Free Webinar on Building a Website

Attention Small Business Owners and others:

Free Webinar September18: Building a Website Made Easy 

Meeting Description: "If you’ve been on the fence about building a website for your business, there’s no reason to wait any longer. In this webinar sponsored by Verisign, you’ll learn about the essentials of a website, how to approach the process, and get a live, hands-on demonstration building a website using a popular, free website building tool." 

Sponsored by: Verisign, Inc.

Presenter: Edison Guzman - SCORE Mentor & Owner, A&E Advertising and Web Design

"As Chair of the Orange NY SCORE, Edison Guzman advises people on how to start and grow a business. Having been an entrepreneur since 1991, Edison understands the survival skills a business must possess in order to thrive in any economic condition."

Duration: 1 Hour

When: Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 1:00 PM Eastern / 10:00AM Pacific

Host: SCORE Association

More info and Registration

[Note: This posting is not sponsored, nor an endorsement. expvc.com has no relationship with the presenter or SCORE, and is providing this information solely as a courtesy to those who may find the webinar informative or useful. Questions and further information about the webinar should be directed to the sponsor, SCORE, at the link above]

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Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Increase Stake in VeriSign Again

Legendary investor Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and related entities, have disclosed in an SEC filing that they now control 12,985,000 shares of common stock of VeriSign, being 10.4% of all outstanding shares of the domain name registry for .COM and .NET.

According to 247wallst.com, Buffett/Berkshire Hathaway's ownership in Verisign has been increasing:

• As of March 31, 2013, it was 8.174 million shares. 
• As of December 31, 2013, it was 10.96 million shares. 
• As of March 31, 2014, it was 11,685,654 shares.

Obviously the purchase of additional shares in July is a vote of confidence in VeriSign and its management--Buffett is known to add shares to his holdings when he thinks a stock is undervalued. Apparently Warren Buffett does not consider the new gTLDs much of a threat to VeriSign's .COM business either!

Both Verisign and Berkshire Hathaway closed up Monday (August 4, 2014):

VRSN $54.55  +$1.35 (2.54%)   VeriSign, Inc. - NASDAQ

BRK.A $194305.00  +$5026.00 (2.66%)  /  BRK.B  $129.73  +$3.90  (3.10%)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc - NYSE

According to 247wallst.com, VeriSign's total market value is $6.7 billion which puts the Warren Buffett/Berkshire Hathaway 10.4% stake worth almost $700 million. Berkshire Hathaway’s total market value is now more than $300 billion, its public equity holdings are in excess of $100 billion, and as of June 30, it was holding $55.5 billion in cash.

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INTA conference on Internet, Innovation, and ICANN

"... the Internet and Internet technology have taken the world by storm and now are the epicenter of almost all that we do. The Internet impacts business, government, education and private life. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has become a dominant force in the policymaking arena for the Internet."  (source infra)

INTA (International Trademark Association) presents an advanced-level conference cosponsored by INTA's Internet and Programs Committees entitled Internet, Innovation and ICANN: The Evolving Landscape of the Net
September 18–19, 2014
JW Marriott Hotel
San Francisco, California, USA

Subject areas according to the program description:

• Cloud-based storage, gaming, augmented reality, wearable technology, 3-D printing and more.
• Reaction to the U.S. government’s announcement regarding its intention to transfer its stewardship role over the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS).
• Conflicts between trademarks and governments over geographic names and their use in the DNS.
• Effective management of social media interactions between rights holders, platforms and users of social media.
• New changes to the WHOIS domain name directory system, and what trademark owners think about them.
• Lessons learned by applicants, service providers and industry when they applied for a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the first round.
• Internet intermediary liability regarding online sales.
• New gTLDs and rights protection mechanisms (RPMs) to help protect trademarks, including the Trademark Clearing House, the Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP), the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS) and traditional litigation.
• What brands can do to ensure their own security and to re-establish trust with their consumers.
• National security and government surveillance, offensive and defensive brand attacks, and consumer-focused data collection and usage.
• Learn latest developments on the newest topics relating to trademarks and the Internet and meet leaders of the trademark community, Internet experts and high-level government officials. 

