Beginning to see the effects of the .uk giveaway...

[Edwin]

September's figures will be the real tell-tale, but the effects of the .uk giveaway are already starting to show up in Nominet's registration stats for August 2017.
https://www.nominet.uk/news/reports-statistics/uk-register-statistics-2017/

42,617 .uk domains were registered in August, which is over twice the volume of any recent month.

(I'm guessing September will jump by over 100,000 and then there will be further growth due to the big registrars stuffing their customer accounts with proactively registered freebies.)

 

[martin-s]

And what's the betting that all of this will be crowed about by Nominet as .uk gaining traction and becoming a success?

 

[Nigel]

I'd rather see less of these gimmicks and reasonable renewal fees for all .uk registrants on an ongoing basis. Nominet is quite a small organisation in terms of turnover but the .uk space still generates large margins - most of which is given away or paid out in salaries and director pay. Have you seen how executive pay has soared in recent years (see the annual reports):

Total Remuneration of CEO, COO and CTO (including pensions and other benefits)
2013 - 625,000
2016 - 1,026,000

In that time turnover and operating profit has remained fairly static (about a 10% increase) - but reg fees to .uk registrants have rocketed (with the 50% increase in fees and launch of .uk). I'll be interested to see the 2017 report and accounts, and also see whether there is any financial information about the funding of the ntlds and projections (and possibly provisions - should targets not be realised). Any idea when the 2017 annual report is published?

 

[martin-s]

In 4 years, Eleanor Bradley has gone from a total package of £165k to one worth £293k. Likewise Simon McCalla from £187k to £324k.

Kerching!

Why Nominet are paying bonuses of £100k-£150k to C-level staff I do not know.

 

[martin-s]

Compare those numbers to the likes of Companies House - a similar for-public-benefit service?

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...paniesHouse_AnnualReport_2017_web_version.pdf

See p34-35 (actually on p38-39)

The Chairman (lovely chap I happen to know) gets £25-30k, while the highest paid directors get £125k or thereabouts. A more reasonable figure I think.

 

[Nigel]

That's a very good example Martin. Worth looking at the 2012 accounts when Nominet's turnover was £25m and producing an £8.3m operating profit. Reg Fees were £2.50 per annum (and arguably should have been lower). Since then what has happened. Confusion of .uk/.co.uk, reg fees up 50%, and nominet moving into the risky ntlds (at $1 a domain has been reported). Turnover for 2016 is £30m and operating profit £8m - executives rewarded massively and .uk registrants are the losers and uncertainty on future reg fees because of nominet's ntld gamble.

 

[RobM]

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? We call it riding the gravy train. Great song

 

[Nigel]

so you're happy with the pay of the CEO COO and CTO rising from £625k to over £1m in just 3 years?

And can I ask you whether some of this performance related pay that you mention is linked to the launch of .uk and the move into the ntld market?

 

[martin-s]

Nominet does not consider itself to be as you say [a] "similar for public-benefit service". This is your assessment. Executive compensation is reviewed annually and externally against external market data. Their compensation is market matched. In addition each executive member's pay is reviewed annually in line with their performance review outcome. The COO and the CTO have been tasked with different and further business responsibilities since 2013 as part of Nominet's drive to diversify and generate additional income from non-core (i.e. domain name) business. They have additional targets that they are expected to meet so please understand that they are not simply doing exactly the same each year and getting more money for it.

Blah, blah, blah. Let's see what the numbers look like in next year's accounts shall we? Why on earth the CTO and COO deserve £100k bonuses on top of inflated salaries, I don't know.

 

[martin-s]

It is certainly my belief that if salaries are not matched to comparable salaries in the market people may (and likely will) choose to leave to find what they feel they are worth elsewhere.

You say it like that's a bad thing. I wonder if that isn't actually a path to deliberately choose in order to put Nominet back on track.

 

[Nigel]

It seems to me that Nominet have created additional non profitable work for themselves, work that was to the detriment of .co.uk domains and .co.uk registrants, and then the executives have been rewarded for it. Can I ask you again whether any of this performance related pay is related in any way to the launch of .uk and the decision to enter the ntld market?

 

[RobM]

'It is certainly my belief that if salaries are not matched to comparable salaries in the market people may (and likely will) choose to leave to find what they feel they are worth elsewhere.'

What someone 'feels' they are worth is totally irrelevant. Also they are not comparable to salaries at other companies for people who know nothing except how to ride the train. So apart from those two inane comments what else do you have to justify overpaying underqualified people? I hate freeloaders and it's annoying dealing with incompetent people in their own fields. Welcome to nominet - where you can get away with it because it's handed to you on a plate and you're not answerable to anyone.

