Verisign is a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, enabling internet navigation for many of the world's most recognized domain names. The company helps enable the security, stability, and resiliency of the Domain Name System (DNS) and the internet by providing Root Zone Maintainer services, operating two of the thirteen global internet root servers, and providing registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net top-level domains (TLDs), which support the majority of global e-commerce. The DNS is governed under a multi-stakeholder model comprised of civil society, the private sector, including for-profit and not-for-profit organizations such as ICANN, governments, including the U.S. government, academia, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations.

Verisign faces competition in the domain name registry space from other gTLD and ccTLD registries. Among its competitors operating gTLD and ccTLD registries are CentralNic, China Internet Network, DENIC eG, GoDaddy, Google, Identity Digital, Information Center (CNNIC), Nominet, Public Interest Registry (PIR), Radix, and .xyz. The company's largest customer accounted for approximately 31% ¹ of revenues in 2025, and approximately 32% ² of revenues in 2024 and 2023. Verisign does not believe that the loss of this customer would have a material adverse effect on its business because end-users of this customer would transfer to the company's other existing customers.

Verisign generates revenue primarily from fees charged to registrars for the initial registration or renewal of .com, .net, and other domain names. Individual customers, called registrants, contract directly with registrars or their resellers, and the registrars, who are the company's direct customers, in turn register the domain names with Verisign. Fees for domain name registrations and renewals are generally due at the time of registration or renewal, and domain name registration terms range from one year up to ten years. Revenues from the initial registration or renewal of domain names are deferred and recognized ratably over the registration term, making the revenue stream predominantly recurring in nature.

The company operates the authoritative directory for all .com, .net, and .name domain names (generic top-level domains, gTLDs), as well as for certain transliterations of .com and .net in a number of different native languages and scripts (internationalized generic top-level domains, IDN gTLDs). Verisign also operates the authoritative directory for all .cc domain names (country code top-level domain, ccTLD) and operates the technical or back-end systems for the .edu top-level domain. As the registry or service provider for these top-level domains, its services allow individuals and organizations to establish their online identities while providing secure, always-on access. The company also performs the Root Zone Maintainer function under an agreement with ICANN for the core of the internet's DNS and operates two of the thirteen root zone servers that contain authoritative data for the top of the DNS hierarchy. Verisign owns and maintains its shared registration system that allows registrars to enter new second-level domain names into Verisign-operated central directories and to submit modifications, transfers, re-registrations, and deletions for existing second-level domain names.

For .com domain name registrations, Verisign pays ICANN on a quarterly basis $0.2575 ³ for each annual domain name registration. For .name domain name registrations, the company pays ICANN on a quarterly basis $0.25 ⁴ for each annual domain name registration. For .net domain name registrations, Verisign remits to ICANN a $0.75 ⁵ fee per annual domain name registration that is collected from registrars. Revenues for .cc domain names and IDN gTLDs are based on prices that are not subject to the same pricing restrictions as those for the .com, .net and .name gTLDs. The fee for performance of back-end services for the .edu top-level domain is based on the terms of the agreement.

During 2025, Verisign processed 41.7 million ⁶ new domain name registrations for .com and .net compared to 37.4 million ⁷ in 2024. The final .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2025 was 75.4% ⁸ compared to 72.2% ⁹ for the same quarter of 2024. The company repurchased 3.4 million ¹⁰ shares of its common stock for an aggregate cost of $858.6 million ¹¹ in 2025. In April 2025, Verisign initiated a quarterly cash dividend and declared dividends that totaled $2.31 ¹² per share of outstanding common stock, or $215.2 million ¹³, in 2025. On March 11, 2025, the company issued $500.0 million ¹⁴ of 5.25% senior unsecured notes due June 2032, and on March 31, 2025, used the net proceeds along with cash on hand to fund the repayment of all of its $500.0 million ¹⁵ aggregate principal amount of outstanding 5.25% senior unsecured notes due April 2025.

