new gtlds Afilias bid $135 million in .Web auction as second-place bidder

[Addison]

I previously reported that Alphabet/Google bid $132+ million in the .Web auction as the runner-up with Business In Vancouver (BIV.com) as the source.

Yesterday, Andrew Allemann reported that Afilias bid $135 million for rights to .web domain name:

There has been a lot of chatter after the $135 million .web auction as to who the second place bidder in the auction was. I was skeptical of a report that it was Google. I was under the impression that it must have been Afilias, and that is now confirmed.

Afilias is asking (pdf) ICANN to void Nu Dot Co’s bid backed by Verisign and award the domain name to the second-place bidder. In other words, Afilias.

Were Nu Dot Co’s bid voided and the auction not re-run, [the second-place bidder] would pay somewhere between $57.5 million and $71.9 million for the domain, which was the third place bidder’s bid.​

Allemann is basing this information on Afilias's letter to ICANN:

There is no cure provided in the Guidebook for violations of paragraph 10 of the Terms and Conditions. The only reasonable and fair solution is to disqualify the NDC application and proceed to the next highest bidder in the auction to contract for the string, at the price at which the third highest bidder exited the auction.

In the interest of fairness to the other .WEB auction participants, ICANN should exercise its right under paragraph 1.2.7 and deny NDC’s application.​

I find it presumptuous on Allemann's part to infer that Afilias was the runner-up, because it's also possible that Afilias wants anyone-but-Verisign to take control of the .web domain.

I also can't find any records that support Afilias has enough money in the bank to pay $135 million in cash on a speculative purchase. In 2015, Afilias canceled their $100 million London IPO. It's unlikely that they could afford to pay $135 million in 2016 to become the runner-up of the .Web auction.

Now that we have two media sources reporting different details, who was the actual second-highest bidder? Does anyone know?

 

[DomainNameWire]

I have sources. I think there's a reason that BIV article was edited.

 

[Addison]

Thanks for responding, Andrew.

On your latest podcast at the 9:00-minute mark, Frank Schilling said that ICANN "published [the auction participants] in the order they dropped out in." He said it's possible that he's thinking of a non-ICANN auction, but let's examine his statement as if it were true.

If @Frank.Schilling is correct, then that means the second-place bidder, according to the order, was either:

• Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google Registry)
  
• Schlund Technologies GmbH

I'm sure we can agree that there's a zero-percent chance that it was Schlund Tech, and that leaves Google as the only option for runner-up given this order.

I trust that your sources wouldn't intentionally (assumptions and mistakes happen) steer you in the wrong direction, but Frank is a credible source considering he's participated in these auctions and knows whether there is an order. He says there is.

Outcome: 2-to-1?

It'd be great to get a definitive answer from a concrete source.

 

[Addison]

Donuts is fighting the .Web auction also and wants it re-run or cash, but we don't suspect them as the second-place bidder. And who doesn't love a good mystery?

Google is most plausible and concrete given all the evidence thus far.

 

[Addison]

Afilias confirmed as runner-up in the .Web auction!

General Counsel of Afilias, Scott Hemphill, says

In these circumstances, we submit that ICANN should disqualify NDC’s bid and offer to accept the application of Afilias, which placed the second highest exit bid.