Epik presented statistics of its work in March. According to published data, as of March 31, the company managed 607,891 domain names. According to the Domain Incite, at the beginning of this year, this figure was 732,914 names. Thus, in the Q1 the company lost more than 125,000 registrations.
This development of events can hardly be considered unexpected. The company's reputation has not been impeccable before: positioning itself as a defender of free speech on the Internet, Epik has repeatedly given shelter to the domains of websites of a clearly extremist nature, with which all reputable registrars refused to work. But the problems of recent times have gone far beyond political preferences. For months, the company did not return to customers large amounts deposited for transactions that did not take place, did not renew the registration of names even after payment, stopped paying mandatory contributions to the ICANN budget, etc. The result was a lawsuit, an official ICANN contract termination warning, and hundreds of complaints from angry customers.
Financial problems were helped by a hasty sale of the company for $5 million. But there are many questions about this deal: the unknown company Epik LLC acted as the buyer, about the owners and the origin of the funds of which there is no information. ICANN's requirements have been met, and the loss of accreditation of the company no longer threatens. However, Epik's reputation has suffered quite a bit of damage, and it can be assumed that the downward trend in the number of domains under registrar management will continue in the near future.
