Verisign Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results

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Software Technology Internet Security

Verisign Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results

Investor Relations: David Atchley, datchley@verisign.com, 703-948-3447
Media Relations: David McGuire, davmcguire@verisign.com, 703-948-3800

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024.

Fourth Quarter Financial Results

VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries (“Verisign”) reported revenue of $395 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, up 3.9 percent from the same quarter in 2023. Operating income was $264 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to $256 million for the same quarter of 2023. Verisign reported net income of $191 million and diluted earnings per share (diluted “EPS”) of $2.00 for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to net income of $265 million and diluted EPS of $2.60 for the same quarter in 2023. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2023 included the recognition of certain income tax benefits that were noted in the Q4 2023 earnings release issued on Feb. 8, 2024, which increased net income by $69.3 million and increased diluted EPS by $0.68.

2024 Financial Results

Verisign reported revenue of $1.56 billion for 2024, up 4.3 percent from 2023. Operating income was $1.06 billion for 2024 compared to $1.00 billion in 2023. Verisign reported net income of $786 million and diluted EPS of $8.00 for 2024, compared to net income of $818 million and diluted EPS of $7.90 in 2023. Net income for the full year of 2023 included the recognition of certain income tax benefits, noted above, which increased net income by $69.3 million and increased diluted EPS by $0.67.

“In 2024 we extended our unparalleled record of uninterrupted availability for .com and .net resolution to more than 27 years. We also successfully renewed our .com registry agreement with ICANN and the Cooperative Agreement with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration,” said Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Financial Highlights

  • Verisign ended 2024 with cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $600 million, a decrease of $326 million from year-end 2023.
  • Cash flow from operations was $232 million for the fourth quarter of 2024 and $903 million for the full year of 2024 compared with $204 million for the same quarter in 2023 and $854 million for the full year of 2023.
  • Deferred revenues as of Dec. 31, 2024, totaled $1.30 billion, an increase of $58 million from year-end 2023.
  • During the fourth quarter of 2024, Verisign repurchased 1.4 million shares of its common stock for $260 million. During the full year of 2024, Verisign repurchased 6.6 million shares of its common stock for $1.21 billion. As of Dec. 31, 2024, there was $1.02 billion remaining for future share repurchases under the share repurchase program which has no expiration date.

Business Highlights

  • On Nov. 27, 2024, Verisign announced the renewal of the .com Registry Agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), pursuant to which Verisign will remain the sole registry operator for the .com registry through Nov. 30, 2030.
  • On Nov. 29, 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the renewal of the Cooperative Agreement with Verisign for a six-year term.
  • Verisign ended the fourth quarter of 2024 with 169.0 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 2.1 percent decrease from the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, and a net decrease of 0.5 million registrations during the fourth quarter of 2024.
  • In the fourth quarter of 2024, Verisign processed 9.5 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 9.0 million for the same quarter in 2023.
  • The final .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2024 was 72.2 percent compared to 73.5 percent for the same quarter in 2023. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.

Today’s Conference Call

Verisign will host a live conference call today at 4:30 p.m. (EST) to review the fourth quarter and full year 2024 results. The call will be accessible by direct dial at (888) 676-VRSN (U.S.) or (786) 789-4797 (international), conference ID: Verisign. A listen-only live web cast of the conference call and accompanying slide presentation will also be available at https://investor.verisign.com. An audio archive of the call will be available at https://investor.verisign.com/events.cfm. This news release and the financial information discussed on today’s conference call are available at https://investor.verisign.com.

About Verisign

Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN), a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, enables internet navigation for many of the world’s most recognized domain names. Verisign helps enable the security, stability, and resiliency of the Domain Name System and the internet by providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of the 13 global internet root servers, and providing registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net top-level domains, which support the majority of global e-commerce. To learn more please visit verisign.com.

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, attempted security breaches, cyber-attacks, and DDoS attacks against our systems and services; the introduction of undetected or unknown defects in our systems or services; vulnerabilities in the global routing system; system interruptions or system failures; damage or interruptions to our data centers, data center systems or resolution systems; risks arising from our operation of root servers and our performance of the Root Zone Maintainer functions; any loss or modification of our right to operate the .com and .net gTLDs; changes or challenges to the pricing provisions of the .com Registry Agreement; new or existing governmental laws and regulations in the U.S. or other applicable non-U.S. jurisdictions; new laws, regulations, directives or ICANN policies that require us to obtain and maintain personal information of registrants; economic, legal, regulatory, and political risks associated with our international operations; unfavorable changes in, or interpretations of, tax rules and regulations; risks from the adoption of ICANN’s consensus and temporary policies, technical standards and other processes; the weakening of, changes to, the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance; the outcome of claims, lawsuits, audits or investigations; lower economic growth, particularly in China; our ability to compete in the highly competitive business environment in which we operate; changes in internet practices and behavior and the adoption of substitute technologies, or the negative impact of wholesale price increases; our ability to expand our services into developing and emerging economies; our ability to maintain strong relationships with registrars and their resellers; our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled employees; and our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights. More information about potential factors that could affect our business and financial results is included in our filings with the SEC, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and, when filed, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024. Verisign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this announcement.

©2025 VeriSign, Inc. All rights reserved. VERISIGN, the VERISIGN logo, and other trademarks, service marks, and designs are registered or unregistered trademarks of VeriSign, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and in foreign countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

VERISIGN, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In millions, except par value)

(Unaudited)

 

 

December 31,
2024

 

December 31,
2023

ASSETS

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

$

206.7

 

 

$

240.1

 

Marketable securities

 

393.2

 

 

 

686.3

 

Other current assets

 

63.9

 

 

 

61.9

 

Total current assets

 

663.8

 

 

 

988.3

 

Property and equipment, net

 

224.5

 

 

 

233.2

 

Goodwill

 

52.5

 

 

 

52.5

 

Deferred tax assets

 

281.3

 

 

 

301.0

 

Deposits to acquire intangible assets

 

145.0

 

 

 

145.0

 

Other long-term assets

 

39.4

 

 

 

29.0

 

Total long-term assets

 

742.7

 

 

 

760.7

 

Total assets

$

1,406.5

 

 

$

1,749.0

 

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ DEFICIT

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

$

257.8

 

 

$

257.4

 

Deferred revenues

 

973.5

 

 

 

931.1

 

Current senior notes

 

299.8

 

 

 

—

 

Total current liabilities

 

1,531.1

 

 

 

1,188.5

 

Long-term deferred revenues

 

330.7

 

 

 

315.0

 

Long-term senior notes

 

1,492.5

 

 

 

1,790.2

 

Long-term tax and other liabilities

 

10.1

 

 

 

36.3

 

Total long-term liabilities

 

1,833.3

 

 

 

2,141.5

 

Total liabilities

 

3,364.4

 

 

 

3,330.0

 

Commitments and contingencies

 

 

 

Stockholders’ deficit:

 

 

 

Preferred stock—par value $.001 per share; Authorized shares: 5.0; Issued and outstanding shares: none

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Common stock and additional paid-in capital—par value $.001 per share; Authorized shares: 1,000.0; Issued shares: 355.2 at December 31, 2024 and 354.9 at December 31, 2023; Outstanding shares: 95.0 at December 31, 2024 and 101.3 at December 31, 2023

 

10,645.3

 

 

 

11,808.0

 

Accumulated deficit

 

(12,600.7

)

 

 

(13,386.4

)

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

 

(2.5

)

 

 

(2.6

)

Total stockholders’ deficit

 

(1,957.9

)

 

 

(1,581.0

)

Total liabilities and stockholders’ deficit

$

1,406.5

 

 

$

1,749.0

 

VERISIGN, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(In millions, except per share data)

(Unaudited)

 

 

Three Months Ended December 31,

 

Year Ended December 31,

 

2024

 

2023

 

2024

 

2023

Revenues

$

395.4

 

 

$

380.4

 

 

$

1,557.4

 

 

$

1,493.1

 

Costs and expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cost of revenues

 

48.4

 

 

 

48.5

 

 

 

191.4

 

 

 

197.3

 

Research and development

 

24.9

 

 

 

22.9

 

 

 

96.7

 

 

 

91.0

 

Selling, general and administrative

 

58.3

 

 

 

52.7

 

 

 

211.1

 

 

 

204.2

 

Total costs and expenses

 

131.6

 

 

 

124.1

 

 

 

499.2

 

 

 

492.5

 

Operating income

 

263.8

 

 

 

256.3

 

 

 

1,058.2

 

 

 

1,000.6

 

Interest expense

 

(18.8

)

 

 

(18.8

)

 

 

(75.3

)

 

 

(75.3

)

Non-operating income, net

 

3.1

 

 

 

14.1

 

 

 

39.0

 

 

 

51.2

 

Income before income taxes

 

248.1

 

 

 

251.6

 

 

 

1,021.9

 

 

 

976.5

 

Income tax (expense) benefit

 

(56.6

)

 

 

13.1

 

 

 

(236.2

)

 

 

(158.9

)

Net income

 

191.5

 

 

 

264.7

 

 

 

785.7

 

 

 

817.6

 

Other comprehensive (loss) income

 

(0.1

)

 

 

0.4

 

 

 

0.1

 

 

 

0.1

 

Comprehensive income

$

191.4

 

 

$

265.1

 

 

$

785.8

 

 

$

817.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earnings per share:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

$

2.00

 

 

$

2.60

 

 

$

8.01

 

 

$

7.91

 

Diluted

$

2.00

 

 

$

2.60

 

 

$

8.00

 

 

$

7.90

 

Shares used to compute earnings per share

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

 

95.6

 

 

 

101.8

 

 

 

98.1

 

 

 

103.4

 

Diluted

 

95.7

 

 

 

102.0

 

 

 

98.2

 

 

 

103.5

 

VERISIGN, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In millions)

(Unaudited)

 

 

Year Ended December 31,

 

2024

 

2023

Cash flows from operating activities:

 

 

 

Net income

$

785.7

 

 

$

817.6

 

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:

 

 

 

Depreciation of property and equipment

 

36.9

 

 

 

44.1

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

61.1

 

 

 

59.7

 

Amortization of discount on investments in debt securities

 

(21.1

)

 

 

(27.8

)

Other, net

 

3.6

 

 

 

3.3

 

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

 

 

 

Other assets

 

(12.4

)

 

 

(1.5

)

Other liabilities

 

(28.9

)

 

 

(2.2

)

Deferred revenues

 

58.1

 

 

 

27.0

 

Net deferred income taxes

 

19.6

 

 

 

(66.4

)

Net cash provided by operating activities

 

902.6

 

 

 

853.8

 

Cash flows from investing activities:

 

 

 

Proceeds from maturities and sales of marketable securities

 

1,195.1

 

 

 

1,278.9

 

Purchases of marketable securities

 

(880.7

)

 

 

(1,330.5

)

Purchases of property and equipment

 

(28.1

)

 

 

(45.8

)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

 

286.3

 

 

 

(97.4

)

Cash flows from financing activities:

 

 

 

Repurchases of common stock

 

(1,225.6

)

 

 

(901.4

)

Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan

 

12.3

 

 

 

12.3

 

Payment of excise tax on repurchases of common stock

 

(8.2

)

 

 

—

 

Other financing activities

 

—

 

 

 

(0.7

)

Net cash used in financing activities

 

(1,221.5

)

 

 

(889.8

)

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

 

(0.8

)

 

 

(0.1

)

Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

 

(33.4

)

 

 

(133.5

)

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at beginning of period

 

245.5

 

 

 

379.0

 

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at end of period

$

212.1

 

 

$

245.5

 

Supplemental cash flow disclosures:

 

 

 

Cash paid for interest

$

72.8

 

 

$

72.8

 

Cash paid for income taxes, net of refunds received

$

230.5

 

 

$

239.7