Dot Kiwi

Founded:	2012
Country:	New Zealand
Twitter:	@dotKiwiTLD
Key People
Timothy Johnson, CEO Peter Dengate Thrush, Director

Dot Kiwi Ltd is the company behind the proposal for the .kiwi TLD within ICANN's New gTLD Program. Dot Kiwi Ltd. was founded in 2012 by a group of businessmen in New Zealand, and ex-pat New Zealanders based in Canada, whose aim is to create a unique national namespace while also giving back to the country, such as through work rebuilding the city of Christchurch, which was devastated by an earthquake in February 2011. While .kiwi is technically a generic TLD, as it did not need the qualifications to require government support as Geo TLDs do, it is still a widely identified term for the people of New Zealand.

Dot Kiwi Ltd., aims to donate a percentage of the profit that will be generated from selling dot kiwi domain names to a trust fund that will help rebuild the homes and businesses of Christchurch. The trust will be led by former New Zealand High Court judge Sir John Hansen with the help of Michael E Dormer, Brad Doody and Andrew Nuttall who will serve as fellow trustees.

According to Peter Dengate Thrush, former ICANN Chairman and one of the Directors of Dot Kiwi Ltd., the registry operation of the TLD will be outsourced to Minds + Machines. Thrush also serves as Executive Chairman of Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. (TLDH), the parent company of Minds + Machines.

InternetNZ president Frank March said that there is a possibility that his company will also apply for the dot kiwi string. On the other hand, Thrush said that if another organization also applied for the string and unable to reach a compromise agreement to operate the registry, the solution is for ICANN to auction the dot kiwi TLD. According to Thrush, dot kiwi domain names will be sold for $25 each per year.

Top-Level Domain