Based on my discussions with some domainers I’ve met, the ads themselves haven’t been profitable for the past 5+ years. Their renewals are done at a loss until they make a sale, which covers a few year’s worth of renewals on all their domains. It’s not as profitable as it used to be with all the new gTLDs out there
Agreed, Mutter’s 2 finger and 3 finger swipes (similar to macOS) are one reason why I haven’t jumped from Gnome yet