Sponsors: BrandShield, MarkMonitor, Safenames, VeriSign

registration info

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VeriSign Earnings Conference Call, Decelerating Revenue Growth

Q2 2014 Verisign Earnings Conference Call - Thursday, July 24, 2014 4:30 PM ET
Listen to webcast
Earnings Results (pdf)
Earnings Presentation
Quarterly VRSN Convertible Debenture Dilution Q2- 2014 (pdf 87.0 KB)
Quarterly Results

Highlights of the latest analysis from Trefis (see above and below) on domain name registry Verisign:

• country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) growing faster than the .com and .net 
• As of Q4FY13: ccTLDs total 123 million || .com + .net total 127 million 
• new additions into the root zone slowing due saturated nature of the .com domain name
• .net domain name has not seen the same amount of traction as the .com domain name
• renewal rates of domain names continue declining
• no mention of new gTLDs as a factor (negative or positive)

VeriSign Pre-Earnings: Decelerating Revenue Growth to Continue -- Trefis: "Domain registry services provider VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) is scheduled to report its second quarter results for fiscal 2014 Thursday, July 24. First quarter revenues grew 5% this fiscal year compared to 15% during a similar period in fiscal 2013. For full fiscal 2014, VeriSign expects revenues to grow between 4% and 5%, lower than the 11% registered in fiscal 2013. In addition to the slowing adoption of .com and .net domain names from new customers, revenue growth slowed down rapidly in Q1FY14 primarily due to falling renewal rates. The global domain name market registered 7.3% increase in Q4FY13 to 271 million domain names from a comparable period in FY12. During the same period, the base for country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) continued to grow faster than the .com and .net domain base. ccTLD domains notched a 12% increase to reach 123 million domain names while VeriSign’s domestic domain base of .com and .net domain names grew 5% to 127 million domain names... In terms of guidance for Q2FY14, the company expects a weak quarter with the zone growing 2-4% on a year-on-year basis before witnessing an acceleration in H2FY14...." (read more at Trefis links above and below)

See Trefis complete coverage of VeriSign

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New gTLD domain names fallout: ICANN Dissed, Verisign Downgraded

Time out for a reality check  on ICANN's new gTLD domain names program:

Innovation? None

Adoption rate? Pathetic

Costs to Businesses? Increased with no benefits

Cybersquatting? Plenty of that

ICANN reputation? Destroyed

Domain Name Industry? Downgraded

Wells Fargo has downgraded VeriSign (VRSN -3.6%) to Market Perform. The firm is  worried slowing domain name registration growth will pressure VeriSign's top and bottom lines.
Check VRSN price now

But remember Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) is a major Verisign shareholder and Buffett usually invests for the long term-- Tracking Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio - Q1 2014 Update - Berkshire Hathaway inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) | Seeking Alpha: "Verisign Inc. (VRSN): VRSN was purchased in Q4 2012 at prices between $34.15 and $49.48. The position was more than doubled in Q1 2013 to a 0.45% position at prices between $38 and $48. In Q2 2013, the stake was again increased by one-third at prices between $44.39 and $49.27. This quarter saw a ~6% increase at prices between $51.68 and $62.61. It currently trades at $48.26. The current position is at around 9% of the business."

It appears everyone -- domain name registrants, nations (see e.g., France), businesses -- is just trying to ride out and see through all of the needless costs, chaos, and confusion imposed on the internet domain name space by ICANN with its new gTLDs domain names program.

More info:

Drop In VeriSign Shares Highlights Risks Associated With Domain Business by Trefis 

Web.Com: Bankrupt In 5 Years? Seeking Alpha

VeriSign Management Discusses Q1 2014 Results - Earnings Call Transcript | Seeking Alpha

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Will the NTIA Decision Hurt VeriSign?

"The U.S. government's plan of relinquishing control of the system for assigning website addresses is expected to hurt VeriSign 's ( VRSN ) growth prospects going forward." (source infra)

Will the NTIA's Decision Hurt VeriSign? - Analyst Blog - NASDAQ.com: " ... VeriSign, which operates the infrastructure for the .com, .net and.gov, stated that the NTIA decision will not affect its operations in any way as its Internet functions are much different from those included in the announcement. Further, the company clarified that functions performed by VeriSign that come under the purview of the NTIA announcement have been performed as a community service spanning three decades without compensation and hence their non-renewal will not affect profitability going forward. Nevertheless, this announcement seems to be a major setback for VeriSign. It is likely to be an overhang on the registration business, which is a major contributor of revenues (contributed nearly $1.0 billion revenue in 2013)....."

Of course, there is still the unanswered question of how Verisign is going to avoid antitrust liability after the US Department of Commerce walks away from its oversight.

