What VeriSign does

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) is a publicly traded internet infrastructure company founded in 1995 and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. It operates as the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains under exclusive contracts with ICANN, holding a quasi-monopoly position reinforced by regulatory protections that extend through at least 2030 and include contractual pricing escalators of up to 7% annual increases in four of six years. The company also serves as the root zone maintainer under agreement with ICANN and operates proprietary DNS registration and resolution infrastructure that handles billions of queries daily.

The company's core products are the .com Domain Registry (163.6 million registrations as of Q1 2026), the .net Domain Registry (12.4 million registrations), and the Root Zone Maintainer service. Supporting products include DNSSEC security extensions, Whois lookup, Zone File Access, the Regional Internet Resolution Service, and NameStudio (a registrar-facing tool). Underlying technology is purpose-built DNS infrastructure designed for reliability and resilience in a high-cyberthreat environment, but VeriSign does not sell this infrastructure as a commercial cloud or platform service—it operates it as the registry backbone.

VeriSign earns revenue primarily through wholesale registry fees charged to ICANN-accredited registrars (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap, Network Solutions), who resell domain names to end customers. The current wholesale fee is $10.26 per .com domain per year, increasing to $10.97 effective November 1, 2026. Revenue is recurring in nature (annual renewals), with a Q1 2026 renewal rate of 76.3%. Q1 2026 revenue was $429 million (up 6.6% YoY) and full-year 2025 revenue was $1.6 billion, with 2026 guidance of $1.715–$1.735 billion. Gross margins exceed 88% and GAAP operating margins run at 67.7%–68%, reflecting the extreme operating leverage of the registry model. The company operates with a lean headcount of 501–1,000 employees and returned over $1.13 billion to shareholders over the trailing twelve months via dividends and buybacks. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway holds approximately 9.8% of the stock.

Name

VeriSign

Legal name

VeriSign, Inc.

Website

https://verisigninc.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

VeriSign is a publicly traded internet infrastructure company that operates as the exclusive ICANN-authorized registry for the .com and .net top-level domains, serving ICANN-accredited registrars globally with recurring wholesale registry fees under contracts extending through 2030.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bluemont

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. .com and .net Domain Registry Services: VeriSign earns recurring registry fees for each .com and .net domain name registration. The company charges registrars a wholesale fee per domain (currently $10.26 per .com domain with built-in pricing escalators through ICANN contracts allowing up to 7% annual price increases). Revenue is recurring in nature as domains must be renewed annually, providing stable cash flows with approximately 73% renewal rates.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

VeriSign operates as the authoritative registry for the .com and .net top-level domains under exclusive ICANN contracts, managing DNS registration, resolution, and wholesale pricing for over 176.1 million combined domain registrations. The company also maintains the DNS root zone under agreement with ICANN and provides a Regional Internet Resolution Service as part of its core internet infrastructure role. Revenue is generated through recurring annual wholesale fees paid by ICANN-accredited registrars per domain registered.

Product overview

VeriSign is a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, operating as a near-monopoly registry for .com and .net top-level domains under ICANN contracts. The company offers a unified platform of internet infrastructure services centered on its core domain registry operations, supplemented by DNSSEC security extensions, WHOIS lookup services, and distributed DNS resolution. Supporting products include NameStudio for registrar resources and zone file access for DNS data. VeriSign's infrastructure also includes root zone maintenance under ICANN agreement, making it a foundational toll-collector of the digital economy with minimal product complexity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• .com Domain Registry VeriSign operates as the authoritative registry for .com top-level domains under exclusive ICANN contracts, managing DNS registration infrastructure, domain name resolution, and wholesale pricing for the world's largest TLD with over 163 million registrations as of Q1 2026. The service is sold wholesale to ICANN-accredited registrars who resell to end customers.
• .net Domain Registry VeriSign serves as the authoritative registry for .net top-level domains under ICANN contracts, providing DNS registration and resolution services for the second-largest global TLD with approximately 12.4 million registrations as of Q1 2026. Sold wholesale to ICANN-accredited registrars for resale.
• Root Zone Maintainer Services Under agreement with ICANN, VeriSign maintains the root zone of the global Domain Name System, a foundational internet infrastructure function that directs global domain name resolution and underpins the operation of all TLDs. Provided to the global internet ecosystem, including root server operators, ISPs, and governments.
• Regional Internet Resolution Service Distributed DNS resolution infrastructure providing geographically distributed name resolution services for improved performance and resilience, offered as part of VeriSign's internet infrastructure portfolio to support global internet stability.
• NameStudio VeriSign-owned registrar service providing domain name discovery and registration tools, allowing SMBs and consumers to directly search for and register domain names. Operated at namestudio.verisign.com as a complement to the wholesale registrar channel.

