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BUSINESS Saturday 22 February 2020
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For-profit firm seeking to run .org names makes concessions

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A pri- news.com have historically
vate equity firm seeking to been used by computers
buy rights to operate the to find websites and send
internet's .org suffix said Fri- email, and their value grew
day it will cap price hikes as companies and groups
and create an advisory adopted them for brand-
board with veto powers ing. The Associated Press,
to ease concerns from the a nonprofit, also uses a .org
nonprofit community. domain, ap.org.
Ethos Capital has offered Though domain names are
$1.1 billion to buy the Public less prominent these days
Interest Registry, the non- as more people reach
profit corporation that runs websites using search en-
the databases containing gines and apps, they are
more than 10 million .org still important for email ad-
names registered world- dresses, billboards and oth-
wide. Organizations rang- er non-digital advertising.
ing from the Girl Scouts of The Public Interest Registry
the USA and Consumer Re- is currently owned by the
ports to the American Bible Internet Society, a nonprof-
Society have opposed the it founded by many of the
sale, warning of potential internet's early engineers
price gouging and censor- and scientists. In that role,
ship. California's attorney the registry collects annual In this Jan. 24, 2020 file photo, Cory Doctorow, right, walks in front of other protestors in Los Angeles
outside the headquarters of the regulatory body for domain names, the Internet Corporation for
general has also requested fees of about $10 per .org Assigned Names and Numbers.
information to evaluate a registration. The Internet Associated Press
deal's potential impact to Society uses some of that
nonprofits. revenue to fund advocacy by registered by anyone, pends a .org name at the profit company could result
It wasn't immediately clear and administrative pro- including for-profit corpo- urging of a government or in price hikes. To address
whether the concessions grams, which include cre- rations and individuals. That business rival, without giv- concerns, Ethos agreed Fri-
are enough to satisfy critics. ating technical standards won't change if it gets a ing the website a chance day to limit price hikes to an
The cap on price hikes, for for the internet. for-profit owner. to plead its case. Critics are average of 10% per year for
instance, will expire in eight A sale to Ethos Capital But some critics fear that fu- particularly worried that au- eight years. The Public In-
years, and most of the ad- wouldn't immediately af- ture policies could reduce thoritarian countries could terest Registry had a bind-
visory board's initial mem- fect existing .org names or protections for domain target human rights groups ing 10% cap that expired
bers will be appointed by the websites that use them. name owners. For instance, and other nongovernmen- in June, though that restric-
the Public Interest Registry's Although .org is often as- websites can suddenly be- tal organizations this way. tion wasn't an average and
board. sociated with nonprofit or- come unreachable if who- Critics are also worried that didn't allow for higher hikes
Domain names such as ap- ganizations, it can already ever owns the registry sus- financial pressures on a for- in some years.q

Deere sees some stability on

farms in bruising trade fight

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN ary, Washington agreed porters.
AP Business Writer to cancel additional tariff Deere, based in Moline, Illi-
Deere & Co. had a surpris- hikes and Beijing commit- nois, has posted three con-
ingly strong first quarter af- ted to buy more American secutive quarters of falling
ter an extended period in farm exports. profits and slowing sales
which the tractor and con- China's retaliatory tariffs growth with trade tensions
struction equipment maker have clobbered exports of between the world's two
was bruised by the ongo- soybeans and other com- largest economies ongo-
ing trade war between the modities, hurting farmers, ing.
United States and China. and in turn, farming equip- And it stuck to a conserva- In this Sept. 10, 2019, file photo a John Deere tractor is on dis-
"Farmer confidence, ment manufacturers. tive outlook for the year. play at the Husker Harvest Days farm show in Grand Island, Neb.
though still subdued, has The Trump administration Deere expects sales in its Deere & Co. reports earns on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020.
improved due in part to has provided $27 billion in agriculture-and-turf busi- Associated Press
hopes for a relaxation of aid to farmers to ease the ness to fall between 5%
trade tensions and higher pain of his trade war. And and 10%, and a decline of Financial Officer Ryan for our Ag & Turf business
agricultural exports," CEO in a tweet Friday, he prom- between for those of the Campbell in a conference and for our traditional C&F
John May said in a pre- ised to expand the bailout construction-and-forestry call Friday. business. Road building,
pared statement Friday. if farmers need it as they segment to fall 10% to 15%. "When we think about kind though, has a bigger ex-
China announced Friday await the economic ben- Like almost all multinational of the impacts a and po- posure there, so road build-
that it suspended more efits of his recent trade operators, Deere is naviga- tential impacts of the coro- ing in China will tend to be
punitive tariff s on imports deals with Mexico, Cana- tion the virus outbreak in navirus, there's kind of two 10% to 15% of their overall
of U.S. industrial goods in da and China. He said the China that has spread else- components that we've sales. So more of an impact
response to a truce in its aid would be financed by where. mentioned," Campbell there." For the three months
trade war with Washing- revenue from his tariffs on Catperpillar has included said. "One is direct expo- ended Feb. 2, Deere &
ton. Under their "Phase 1" foreign goods — taxes that a $40 million cost increase sure, our sales into the Chi- Co. earned $517 million, or
agreement signed in Janu- are paid by American im- to its supply lines, said Chief na market. Relatively small $1.63 per share. q