✦ The Price Ladder RestartsWide moat
VeriSign (VRSN) — the future bets
Roughly $115 million of near-pure operating income per step, four steps available, and VeriSign has to do precisely nothing to collect it.
The most forecastable revenue in this collection resumed on 1 November 2026.
The .com wholesale fee went from $10.26 to $10.97 — a 7% increase, the first of four available in the six-year pricing period that began on 26 October 2024.1 If VeriSign takes all four, the fee reaches roughly $13.42 by 2029, a 31% rise from where it stood a month ago.
The economics of each step are close to pure. Applied to roughly 163 million .com names, 7% is on the order of $115 million of additional annual revenue, and the marginal cost of billing a name that already exists is negligible against a 67.7% operating margin.2 Four steps compounding on a base growing at 5% or so would take revenue from $1.7 billion toward $2.3 billion by the end of the decade without a single new product.
Two things could interrupt it. The first is the Department of Commerce, whose prior written approval is required for changes to the pricing section of the Cooperative Agreement — the agreement renewed automatically on the same terms in November 2024, but the next scheduled review is November 2030.3 The second is the base: an increase that prunes more speculative inventory than it earns is a bad trade, and portfolio holders face a compounding carrying cost with no offsetting revenue.
This is rated wide because it is the single most reliable thing about the company, and because it requires VeriSign to do precisely nothing.
The first of four available 7% increases landed on 1 November 2026, taking the wholesale fee to $10.97. Three more steps are contractually available before the agreement must be renewed, each worth roughly $115 million at close to full margin.
Each 7% step shows up here at close to full margin; cash flow growing slower than price would mean volume is leaking.
Source: VeriSign, Inc. second-quarter 2026 results (Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1) ↗- ReportedThe .com wholesale fee rose 7% from $10.26 to $10.97 on 1 November 2026, the first of four increases available in the six-year period that began 26 October 2024; four steps would reach roughly $13.42 by 2029.Domain Name Wire — Verisign raising wholesale .com prices. Effective 1 November 2026 the annual registry fee rises 7% from $10.26 to $10.97, the first change since September 2024 and the first of four increases available in the six-year pricing period that began on 26 October 2024; taking all four would lift the price to roughly $13.42. — 2026 · publ. 2026-04-23 · source ↗
- ReportedOperating margin was 67.7% in 2025.VeriSign, Inc., Form 10-K FY2025 — Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis. Revenues $1,656.6M (+6%) against $1,557.4M in 2024 (+4%) and $1,493.1M in 2023; operating income $1,121.0M (+6%). Costs as a percentage of revenues: cost of revenues 11.8% (12.3%, 13.2%), research and development 6.3% (6.2%, 6.1%), selling, general and administrative 14.2% (13.6%, 13.7%), total costs and expenses 32.3% (32.1%, 33.0%), operating income 67.7% (67.9%, 67.0%), interest expense (4.6)%, net income 49.8% (50.4%, 54.8%). The .com and .net domain name base was 173.5 million at 31 December 2025 (+3%) against 169.0 million in 2024 (−2%) and 172.7 million in 2023. VeriSign processed 41.7 million new .com and .net registrations in 2025 against 37.4 million in 2024; the final third-quarter 2025 renewal rate was 75.4% against 72.2%. The registry-level wholesale fee rose from $9.59 to $10.26 for .com effective 1 September 2024 and from $9.92 to $10.91 for .net effective 1 February 2024. Geographic revenues: U.S. $1,093.1M (+6%), EMEA $279.4M (+12%), APAC $184.6M (+5%), other $99.5M (+3%). VeriSign repurchased 3.4 million shares for $858.6M in 2025, with $1.08 billion remaining under a programme authorised to $1.50 billion effective 24 July 2025. — FY2025 · publ. 2026-02-05 · source ↗
- ReportedThe Department of Commerce's prior written approval is required for changes to the pricing section of the Cooperative Agreement, which renewed automatically on the same terms on 30 November 2024 and next renews on 30 November 2030.VeriSign, Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2025 (SEC, CIK 1014473) — Item 1, Business. VeriSign operates the .com and .net registries under registry agreements with ICANN, and .com additionally under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (most recently amended by Amendment 35 on 26 October 2018, automatically renewed on the same terms on 30 November 2024 for a successive six-year term, renewing again on 30 November 2030 unless the DOC gives notice). The .com Registry Agreement runs a six-year term that must be renewed or extended by 30 November 2030 and contains a presumptive right of renewal, with ICANN able to terminate or refuse in certain prescribed circumstances; it permits an increase to the Maximum Price of up to 7% over the previous year in each of the final four years of each six-year period, the current period having begun on 26 October 2024. The .net Registry Agreement was renewed on 29 June 2023, runs to 1 July 2029 and permits increases of up to 10% each year. VeriSign remits $0.2575 to ICANN quarterly for each annual .com registration and $0.25 for each .name registration. It also operates .cc under an agreement with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, operates .name and internationalised gTLDs, provides back-end services for .edu, performs the Root Zone Maintainer function for ICANN and operates two of the thirteen global internet root servers. Retail pricing is established by registrars; VeriSign must provide ICANN-accredited registrars with non-discriminatory access, faces marketing and bundling limits, must submit new Registry Services for ICANN review, and is subject to vertical-integration restrictions that apply solely to .com — obligations it states do not apply to ccTLDs and other gTLDs and may create a competitive disadvantage. Named registry competitors include CentralNic, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), DENIC eG, GoDaddy, Google, Identity Digital, Nominet, Public Interest Registry, Radix and .xyz. Employee headcount 928 (256 cost of revenues, 240 research and development, 432 selling, general and administrative). — FY2025 · publ. 2026-02-05 · source ↗