Verisign: fresh TLDs are affecting .Com growth

Firm makes admission for first time in latest SEC filing.

Verisign made a subtle, but notable, change in its risk language in its third quarter 10-Q note filed with the SEC. I picked up on this change using the Intelligize SEC document comparison tool.

Here’s the relevant content from the Q2 note:

We do not yet know the impact, if any, that these fresh gTLDs may have on our business, counting if or how the introduction of these fresh gTLDs will affect registrations for .com and .net and therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flow.

And the same section from the Q3 note:

We do not yet know the magnitude of impact that these fresh gTLDs may have on our business over the long term. We believe the introduction of these fresh gTLDs is affecting the growth in registrations for .com and, to a larger extent, .net and therefore may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Verisign is now saying that fresh TLDs are affecting .com’s growth, whereas ahead of it was saying they might affect growth.

A couple other notable things I picked up from the Q3 10-Q:

1. “The Firm’s federal income tax returns for 2010, 2011 and 2012 continue to be under examination by the Internal Revenue Service (“the IRS”). During the three months ended September 30, 2015, the Firm received notification that its federal income tax returns for 2013 and 2014 are also under examination by the IRS.”

(I don’t know if this is common or a big deal.)

2. The firm’s trademark licensing deal with Symantec, which gave control of Verisign.com to Symantec, has terminated. Verisign has switched its website back from VerisignInc.com to Verisign.com.