 

[Nigel]

Individual employee targets are confidential. In general Nominet do have performance objectives relating to both DUM and RSP as well as a great many others. I presume you're looking to try to put someones head on a block because of what you might perceive to be failures or your continual dislike of second level .uk and a dislike of Nominet doing RSP?

Have you considered becoming a Nominet member?

I never mentioned putting 'someones head on a block' nor am I looking for that. I do believe that the remuneration of the CEO, COO and CTO is excessive for a non profit organisation. I also believe that the level of pay increases in the last 3 years are unjustified, particularly as nominet's core business, the .co.uk space, the business that pays all the bills, has been, in my opinion, damaged by the introduction of the .uk and by the foray into the ntld market. Back in 2012, with a lower turnover (because fees were lower) Nominet was more profitable, and if they had focused on simply promoting the .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk space (which wouldn't have been hard) then reg fees would be lower and nominet would have been more streamlined and better equipped for the future. But that would have meant less work, less staff and less pay.

 

[martin-s]

Either way that isn't the company Nominet is becoming. The decisions to change the company were made perhaps a decade ago now by its members under EGM conditions.

Funny that nothing changed for the first 7/8 years then. But now the wrong people are in charge, they're taking advantage.

 

[martin-s]

I don't consider that .wales or .cymru have damaged .co.uk either.

.wales and .cymru are fundamentally different to .co.uk whereas .uk is fundamentally the same.

 

[martin-s]

Nominet has become more commercial. If that's not what you wish Nominet to be I suppose you either leave, lump it or call an EGM to change it.

Unfortunately as it stands, Nominet is controlled by large registrars with commercial interests - and it is inconceivable that anything counter to their interests could ever pass a vote.

Based on my own interpretation of recent evidence, much of Nominet's new found commercial intent (serving those large registrars) is counter to the long term good of the UK namespace. However, without changes to member engagement and governance of Nominet, it isn't possible for those who care about more than money to shift its course.

 

[mojoco]

The following 3 statements are all quoted on Nominet's site...

"PUBLIC BENEFIT
It’s not simply in our constitution, it’s part of our DNA"

"We are a company committed to delivering public benefit, with over 2,500 members."

"SUNDAY TIMES

TOP 100 COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN THE NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR"

https://www.nominet.uk/about/

 

[martin-s]

Caring about registrants more than registrars for one thing. I'm still not aware of any single reason that the introduction of .uk made things better for anyone other than Nominet and registrars. Ditto the price rise.

Registrants now have to pay more (and more and more) and also double up on registrations that they never had to before - or risk security issues and brand dilution. These changes damage long term trust, and to what benefit?

A company now has to pay £20 + VAT per year to renew their .co.uk and .uk domains, but only £10 + VAT to renew a .com equivalent.

Regarding changes to engagement and governance, I would prefer a non-commercially minded steering group to have sway. I would take an axe to the power that large registrars hold over voting rights too.

A member-led Nominet that could balance out and restrict the whims of the executive would be a major improvement.

 

[aZooZa]

Caring about registrants more than registrars for one thing. I'm still not aware of any single reason that the introduction of .uk made things better for anyone other than Nominet and registrars. Ditto the price rise.

Registrants now have to pay more (and more and more) and also double up on registrations that they never had to before - or risk security issues and brand dilution. These changes damage long term trust, and to what benefit?

A company now has to pay £20 + VAT per year to renew their .co.uk and .uk domains, but only £10 + VAT to renew a .com equivalent.

Regarding changes to engagement and governance, I would prefer a non-commercially minded steering group to have sway. I would take an axe to the power that large registrars hold over voting rights too.

A member-led Nominet that could balance out and restrict the whims of the executive would be a major improvement.

This. 100%.

 

[Edwin]

If Nominet had stuck to its core registry business (you know, the only one applicable to 99% of its customers, and what it was tasked with in the first place) it would never have needed to pay super-high salaries and bonuses to attract talent because it wouldn't have been chasing a dozen different business models and product lines.

BTW, a similar inflation is evident in the non-executive director remuneration package, which has gone up from £7,000 per year in 2007 to over £30,000 a year 10 years later (can't find the exact figure for the latest NED pay at this second). The job's still part-time, equivalent to 30-something days a year. Again, there's no justification for the increase, but it's telling how much yes-manship £30K will buy...

Unfortunately, snouts are so deep in the trough now that only the tails are poking out. Hard to see anything reversing the situation, which is why I've washed my hands of them.

It was one thing trying to effect change when there was still a possibility of doing so - but when the probability is vanishingly small it's a recipe for stress and nothing more.