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VeriSign, Domain Names, Dot Coms

VCexp.com: VeriSign, Domain Names, Dot Coms: "Forget the new gTLDs (and the coming morass of confusion, litigation, trademark issues, etc., incited by ICANN) -- "dot Com" is and will continue to be the "gold" of the domain business -- VeriSign 2nd-Quarter Profit Up 23% on Higher Revenue - WSJ.com: "VeriSign Inc.'s (VRSN) second-quarter profit jumped 23% as the Internet-domain-name company reported a double-digit increase in revenue . . . " (read more at link above)

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Verisign UDRP, profits, growth

Verisign files first UDRP since 2007 | Domain Name Wire: "It looks like it goes through Google’s pay-per-click feed, so GoDaddy is paying for someone to click on an ad on its own lander. If Verisign chose to file an in rem lawsuit against a .com domain instead of a UDRP, the court could end up ordering Verisign to transfer the domain to itself…"

VeriSign 2nd-Quarter Profit Up 23% on Higher Revenue - WSJ.com: "VeriSign Inc.'s (VRSN) second-quarter profit jumped 23% as the Internet-domain-name company reported a double-digit increase in revenue and higher operating margins, lifting results above Wall Street's expectations. The company has posted double-digit revenue gains and higher income for nine consecutive quarters. VeriSign has spent the past few years shedding several Internet-related businesses, making it almost totally dependent on the mainstay Internet domain operation. VeriSign's domain-name business--which operates the registry for .com, .net and other domains--is based on a contract from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, overseen by the U.S. Commerce Department. . . ."

Verisign does not forecast significant revenues from new gTLDs (if any) before 2014.--
Verisign Pre-Earnings: Expecting Modest Growth -- Trefis: "We expect the market share of .com and .net domain names in overall Internet domains to fall from 48.1% in 2012 to 46.6% in 2013. This is based on our forecast that the total number of registered .com/.net domains will increase to around 130 million by the end of 2013. At the same time, the total number of Internet domain names will increase to 280 million. We estimate slower growth in .com and .net domain names, as compared to the overall industry on account of competition from country code domain names and pending introduction of new gTLDs."

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Verisign's IDN Implementation Plans

Update on Verisign's IDN Implementation Plans: "The composition of the Internet's population has seen a dramatic shift over the last two decades. In 1996, the majority of end users were based in the U.S.; according to a 2012 Comscore report, the non-English speaking Internet population has grown to 87 percent, with more than 40 percent based in the Asia-Pacific region. In order to embrace this population shift, we believe the Internet must become multilingual so it can be accessible and relevant to the majority of end users today. . . ." (read more at link above)

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Verisign Find Your Custom Domain Tool

Verisign Launches Find Your Custom Domain Tool/App: Domaininspiration.com | TheDomains.com: "The results seem to be geared to domain names my last name, my company my sports interests and professions couple with common words. All of the domain names are available for registration but many of the suggested domain names are for .net, .tv and even .name domain names for which Verisign is the Registry for in addition of course to .com." (read more at link above)

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Verisign blasts ICANN

Verisign blasts ICANN for slow generic top-level domain name rollout
Ars Technica
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Verisign placed the blame for the delay squarely at the feet of ICANN, the global organization entrusted with domain namemanagement. “Without a well constructed and well-reasoned ...

Company buys two domains from Frank Schilling for $80,000 - Domain Name Wire: "Company buys two domains from Frank Schilling for $80,000 - SearchCore discloses purchases in SEC filing.
Companies buy domains from Frank Schilling’s Name Administration all the time, but here’s an example that’s in an SEC filing. It also shows that Schilling is willing to sell domains on a payment plan.
The buyer is SearchCore, which I wrote about earlier this year."

Online video company paid over $100,000 for uLive domains - Domain Name Wire: "Last week Afternic reported that it sold uLive.tv for $27,000. I was correct that the uLive.tv buyer is the same company that paid $75,000 for uLive.com last month. . . . the buyer was revealed as Los Angeles online video company Real Gravity."

AccuWeather vs Weather Channel for .weather domain name: ""The application was a part of a widely publicized open process, and The Weather Channel was the only entity that chose to apply for dot-weather," according to an e-mailed statement from Weather Channel spokesman David Blumenthal. . . . For the Weather Channel "to get dot-weather is a real restriction in the freedom of public access on the Internet," says AccuWeather's Myers. He adds that other companies, along with academics and government organizations, are also against this attempt to control information that is meant to be for the public good."

MLM company denied Zija.com domain in dispute - Domain Name Wire: "Zija International, a multi-level marketing company that sells nutritional and dietary supplements, has failed to get the domain name Zija.com through a UDRP. . . Sounds like reverse domain name hijacking to me. The panel found against Zija International, but declined to find it guilty of reverse domain name hijacking despite its “misguided and ultimately incorrect” belief that it could win the UDRP." (read more at links above)

Why everyone should register a domain name | Dan Gillmor | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "Getting a domain is easy, and cheap. For the price of a few cups of coffee, you can register a domain. I use Hover.com, which is run by a friend, but there are lots of reputable registrars from which to pick. (The always valuable Lifehacker lists some others here.) Unless you have an extremely uncommon last name, you'll be unlikely to find it available. But you may well be able to get your FirsnameLastname.com address – I own dangillmor.com, for example – and even if you can't you can use other domain suffixes or find a name that is still useful. Remember, most people find websites via searches, so don't worry if you can't get your exact name."

Domain Agents Raising Funds For Growth: "I understand Domain Agents is using Angel List along with other means of fundraising. The “company is committed to developing DomainAgents into a leadership role within the domain name industry,” wrote McKegney. “We’re ramping up fast and closing deals as fast as they come in. Our current domain registar partners are very satisfied with our sales conversions and excited about the increases in revenue stream.  We also have a new domainer-focused service that we’ll be rolling out in a few weeks that should add some extra revenue for domainers and help convert more sales,” he added."

NEW YORK: ICANN clears 27 non-English domain name suffixes ...
The agency in charge of Internet addresses says it's given preliminary approval for 27 new suffixes - all in Chinese, Arabic and other languages besides English.
www.idahostatesman.com/.../icann-clears-27-non-english-dom...

Domain Dossier - Investigate domains and IP addresses, get owner ...
Domain Dossier, Investigate domains and IP addresses. domain or IP address. domain whois record, DNS records, traceroute. network whois record ...
centralops.net/co/DomainDossier.aspx?=dom_dn

Domain Name Registration Agreement (COM, NET, and ORG) | netINS
SELECTION OF A DOMAIN NAME. You represent that, to the best of the your knowledge and belief, neither this registration of a domain name nor the manner in ...
netins.net/.../domain-name-registration-agreement-com-net-an...

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A new gTLD? Maybe you should get a dot COM instead

VeriSign warns ICANN (and the rest of us) about new gTLDs--

VeriSign, Inc. - Current Report: "On March 28, 2013, VeriSign, Inc. (“Verisign” or the “Company”) released Verisign Labs Technical Report #1130007 version 2.2: New gTLD Security and Stability Considerations (the “Report”). The Company provided the Report along with a cover letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (the “Letter”) on March 28, 2013. A copy of the Letter and the Report are attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and Exhibit 99.2. . . . Ensuring that Internet software and sites understand all domains - not just the old three-letter domains like .COM and .NET - is called universal acceptance. For example, when is the last time you looked at your company's online contact forms? If you haven't revisited them for a while, you might discover that they are hard coded for certain domains like .NET or .ORG and may reject email addresses that use, say, a four-or- more-character domain like .INFO or .MOBI. (Full disclosure: .INFO and .MOBI are both domains managed by my company, Afilias). Or have you seen some TLDs that don't work in your browser? Some browsers, including mobile ones, screen out addresses as either “right” or “wrong,” and many modern TLDs simply don't resolve because the browser doesn't understand how to handle the TLD. A real-life example: as late as 2007, you could not email an article from the New York Times website to anybody with a .INFO email address, which was actually fun for some of my colleagues because they would try to send me articles and say, ”Oh, you didn't see it? Maybe you should get a .COM address.” . . . From that experience, I developed my three “rules” of TLD acceptance: 1. An old TLD will be accepted more often than a new TLD. 2. An ASCII-only TLD will be accepted more than an IDN TLD. 3. A three-letter gTLD will be accepted more often than a longer string, even if it's a gTLD . . . . "  (read more at link above)


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VeriSign Growth Slowing?

But Dot Com is still king--

VeriSign's Slowing Growth Underlies Our $41 Valuation - Seeking Alpha: " . . . Verisign (VRSN) is primarily known as the authoritative registry for dot-com and dot-net generic top-level domains. It also operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's 13 root name servers and the back-end systems for the dot-gov, dot-jobs, and dot-edu top-level domains. The company's share price has risen almost 15% since Jan. 24, after the company reported steady revenue growth in 2012 and gross margins improved to almost 80%. We believe that the market is being overly optimistic about Verisign's prospects. Its primary revenue growth driver for the past few years, the annual increase in the dot-com domain registration fee was fixed by the renewed agreement with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). As a result, the company is now dependent upon the growth in the dot-com and dot-net domain name registrations and the annual hikes in dot-net domain names. . . . The dot-com domains constitute close to ~90% of the dot-com/dot-net domain name mix, currently governed by VeriSign. The restriction on dot-com domain fee hikes under the new agreement will result in the dot-com domain price staying steady at $7.85 until November 2018. At the same time, the agreement for dot-net domain registry permits price hikes of up to 10% per year. The growth of dot-net domain name registrations (~9%) has been slightly outpacing that of dot-com domain names (~6%), and we estimate the growth of the combined fee to slow down to 2% annually and reach about $8.50 by 2019. . . ." (read more at link above)


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