New gTLD

Rick Schwartz has been tweeting regularly for a few months, often taking aim at the new gTLD program. This morning, he posted what some might say is a provocative tweet declaring “There’s a COLLAPSE coming the likes of which wet eared domainers have never seen b4“. Here’s the tweet Rick posted:

There's a COLLAPSE coming the likes of which wet eared domainers have never seen b4. It's INEVITABLE!! Already in progress!! #Domains #GTLD

— Rick Schwartz (@DomainKing) June 6, 2017

Based on the #gtld hashtag, I presume Rick is predicting there will be a collapse in the number of new gTLD domain names registered. According to nTLDStats.com, there are just under 27 million new gTLD domain names registered, down from a peak of just below 29.5 million.

The “Domain King” has not been shy about sharing his opinions, and

I don’t think it is a secret that Rick “Domain King” Schwartz doesn’t really like the new gTLD program, nor is it a secret that he owns some new gTLD domain names. This morning on Twitter, Rick announced that he intends to drop his premium new gTLD domain names (or at least that is how I interpreted the tweet below). I presume Rick is referring to the new gTLD domain names that do not have a standard renewal fee.

I plan 2 drop ALL my premium .whatevers in 2017. Ones I paid TENS of thousands of $$ for. $500k loss. Tax benefit. is ONLY value. #Domains

— Rick Schwartz (@DomainKing) May 20, 2017

I don’t know Rick’s plans for his non-premium new gTLD domain names that have a standard renewal fee. I also don’t know how many of these “premium” domain names he currently owns. It would be interesting to know how many of these names Rick owns. Based on the tweet, it looks like Rick spent around half a million dollars to buy and renew these domain names. It will be also interesting to follow these drops to see if any of the registries opt to make these drops non-premium for future buyers and/or if others pick up his drops.

I have been contemplating what to do with two of my premium renewal new gTLD domain names – n.Holdings and n.Ventures. If anyone wants to purchase them, I would be happy to work out a fair price and I will donate all proceeds to my Pan-Mass Challenge ride.