For anyone freaking out about .IO going away, you can (probably) relax…and here’s why

News has rippled through the domain name world about a change of ownership for .IO. I wrote about this last week when I covered a critical vote that went massively in favor of the UK losing control of .IO.

Since then, I’ve read a lot of different stories, many painting a picture of doom and gloom for .IO and hypothesizing that the domain extension could just go away.

Sorry but while this might make for a catchy headline…it’s just not realistic. It’s actually incredibly simple IMO so it won’t take me too long to break this down. Here’s the scoop.

.IO has become very popular in the startup world, there are companies that have received tens of millions of dollars in funding that use .IO as their primary domain. People are continuing to buy and brand on .IO domains, and whether you love them or hate them, it doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of .IO names registered and in-use.

With both a higher registration cost and renewal price than .COM, .IO also brings in a pretty penny. So why do you think if the UK were to lose control of the extension, that the new owner wouldn’t want all the money that is pouring in? Honestly, that would be ridiculous.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that .IO is in the clear completely. Things like registration and renewal costs could change, and yes – there could be some other bumps along the road that we can’t see yet. All that being said, the sky is not falling and I don’t think you need to worry about .IO going away.

What do you think? Could you see a scenario where the new owner of .IO decides to just say no to all that revenue…because I sure don’t! I want to hear from you, comment and let your voice be heard.

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton