Verisign’s third quarter brought the strongest run of new .com and .net demand the company has reported. New registrations hit 13.1 million, up from 10.6 million a year earlier, a 24% jump and a quarterly record. The base of .com and .net names reached 182.5 million at the end of September, up 6.1% on the year, with 3.36 million added in the quarter alone. Verisign raised its full-year domain base growth forecast to 6.5% to 7%.
Revenue was $443 million, up 5.7%. Operating income rose to $296.5 million, a margin of about 67%. Net income was flat at $212.6 million, and diluted earnings per share came in at $2.35 against $2.27 a year earlier. A $7.5 million loss on assets held for sale took 6 cents off that. Operating cash flow fell to $268 million from $308 million, mostly on higher cash taxes. Verisign spent $189 million buying back 0.7 million shares and declared an 81-cent dividend.
Where the demand came from
Chief executive Jim Bidzos credited new business formation, registrar marketing programs and AI. Each new AI product, agent and startup still wants a .com, and a lot of them want several. The one soft number is renewals. The renewal rate for the second quarter, the latest Verisign reports, was 75.2% against 75.5% a year earlier. That’s what happens when first-year registrations surge: promotional and speculative names come up for renewal a year later and some drop. Verisign’s own call drew the comparison to the 2016 China wave, when a burst of new names was followed by a burst of deletions.
For domain investors that cuts both ways. Strong first-year demand lifts the market for good names. A wave of drops twelve months out also puts more aged names back into the pool.
Higher prices from November
The wholesale price of .com rises by 71 cents on November 1, 2026. Verisign says retail increases have been about 1% or less so far, and it expects about half the effect to reach revenue in 2027 and most of the rest in 2028. Every portfolio holder pays the increase on every renewal. On a large book it adds up. It’s also another reason to prune names that don’t earn their renewal.
What .web means for .com owners
Verisign won .web after a decade-long fight, and the launch now has dates. The extension is in the root zone. Sunrise starts in mid-December 2026. A limited registration period runs from mid-January to early April 2027, during which most .com registrants can register the exact-match .web name of their .com. General availability follows. Pricing, including premium names, goes to registrars in the next few weeks.
The exact-match window is the part that matters for anyone holding a strong .com. It’s a chance to lock up the .web twin before the open market can. Whether .web becomes a real second address or another new gTLD that sells mostly as defensive registrations is the open question. Verisign controls the .com channel, which is a reach no other new extension has had.
Verisign also opened a limited beta of Verisign Informed, a certificate revocation service, with production planned for the first half of 2027.
Full-year guidance now calls for revenue of $1.755 billion to $1.760 billion. The .com base keeps growing. The price of holding it keeps rising.