Minds + Machines Group Limited
 | |
| Type: | Public |
| Industry: | Internet, TLD Consulting |
| Founded: | 2007 |
| Founder(s): | Frederick Krueger Clark Landry |
| Headquarters: | Craigmuir Chambers, Road Town, Tortola |
| Country: | British Virgin Islands |
| Businesses: | Minds + Machines DotEco LLC dotNYC LLC |
| Website: | www.tldh.org |
| Key People | |
| Peter Dengate Thrush, Executive Chairman Antony Van Couvering, CEO/Director | |
Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. (TLDH) is the parent company of Minds + Machines. The company is dedicated to acquiring and operating new gTLDs as well as providing consultancy services and back-end registry solutions for entities interested in operating new gTLDs. The company is publicly traded at AIM under the ticker symbol TLDH.L.[1]
TLDH, originally known as Hecta Media Inc. was established by Frederick Krueger and Clark Landry in 2007. The company went public on November 12, 2007.[2] In 2009, the company changed its name from Hecta Media Inc. to Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. after acquiring Minds + Machines, dotNYC LLC and DotEco LLC in 2009.[3] Following the acquisition, Antony Van Couvering was appointed CEO of the company.[4] On July 2011, former ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush joined the company as Executive Chairman.[5]
During the opening day of the application for ICANN's New gTLD Program on January 12, 2012, TLDH purchased 20 application slots and announced that it was chosen by Dot Kiwi Limited, a New Zealand based company to provide registry solutions for the proposed .kiwi string.[6] On February 21, 2012, the company announced that it will purchase 20 additional application slots for gTLDs.[7]
Most recently, TLDH partnered with LHL TLD Investment Partners of Beverly Hills California (LHL) to apply for the .music TLD with ICANN. Minds + Machines will provide the back-end registry services for .music. LHL is composed of leading music industry personalities including artists, managers, music producers and lawyers.[8]
TLDH through Minds + Machines will also apply for .miami for the city of Miami and [9] .nrw (North Rhine-Westphalia) in behalf of the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, both geographical TLDs respectively.[10]
The company reported that its total number of new gTLD applications submitted to ICANN is 92. Six of the applications were submitted through joint ventures, 18 were submitted for the clients of Minds + Machines and remaining 68 gTLDs were submitted by the company for its own registry operations. A significant number of the gTLDs the company is applying for will be contested including .blog, .eco, .green .site, .immo, .hotel, .home, .casa, .love, .law, .cloud, .baby, .art, .gay, .style and .store. [11]
In-house gTLD applications[edit | edit source]
The 68 applications applied for by the company for its own operations are:[12]
.abogado (Spanish for .lawyer), .app, .art, .baby, .beauty, .beer, .blog, .book, .casa (Spanish for .home), .cloud, .cooking, .country, .coupon, .cpa, .cricket, .data, .dds, .deals, .design, .dog, .eco, .fashion, .fishing, .fit, .flowers, .free, .garden, .gay, .green, .guide, .home, .horse, .hotel, .immo, .inc, .latino, .law, .lawyer, .llc, .love, .luxe, .pizza, .property, .realestate, .restaurant, .review, .rodeo, .roma, .sale, .school, .science, .site, .soccer, .spa, .store, .style, .surf, .tech, .video, .vip, .vodka, .website, .wedding, .work, .yoga, .zulu, .网址 (.site in Chinese), .购物 (.shopping in Chinese).[13]
Management Team[edit | edit source]
- Peter Dengate Thrush, Executive Chairman
- Antony Van Couvering, CEO/Director
- Fred Krueger, Chief Strategy Officer/Deputy Chairman
- David De Jongh Weill, Chief Financila Officer/Director
- Guy Elliot, Chief Investment Officer/Director
- Michael Mendelson, Director
- Clark Landry, Director
ICANN Involvement[edit | edit source]
TLDH top executives particularly Thrush and Couvering are very much involved with the ICANN since the beginnings of the internet governing body.[14]
Thrush is a former Chairman of ICANN and he was responsible in leading the Board of Directors to approve the implementation of the New gTLD Program. However, his immediate decision to join TLDH as Executive Chairman after his term expired on June 2011 raised criticisms from the global internet community particularly ICANN's detractors and to question its' Ethics Policy.[15]
Couvering actively participates in the different activities and meeting of ICANN. During the Senate hearings regarding the implementation of the New gTLD Program, he was one of the representatives of the domain industry who signed the letter sent to Senators John Rockefeller and Kay Bailey Hutchison supporting the program. He and his colleagues reiterated ICANN's position that it is beneficial for the global internet community and it promotes innovation.[16]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ TLDH Website
- ↑ Niche Website are Target for Expansion
- ↑ New Investments; Proposed Board Changes
- ↑ Board Appointment-June 15, 2009
- ↑ Outgoing ICANN Chairman, Peter Dengate Thrush, Joining Minds + Machines as Executive Chairman
- ↑ New gTLD Application Window Opens
- ↑ gTLD Application Update
- ↑ TLDH to apply for .music
- ↑ Minds + Machines chosen for dot MIAMI
- ↑ Minds+Machines GmbH wins dot NRW contract
- ↑ TLDH applies for 92 gTLDs, 68 for itself
- ↑ TLDH applies for 92 gTLDs, 68 for itself
- ↑ Top Level Domain Holdings Becomes Largest New gTLD Applicant To Date Applying For 68 Strings
- ↑ M+M’s parent company, TLDH, appoints Peter Dengate Thrush as Executive Chairman
- ↑ ICANN prez calls out own board over conflicts of interest
- ↑ Letter to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation