The organization that oversees Internet domain names has rejected a proposal to transfer management of the.org top-level domain. Icann said it would n’t approve the sale of.org because it would create’unacceptable uncertainty’ for the domain.

Icann’s board said the sale would have given up the current focus of PIR in favor of’an entity that is bound to serve the interests of its corporate stakeholders’. Pir has a $ 360 million debt that could destabilize its operation in the future.

Pir was founded by the Internet society to handle the.org domain in 2003. In late 2019, ISOC announced that it would transfer control of.org to ethos in exchange for a $ 1 billion endowment. Opponents took issue with the prospect of an equity firm managing nonprofit domains.

Icann’s decision has been delayed multiple times as it requested more information about the deal. Earlier this month, California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra urged ICANN to reject the sale.