VERISIGN INC/CA Business Summary

Verisign Inc. (VRSN) operates as a critical provider of internet infrastructure, generating nearly 100% of its revenue through a high-margin subscription model as the exclusive registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains (TLDs). Under long-term agreements with ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce, the company charges registrars fixed annual fees for every domain name registration and renewal, a model that produced $1.66 billion in revenue and a 67.7% operating margin in 2025. While Verisign maintains a monopoly over its core TLDs, it competes for market share in the broader domain ecosystem against GoDaddy, Cloudflare, and Akamai Technologies, as well as specialized registry operators like Identity Digital. Positioned as the "gatekeeper" of the internet's most vital naming assets, Verisign distinguishes itself through its 28-year record of 100% operational availability for its global constellation of DNS servers. Founded in 1995 as a spin-off from RSA Security, the company is led by D. James Bidzos, who serves as Chairman, President, and CEO. Bidzos is a pioneer in the cybersecurity industry, having previously served as CEO of RSA Security and a founding scientist of RSA Laboratories. The executive leadership team includes John Calys as Executive VP and CFO, Danny McPherson as Executive VP and Chief Security Officer, and Dr. Burt Kaliski Jr. as Senior VP and Chief Technology Officer, the latter of whom holds a PhD from MIT and was a founding scientist at RSA. The company’s board was recently expanded in late 2025 with the appointment of Matthew J. Desch, CEO of Iridium Communications. While Berkshire Hathaway has historically been a cornerstone investor, it reduced its stake below the 10% regulatory threshold in late 2025, leaving the company’s ownership primarily in the hands of major institutional firms like T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, and Invesco.