Quantifiable outcome

• 176.1 million combined .com and .net domain name registrations as of Q1 2026, a record high
• +4 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Agentic AI FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026VeriSign joined the Agentic AI Foundation as a Silver Member in Q2 2026. The foundation is working to develop interoperable protocols and frameworks for production-grade AI systems. VeriSign's participation reflects its interest in open standards for agentic AI and internet infrastructure integration. The foundation has grown to 180-190 member organizations including F5, GoDaddy, Stripe, and Atlassian.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Akamai Technologies: Major internet infrastructure and CDN provider operating authoritative DNS resolution and edge services that compete with parts of VeriSign's DNS infrastructure. Broader portfolio focused on content delivery and security rather than registry services.
• Cloudflare: Operates one of the world's largest anycast DNS resolution networks and authoritative DNS services, directly competing with VeriSign's Regional Internet Resolution Service. Also an ICANN-accredited registrar and broader internet infrastructure provider overlapping with multiple VeriSign service lines.
• Neustar (now part of TransUnion): Historically operated the .us and .biz TLD registries under ICANN contracts, providing a direct registry-operator analog to VeriSign. Now a broader communications and infrastructure provider under TransUnion, with registry services as one segment.

Regional players

• Nominet: UK-based registry operator for .uk TLDs, operating under a similar ICANN-style national registry model. Comparable wholesale registry services to accredited registrars, though focused on the UK market rather than global .com/.net volumes.
• DENIC: Germany's authoritative registry for .de, one of the largest country-code TLDs globally. Operates a comparable wholesale registry-to-registrar model for .de domains, providing a structural peer for registry economics, though concentrated in the German market.
• AFNIC: French registry operator for .fr domain names, operating under a similar nonprofit registry structure with wholesale services to accredited registrars. Comparable in business model to VeriSign though focused on the French market.

Direct peers

• Identity Digital: Formed from the merger of Donuts and Afilias, operates a large portfolio of new gTLDs (.app, .io, .dev, etc.) as an authoritative registry under ICANN. Direct registry-operator peer competing for next-generation TLD registrations versus VeriSign's legacy .com/.net franchise.
• GoDaddy Registry: Operates backend registry services for several TLDs including .xxx and is the parent of the largest registrar (GoDaddy). Directly comparable registry-operator business while also being one of VeriSign's largest registrar customers, creating an unusual dual customer-competitor dynamic.
• Public Interest Registry: Operates the .org TLD as an authoritative registry under ICANN contract, directly comparable to VeriSign's role as .com/.net registry operator. Same wholesale-to-registrar distribution model and ICANN regulatory framework, serving as the closest structural analog.

Emerging players

• Unstoppable Domains: Issues blockchain-based Web3 domain names (e.g., .crypto, .nft, .wallet) as an alternative to traditional DNS-based domains. Represents the emerging threat of decentralized naming protocols to VeriSign's traditional DNS registry franchise.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/VERISIGN
• Facebookfacebook.com/Verisign
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/verisign

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors14 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A19 records

Investments15 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about VeriSign