VeriSign has been managing the .com domain registry
since 1999. It’s an agreement that has already been renewed once, back in 2006 and is set for renewal this year. While ICANN has already awarded the contract to VeriSign, the deal is now under review by the U.S Department of Justice.
Jim Bidzos, executive chairman, president and chief executive officer of VeriSign discussed the review during his company’s third quarter 2012 earnings call. For VeriSign, it was another strong quarter with revenue reported at $224 million, for a 13 percent year-over-year gain. Net income grew to $78 million for the quarter, up from $59 million last year.
At the core of VeriSign’s success is the .com registry business. At the end of the third quarter, there was a base of 105 million registered .com domain names and an additional 14.9 million .net domain names. Bidzos noted that the current domain name base is a 7.1 percent increase over the same period a year ago.
VeriSign operates the .com registry under an agreement that requires the approval of U.S. Department of Commerce. It’s an agreement that was set for renewal by November 30th, but could now be delayed.
“As a result of communications beginning in October 2012 with the Commerce Department, we learned that the Commerce Department was conducting a review of pricing with the Department of Justice,” Bidzos said during his company’s earnings call.
He added that the review could extend beyond November 30, 2012, in which case a 6-month extension of the .com registry agreement would come into effect.
Read the full story at EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet:
VeriSign .com Renewal Under Department of Justice Review
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
