MMX never launched the geo domain.
MMX is asking ICANN to terminate .budapest.
MMX (Minds + Machines) (AIM: MMX) has filed a notice with ICANN to terminate its contract for running the .budapest top level domain name.
The company applied for the domain with the support of the Budapest city government but never launched the domain.
MMX sold all of its operating assets to GoDaddy earlier this year, so this is a loose end the company is tying up.
In its original application, MMX wrote:
The .BUDAPEST top-level domain will serve the residents and businesses of Budapest, Hungary’s capital city. It will also serve to inform tourists, visitors, investors and other non-local Internet users about Budapest. The .BUDAPEST gTLD will also be used by the city government of Budapest for e-government services. .BUDAPEST will serve as an easily recognizable, easily accessible Internet identifier for the city of Budapest…
Geographic top level domains haven’t fared as strongly as many hoped. MMX lost eight figures in a deal to operate .london.
.Budapest is the second geographic domain to head to the bin. In 2018, Qatar asked ICANN to terminate .doha.
.Budapest and .doha are the only non-brand top level domains to be voluntarily terminated by their owners.
