisdiction

Addendum: [Ws2-jurisdiction] [GAC] CCWG plenary. Jurisdiction Subgroup Draft Report - Minority viewpoint Oct 19, 2017: "Russia fully supports Brazil’s proposal. Furthermore, we would like to emphasize that the Subgroup Jurisdiction’s recommendations do not address our expectations for the solution of ICANN jurisdiction challenges and only partly could mitigate some risks but the absence of which makes the whole report unacceptable to us."--Best regards, Yulia Elanskaya Deputy Director of International Cooperation Department Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.

Wiki: WS2 - Enhancing ICANN Accountability Home

Mailing Lists: https://community.icann.org/display/WEIA/WS2+Mailing+List+Archives

 Brazil's Revised Minority Opinion (Dissenting Statement)(pdf) embed below:

Jurisdiction subgroup report (pdf) embed below:

Agenda 27 October 2017 Plenary: slide deck (pdf)

1. 08:30 – 09:00 local (04:30 – 05:00 UTC) Coffee
2. 0900 local (0500 UTC) - Introduction, update to SOIs, reminder on standards of behavior
3. Review of Agenda
4. Administration
4.1. Plenaries dates going forward
4.2. High interest presentation
4.3. ICANN 61
4.4. Review of timeline and status of Reports
5. Legal Committee Update
6. 10:00 local (06:00 UTC) - Update on IRP-IOT
7. 10:30 – 11:00 local (06:30 – 07:00 UTC) Coffee break
8. 11:00 local (7:00 UTC) - Second reading of the final recommendations of the Transparency sub-group

9. 11:30 -12:30 local (07:30 – 08:30 UTC) Jurisdiction - Presentation and discussion of minority opinions and other views - Session 1

 10. 12:30 – 13:30 local (08:30 – 09:30 UTC) Lunch – buffet served in-room

11. 13:30 -14:30 local (09:30 – 10:30 UTC) - Jurisdiction - Presentation and discussion of minority opinions and other views Session - 2

12. 14:30 – 15:00 local (10:30 – 11:00 UTC) – Jurisdiction – second reading of the draft recommendations.

13. 15:00 local (11:00 UTC) AOB
14. 15:00 – 15:30 local (11:00 – 11:30 UTC) – Wrap-up and Co-Chair statement on the meeting.
15. ​Adjournment

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2017-10-26

Q3 2017 Earnings Webcasts Oct 26: $TWTR, $GOOGL, $VRSN, $AMZN

Q3 2017 Earnings Webcasts Oct 26:
This post will be updated after each release of the Q3 2017 results.

********
$GOOG shares up almost 20% YOY as of midday Oct 25, 2017
Alphabet/Google 2017 Q3 Earnings Call

Alphabet Inc. (a/k/a Google NASDAQ: GOOG  NASDAQ: GOOGL) quarterly conference call LIVE webcast (and replay) to discuss third quarter (Q3 2017) financial results on Thursday, October 26, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time). Earnings release prior to the conference call on October 26, 2017, at abc.xyz/investor. See also Alphabet SEC filings.

Q3 2017 earnings release (pdf)--"We had a terrific quarter, with revenues up 24% year on year, reflecting strength across Google and Other Bets," said Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet. "Our momentum is a result of investments over many years in fantastic people, products and partnerships." --excerpt:

