Verisign notes earnings, forecasts further drop in domain name base

Registry expects the overall base of .com and .net domains to fall this year.

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.Com and .net registry Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) noted Q4 and full-year 2024 earnings on Thursday.

Revenue increased 4.3% to $1.56 billion in 2024, and operating income increased 6% to $1.06 billion.

The financial numbers increased while the base of registered .com and .net domains fell 2.1% during the year. Verisign ended the year with 169.0 million domains following a 0.5 million decrease during the final quarter.

Still, the fourth quarter saw a rebound in fresh domain registrations. The firm processed 9.5 million fresh domain registrations in Q4, compared to 9.0 million in Q4 2023. This number also increased sequentially from 9.3 million in Q3 2024.

Verisign stated Q4 results are showing early results from the registry’s fresh marketing initiatives with its registrar channel.

While Q4 showed some improvement, the firm still expects its domain base to fall in 2025. It is guiding to between -2.3% and -0.3% growth.

Revenue is expected to tick up to $1.615 billion to $1.635 billion due to price hikes. Per its contract with ICANN, Verisign does not get an automatic price increase for .com domains this year or in 2026.

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