Verisign reports Q3 earnings, 10.9 million new .com/.net registrations
Verisign, the domain name registry for .com and .net domain names, announced third quarter earnings after the market closed.
Revenue was up 3.1% year-over-year to $318 million. The company’s topline generally moves slowly but should spike next year as it implements a 7% price hike on .com domain names.
Profit increased from $154 million in Q3 2019 to $171 million in Q3 2020, aided by a $24 million income tax benefit. This suggests that profit would have actually decreased without the tax benefit. It will be interesting to see the P&L when it’s published.
The quarter ended with 163.7 million .com and .net domain names under management, up 4% year-over-year, and up by 1.65 million domains quarter-over-quarter. 10.9 million new domains were registered in .com and .net during the quarter. That’s a million more than were registered in Q3 2019.
The total base of .com domain names eclipsed 150 million last month.
“Our third quarter results reflect our ongoing discipline in execution of our mission. We are acutely aware of the extent to which people rely on our critical internet infrastructure as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and we remain focused on our mission to help keep the world connected online, reliably and securely,” said Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
