Verisign $VRSN Q4 2016 Earnings LIVE Webcast Feb 9, 4:30pm ET

 $VRSN UP 13.70% Feb 9, 2016 - Feb 8, 2017

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN | verisign.com), earnings call for the fourth quarter and full year 2016: Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, at 4:30 p.m. ET (US): Listen to LIVE webcast.

The call will also be accessible by direct dial at (888) 676-VRSN (U.S.) or (913) 312-0944 (international), conference ID: Verisign. An audio archive of the call will be available at https://investor.verisign.com/events.cfm.

Q4 2016 Results  (pdf)(press release):  Q4 EPS of $0.92 beat estimates by $0.04. Revenue of $286.27 million (+5.0% Y/Y) beat estimates by $3.3 million (investor.verisign.com).

Financial Highlights

• Verisign ended 2016 with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.8 billion, a decrease of $118 million from year-end 2015.
• Cash flow from operations was $195 million for the fourth quarter of 2016 and $668 million for the full year 2016 compared with $189 million for the same quarter in 2015 and $651 million for the full year 2015.
• Deferred revenues on Dec. 31, 2016, totaled $976 million, an increase of $14 million from year-end 2015.
• During the fourth quarter, Verisign repurchased 2.0 million shares of its common stock for $160 million. During the full year 2016, Verisignrepurchased 7.8 million shares of its common stock for $637 million.
• Effective Feb. 9, 2017, the Board of Directors approved an additional authorization for share repurchases of approximately $641 million of common stock, which brings the total amount to $1 billion authorized and available under Verisign's share repurchase program, which has no expiration.
• For purposes of calculating diluted EPS, the fourth quarter diluted share count included 20.6 million shares related to subordinated convertible debentures, compared with 21.4 million shares for the same quarter in 2015. These represent diluted shares and not shares that have been issued.

Business Highlights

• Verisign ended the fourth quarter with 142.2 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 1.7 percent increase from the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, and a net decrease of 1.9 million during the fourth quarter of 2016.
• In the fourth quarter, Verisign processed 8.8 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 12.2 million for the same quarter in 2015.
• The final .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2016 was 73.0 percent compared with 71.9 percent for the same quarter in 2015. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.

Notes:

• Verisign has received, and is cooperating with a CID (civil investigative demand) from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with new gTLD .WEB.
• FORM 8-K for Verisign, Q4 2016 Date of Report: February 9, 2017.
• Q4 2016 webcast transcript: VeriSign (VRSN) Q4 2016 Results - Earnings Call Transcript | SeekingAlpha.com:

"... as it relates to our becoming the registry operator for .web, on January 18, 2017, the company received a Civil Investigative Demand from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, requesting certain information related to VeriSign's potential operations of the .web TLD. The CID is not directed at VeriSign's existing registry agreements. As we said at the time of the auction last July, we strongly believe VeriSign is well-positioned to grow and widely distribute .web to provide an additional option to the marketplace, given our proven track record of reliability and stability, and we look forward to explaining our views as we respond to the CID and continue to cooperate with the DOJ."--D. James Bidzos, Verisign President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Board

Earnings Presentation (pdf):

Verisign is the registry operator of the market dominant .COM generic top-level domain (gTLD) as well as gTLD .NET, and provider of other TLD registry services, internet Root Zone Maintainer pursuant to a contract with ICANN, and operates two (A and J) of the internet's 13 authoritative DNS root zone servers, as well as providing internet security services.

See also:

• $VRSN Q3 2016 Results, LIVE Webcast Oct 27 | DomainMondo.com.
• NewsReview: Ruby Glen Appeals .WEB ICANN Case to Ninth Circuit | DomainMondo.com and other posts linked therein re: new gTLD .WEB. 

Also note that Verisign Inc, lost an appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday (Feb 8, 2017), of a case it brought against new gTLD registry operator XYZ.com LLC and its CEO Daniel Negari (see embed below, highlighting added), the Fourth Circuit affirming the District Court's dismissal of Verisign's claims:

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DISCLAIMER

Google Dumps Its CAR New gTLD Domain, What Does That Tell You?