Verisign recorded revenues of $1,656.6 million ¹⁶ in 2025, which represents an increase of 6% ¹⁷ as compared to 2024. Operating income was $1,121.0 million ¹⁸ during 2025, which represents an increase of 6% ¹⁹ as compared to 2024. Net income was $825.7 million ²⁰ in 2025, compared to $785.7 million ²¹ in 2024. The company generated cash flows from operating activities of $1,091.1 million ²² in 2025, which represents an increase of 21% ²³ as compared to 2024.

Verisign seeks to expand its business through focused marketing campaigns and programs that target growth in .com, .net and .cc domain names, both domestically and internationally through its registrars. The company provides tools to be used by both registrars and end users to enable them to find relevant domain names and has marketing and account management employees in several countries around the world. Verisign actively investigates and incubates new concepts and evaluates new business ideas through its innovation pipeline, expecting that most future enhancements to existing services and new services will be the result of internal development efforts in collaboration with suppliers, other vendors, customers, and the technology community.

Verisign also seeks to serve new, developing, and emerging economies in international locations to grow its business. The company's business operations in international locations have required, and will continue to require, significant management attention and resources. Verisign may also need to tailor some of its services for a particular location and to enter into international distribution and operating relationships. The company faces risks that it may fail to maintain its ability to conduct business in some international locations or may not succeed in expanding its services into new international locations or expand its presence in existing locations.

Verisign's cost of revenues increased in 2025 compared to 2024 primarily due to increases in compensation and benefits expenses and a combination of other individually insignificant factors, partially offset by a decrease in depreciation expenses. Research and development expenses increased in 2025 compared to 2024 primarily due to an increase in compensation and benefit expenses and a combination of several other individually insignificant factors. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased in 2025 compared to 2024 primarily due to increases in compensation and benefits expenses, stock-based compensation expenses, equipment and software expenses, and legal expenses.

Verisign's main operations infrastructure consists of secure data centers in Dulles, Virginia; Ashburn, Virginia; and New Castle, Delaware; as well as more than 200 other points of presence around the world. The company continuously seeks to enhance its infrastructure and capabilities to support both normal and peak system load plus attack volumes based on historical experience, as well as to address reported and projected internet attack trends. Verisign has disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities that are designed to deal with the loss of entire data centers and other facilities, maintaining data centers with mirrored services that allow failover with no data loss and no loss of function or capacity.

Verisign's capital allocation strategy includes share repurchases and dividends. Effective July 24, 2025, the Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of common stock in the amount of $913.1 million ²⁴, in addition to the $586.9 million ²⁵ that remained available for repurchases under the share repurchase program, for a total repurchase authorization of up to $1.50 billion ²⁶ under the program. As of December 31, 2025, there was $1.08 billion ²⁷ remaining for future share repurchases. In April 2025, the company initiated a quarterly cash dividend, declaring dividends that totaled $2.31 ²⁸ per share, or $215.2 million ²⁹, in 2025. On February 3, 2026, the Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.81 ³⁰ per share, representing a 5.2% ³¹ increase. The company intends to continue to pay a cash dividend on a quarterly basis, subject to market conditions and approval by the Board of Directors. Capital expenditures for property and equipment were $22.8 million ³² in 2025.

Verisign faces structural headwinds from the evolution of technologies or internet practices and behaviors that may negatively impact demand for domain names. Technologies relating to online presence, including social media, AI, mobile devices, apps, and search engines, have evolved and continue to evolve, changing the internet practices and behaviors of consumers and businesses. Demand for domain names could be negatively impacted to the extent end-users establish their online identities using social media (such as Facebook, Instagram or TikTok) or transact business on e-commerce platforms (such as Amazon, Etsy and Taobao) instead of registering domain names. Furthermore, demand could also be negatively impacted by the activities of providers of web and mobile applications that allow end-users to locate and access content, and by alternative namespaces with domain-name-like identifiers that are operated outside the single authoritative DNS root zone, including blockchain namespaces.

