Higher revenue, domain growth, and first dividend in 14 years — Verisign posts
.Com registry discloses surprise dividend and a return to domain base growth.
Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) noted its first-quarter financial results today.
The firm noted a net increase in registered .com/.net domains for the first time since Q1 2023.
The domain base ended Q1 at 169.8 million, up 0.78 million from the end of the previous quarter. Still, the domain base was still down by 1.5% year over year.
There were 10.1 million fresh .com/.net registrations during the quarter, compared to 9.5 million in Q1 2024 and the same in Q4 2024.
Looking at how this translates financially, VeriSign noted revenue of $402 million for the first quarter of 2025, up 4.7% year over year. Operating income was $271 million for the first quarter of 2025, compared to $259 million for the same quarter of 2024. Verisign noted net income of $199 million for Q1 2025, compared to net income of $194 million in the same quarter last year.
With the domain base declining year over year, the increases can be attributed to wholesale price increases. Verisign does not receive an automatic price increase this year or in 2026 and will need to grow its domain base to continue showing topline growth.
Surprisingly, Verisign disclosed a cash dividend for the first time since 2011. In recent years, it has returned capital to shareholders through stock buybacks. Shareholders will receive a dividend of $.77, and the firm plans to pay quarterly dividends going forward.
