VeriSign reports growth over 100 million domain names.
As forecasted, the total number of .com and .net domain names under management topped 100 million in the second quarter of 2010, reports VeriSign. The company ended the quarter with 101.5 million domains across the two top level domain names. VeriSign added 7.9 million new domain names in the quarter, representing 13% growth year-over-year.
The naming services business grossed $164 million for the quarter, up 4% over the previous quarter and 9% over the same quarter of the year prior.
For each .net domain name VeriSign reaps $4.65 and it gets $7.34 for each .com domain name. These prices increased on July 1 and are likely to increase again next year.
The only wrench in VeriSign’s money printing machine is a legal setback over the company’s contract with ICANN to run .com.
DR.DOMAIN says
Verisign is in a unique position to gouge.Still-I can’t see how ICANN would be able to keep VS in check should they get buck wild.The last thing domainers need would be for some fbn operation to trash .com with poor management…and comatose marketing.
Jim Fleming says
“The only wrench in VeriSign’s money printing machine…”
wrench -> friction or sandpaper…?
ICANN and the U.S. Government clearly are in no hurry to have others (easily) enter the “license to print money” game – the barrier continues to be raised and new hurdles are placed in the path each year. (EPP, DNSSEC, IDNs, VI..)
The real gold/diamond-mines are the RIRs with benign blocks of IP Address Spectrum. People now see that the claimed “IANA Contracts” may not have existed.
What can set people free ?
Microsoft’s free domain system based on the (rootless) PNRP may do it. [ironic, M$ as monopoly buster? ]
SCUBA DNS – if .NET neutrality and the FCC continue to focus people on the original Internet Architecture with no central control.
2012 POTUS candidates who may be more Internet savy and encourage solutions such as the partitioning of .COM by length – the 4-letter .COM domains are already cloned,,,and can all opt to be a TLD for free
IPv6 also looms large as a place for people to escape, but it is being co-opted by the usual suspects that plan to lease more gold/diamond mines, and control the distribution.
It Seeks Overall Control
Wallace says
the price will go up again next year as you said, it’s absolutely a sadly news for all domainers.