Verisign faces constraints from challenging global economic conditions that have in the past and may in the future negatively impact its business. Factors such as inflation, interest rates, currency fluctuations, trade barriers, tariffs, war, civil unrest, and other political and economic developments have in the past and may in the future negatively impact the business. For example, demand for the company's services substantially declined in China during 2023 and 2024 as a result of various factors including Chinese regulatory mandates that made it more difficult to register a domain name or establish an online presence using a domain name. Additionally, the rapid increase in demand for compute and network hardware, including servers, chips, memory and other technology, caused by new demand from AI companies, is increasing the company's costs for some of these goods and could increase its capital and operating costs.

Management's tone in the filing is focused on the company's role as a critical provider of internet infrastructure, emphasizing the security, stability, and resiliency of the DNS. Key themes include the company's 28 years of 100% DNS uptime for .com and .net, the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend, and the successful issuance of $500.0 million ³⁷ of 5.25% senior unsecured notes due June 2032 to refinance maturing debt. Strategic priorities emphasized include maintaining and enhancing the security and stability of the company's infrastructure, expanding through focused marketing campaigns targeting growth in .com, .net and .cc domain names both domestically and internationally, and actively investigating and incubating new concepts through the innovation pipeline. Management also highlighted the 5.2% ³⁸ increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.81 ³⁹ per share approved by the Board on February 3, 2026.

Verisign reported total revenues of $1,656.6 million ⁴⁰ for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to $1,557.4 million ⁴¹ in 2024. Net income was $825.7 million ⁴² in 2025, compared to $785.7 million ⁴³ in 2024. Diluted earnings per share were $8.81 ⁴⁴ in 2025, versus $8.00 ⁴⁵ in 2024. Operating income was $1,121.0 million ⁴⁶ in 2025, compared to $1,058.2 million ⁴⁷ in 2024, representing an operating margin of 67.7% ⁴⁸ in 2025 versus 67.9% ⁴⁹ in 2024. Cash flows from operating activities were $1,091.1 million ⁵⁰ in 2025, compared to $902.6 million ⁵¹ in 2024. As of December 31, 2025, the company held cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling $580.5 million ⁵², compared to $599.9 million ⁵³ at the end of 2024. Total senior notes outstanding, net of unamortized issuance costs, were $1,788.2 million ⁵⁴ as of December 31, 2025, compared to $1,792.3 million ⁵⁵ at the end of 2024. The company's effective tax rate was 22.7% ⁵⁶ in 2025, compared to 23.1% ⁵⁷ in 2024. The increase in net cash provided by operating activities was primarily due to an increase in cash received from customers, decreases in cash paid for income taxes and cash paid to employees and vendors, partially offset by an increase in cash paid for interest. The decrease in cash paid for income taxes was primarily due to the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act which restored the immediate deduction of research and development expenditures for U.S. federal income taxes.

Any loss or modification of the right to operate the .com and .net gTLDs could have a material adverse impact on the business and result in loss of revenues, as substantially all revenues are derived from these operations. The .com Registry Agreement expires on November 30, 2030 ³³ and the .net Registry Agreement expires on July 1, 2029 ³⁴. Changes or challenges to the pricing provisions in the .com Registry Agreement could have a material adverse impact, as the company may increase the annual fee of each .com domain name registration or renewal by up to 7% ³⁵ over the previous year in each of the final four years of each six-year period. Attempted security breaches, including cyber-attacks and DDoS attacks, increase costs and expose the company to potentially material liability, and the company does not maintain specific reserves for such attacks. The company faces risks from the operation of the root server system and its performance of the Root Zone Maintainer functions under the RZMA, which ends on October 20, 2032 ³⁶. Government regulation and the application of new and existing laws, including in China where licenses are required for .com, .net, and .cc, may slow business growth and increase costs.