ICANN will use a combination of auction proceeds and operational savings to replenish reserve fund.
ICANN’s organizational growth and the IANA transition has caused a budget shortfall, and ICANN plans to make it up by cutting costs and raiding the new TLD auction piggy bank.
The organization believes its reserve fund should equal one year of operating costs. It’s $68 million below that point.
It plans to make up this deficit over eight years by running a fiscal surplus of $32 million total. The other $36 million will be taken from the new top level domain auction proceeds.
Auctions have delivered over $240 million in cash. The community is still deciding how to divvy up that cash, but giving some of it back to ICANN was never the intention.
There’s a veiled threat to new TLD registries that might be upset about ICANN using some of it to cover its shortfall: another option was for ICANN to raise fees.
https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/financial-report-fye-30jun17-en.pdf
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents $ 107,432 $ 37,423
Accounts receivable, net $ 39,872 & 37,223
Investments $ 352,115 $303,423 (see 2018 increase below)
Prepaid expenses $ 1,979 $ 2,762
Other assets $ 939 $ 613
Capital assets, net $ 17,451 $ 18,182
Total assets $ 519,788 $ 399,626
Half a billion in assets, and increase of $120 million from 2016 to 2017
https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/financial-report-fye-30jun18-en.pdf
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Investments consist of the following as of June 30, 2018 ($70 million INCREASE over 2017)
Corporate bonds $114,694 $- $114,694 $- $-
Government agencies bonds $82,370 $- $82,370 $- $-
Collective trusts $69,712 $- $- $- $69,712
U.S. government bonds $67,677 $- $67,677 $- $-
Asset backed bonds $28,898 $- $28,898 $- $-
Money market funds $42,836 $42,836 $- $- $-
International bonds $15,712 $- $15,712 $- $-
Municipal and provincial bonds$501$-$501$-$-
Total investments $422,400 $42,836 $309,852 $- $69,712
ICANN are greedy, sniveling backstabbers of the public.