*******
$VRSN shares up almost 36% YOY as of midday Oct 25, 2017
Verisign, Inc.(NASDAQ:VRSN) Third Quarter 2017 Financial Results: Q3 2017 earnings news release will be available at approximately 4:05 p.m. (EDT) October 26, at investor.verisign.com.
"... Third Quarter GAAP Financial Results VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries (“Verisign”) reported revenue of $292 million for the third quarter of 2017, up 1.7 percent from the same quarter in 2016. Verisign reported net income of $115 million and diluted earnings per share (diluted “EPS”) of $0.93 for the third quarter of 2017, compared to net income of $114 million and diluted EPS of $0.90 for the same quarter in 2016. The operating margin was 61.9 percent for the third quarter of 2017 compared to 60.8 percent for the same quarter in 2016 .... Business Highlights • Verisign ended the third quarter with 145.8 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 1.2 percent increase from the end of the third quarter of 2016, and a net increase of 1.47 million during the third quarter of 2017. • In the third quarter, Verisign processed 8.9 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, compared to 8.3 million for the same quarter in 2016. • The final .com and .net renewal rate for the second quarter of 2017 was 74.0 percent compared with 73.8 percent for the same quarter in 2016. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter ..."
VeriSign's (VRSN) CEO James Bidzos on Q3 2017 Results - Earnings Call Transcript | SeekingAlpha.com: "... Gross additions [in .COM and.NET registrations] during the quarter benefited from continued strength from US based registrars. Although renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter, we believe that the renewal rate for the third quarter of 2017 will be 74.3%. This preliminary rate compares to 73.0% achieved in the third quarter of 2016. We expected increase to the domain name base during the fourth quarter of between 0.4 million to 0.9 million registrations, which is consistent with the full year 2017 domain name base growth rate of 2.8% to 3.1%. .... The [new gTLD .WEB] update is really the same, there's no new news, although there is activity, the process is ongoing. We are continuing to cooperate with the Justice Department regarding the CID that you asked about. There's an ongoing constructive dialogue. We're producing documents and information. But beyond that there's nothing new to say at this point. Of course, as soon as there is we'll let you know." (link added)
Verisign LIVE webcast of the Q3 2017 earnings call: Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017, at 4:30pm EDT, also accessible by direct dial at (888) 676-VRSN (U.S.) or (323) 701-0225 (international), conference ID: Verisign. Replay will be available at investor.verisign.com/events.cfm.

Verisign is the registry operator of the world's 2 largest gTLDs (generic top-level domains)--.COM and .NET--as well as other TLDs, and also provides internet security services. Verisign operates 2 (A and J) of the world's 13 internet DNS root zone authoritative name servers, and serves as root zone maintainer (RZM) pursuant to a contract with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Verisign's Security Services include Distributed Denial of Service Protection and Managed DNS. More info at Verisign.com. See also Verisign SEC filings, including VeriSign, Inc. - Quarterly Report: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2017 [Legal Proceedings and Risk Factors].

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$AMZN shares up almost 17% YOY as of midday Oct 25, 2017
Amazon | Investor Relations: Q3 2017 Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Earnings Conference Call:
Thursday, October 26, 2017 2:30pm PT / 5:30pm ET  LIVE Webcast Presentation

The audio and associated slides will be available for at least three months at amazon.com/ir.

Amazon Q3 2017 results (pdf) excerpt: "... Net sales increased 34% to $43.7 billion in the third quarter, compared with $32.7 billion in third quarter 2016. Net sales includes $1.3 billion from Whole Foods Market, which Amazon acquired on August 28, 2017. Excluding Whole Foods Market and the $124 million favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 29% compared with third quarter 2016. Operating income decreased 40% to $347 million in the third quarter, compared with operating income of $575 million in third quarter 2016. Operating income includes income of $21 million from Whole Foods Market. Net income was $256 million in the third quarter, or $0.52 per diluted share, compared with net income of $252 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, in third quarter 2016." Conference Call Slides (pdf)

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$TWTR shares down almost 1% YOY as of midday Oct 25, 2017
Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) conference call to discuss Q3 2017 financial results, 5:00 a.m. PT / 8:00 a.m. ET, Oct 26, 2017.
Twitter's Q3 2017 revenue of $589.6M tops estimates; MAUs grew 4% YoY to 330M, DAUs grew 14% YoY;
net loss down to $21.1M; shares rise in early trading Oct 26, 2017
To have your questions considered during the Q&A, Tweet your question to @TwitterIR using #TWTR. . 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. See also Twitter SEC filings and Twitter investor relations: investor.twitterinc.com.


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