The "money quote" in the recent news press release (see at bottom below) about the XYZ and Uniregistry new joint venture and registry operator Cars Registry Limited:  

"This trio of extensions was completed recently with the acquisition of the highly coveted .Car domain extension from Google." (emphasis added)

Highly coveted? Apparently .CAR was, at one time, highly coveted by Google, but no more.
Domain Mondo has commented before on Google falling out of love with ICANN's new gTLDs. See also: Google Just Killed The Last Remaining Rationale for New gTLD Domains.  But this is a striking development--Google decides it does not want nor needs the new gTLD domain .CAR at the very same time that Google is making headlines worldwide on its development and plans for a self-driving Google Car--

Google's Plan to Eliminate Human Driving in 5 Years | WIRED May 18, 2015: "Google's adorable self-driving car prototype hits the road this summer, the tech giant announced last week...."
Google's new self-driving cars hit the road - May. 15, 2015 (CNN)
Google's self-driving cars hit the road this summer (USA Today)

What Does That Tell You?

Google, after investing time and money in acquiring the new gTLD .CAR, just decided to "dump" it. And if Google, as a car "developer," "manufacturer" and "seller," doesn't want the new gTLD domain name extension .CAR, why would anybody else want it, or pay good money for it?

ICANN--the domain name regulatory monopoly--a "non-profit" California corporation that is in the "business" of "selling" a/k/a "authorizing" the creation of new gTLDs and their delegation into the Internet root (for the mere sum of $185,000 plus a modest annual fee), has made the following information available to the public:

On 22 January 2015, ICANN and Charleston Road Registry Inc., entered into a Registry Agreement under which Charleston Road Registry Inc., operated the .car top-level domain [new gTLD]. Effective 21 April 2015, the Registry Agreement was assigned by Charleston Road Registry Inc. [Google] to Cars Registry Limited [XYZ and Uniregistry joint venture] which now operates the .car top-level domain. 

The agreements may be read at the following links below:

Registry Agreement
DOCX | Redline
PDF | Redline
HTML | Redline

Assignment and Assumption Agreement
Charleston Road Registry Inc. to Cars Registry Limited (21 April 2015) PDF

Excerpt from the public portion of the application for new gTLD (new generic top-level domain) .CAR, originally posted: 13 June 2012, Application ID: 1-1683-8443118(a) (emphasis added):

"... Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD [.CAR].
18.a. Mission⁄Purpose of the Proposed gTLD [.CAR]
"Charleston Road Registry is an American company, wholly owned by Google, which was established to provide registry services to the Internet public... Its business objective is to manage Google’s gTLD portfolio and Google’s registry operator business. As discussed further in the responses to questions 23 and 31, Charleston Road Registry intends to outsource all critical registry functions to Google Registry Services. The mission of this gTLD, .car, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which registrants can enact second-level domains that offer content related to cars, including the sale, purchase, rental, financing, servicing, repair, insurance and⁄or management of cars, as well as automobile industry-related information, such as new product development and trends (e.g. alternative fuel sources). This mission will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain. The proposed gTLD will provide the marketplace with direct association with the term, ʺcar.ʺ Charleston Road Registry believes that registrants will find value in associating with this gTLD, which could have a vast array of purposes for businesses, organization, or individuals seeking to associate with the term ʺcar.ʺ This assertion is supported by industry data: the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers reports over 80 million vehicles were produced worldwide in 2011 [Source: http:⁄⁄oica.net⁄category⁄production-statistics⁄), and the global automobile market is over $3 trillion (http:⁄⁄www.ibisworld.com⁄industry⁄global⁄global-car-automobile-sales.html]. In addition, US-based Cars.com reports 10 million site visitors per month [Source: http:⁄⁄www.cars.com⁄go⁄about⁄us.jsp?section=C&content=fact&aff=national]. The proposed gTLD will also provide Charleston Road Registry with the means to meet its business objectives...."

Google changed its mind. Why? 

For starters, see:

• ICANN 52, Universal Acceptance, New gTLD Domain Names "break stuff"
• Why New gTLD Domain Names Fail To Work Across the Internet
• ICANN's New gTLD Domains Are Failing Badly, 2015 May Be Even Worse

Wonder if Google will continue to pursue .WEB? You can access and read the rest of ICANN's public file on .CAR here. Meanwhile, Daniel Negari (XYZ) and Frank Schilling (Uniregistry) have BIG plans for .CAR--

XYZ and Uniregistry Announce Joint Venture to Launch .Cars, .Car, and .Auto
Frank is on a roll--first dot SUCKS, and now dot CAR!!!

Caveat Emptor!


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