Verisign sets another registration record, .web sunrise in December – Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News
13.1 million new .com/.net registrations set another record.
Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) reported third-quarter earnings this afternoon.
The company reported $443 million in Q3 revenue, up 5.7% year over year.
Operating income increased from $284 million to $296 million.
Net income was flat after deducting a $7.5 million loss related to assets held for sale. Its 10-Q states the assets are “property and equipment.”
The company recorded 13.1 million new .com/.net registrations in the quarter, up from 10.6 million in Q3 last year. That’s better than Q2 2026, when it was 12.7 million. Q2 was a record, which makes Q3 a record as well.
The company added 3.36 million net domains across .com and .net during the quarter after accounting for deletions. The total domain base is up 6.1% year over year.
Almost all growth came from .com, which rose from 166.6 million to 169.8 million. The .net base was up 0.1 million.
The company increased its 2026 guidance. It now expects the domain base to grow 6.5% to 7.0% this year, up from 5.2% to 6.0% three months ago. For reference, when it released 2025 earnings earlier this year, it guided to just 1.5% to 3.5% growth for the year.
Verisign also increased its revenue and operating income guidance.
As for .web, Verisign plans to launch a trademark sunrise period in mid-December. That sets up a limited registration period starting in mid January, 2027, which could run until April. General availability would start after that.
During the limited registration period, most .com registrants would be able to get the matching .web domain. Verisign hasn’t determined pricing for the limited registration phase.
The company’s 10-Q stated that the company capitalized $26.2 million for acquisition costs related to .web, on top of the $145.2 million it paid in deposits to acquire the domain. Those costs were “individually not material.” Some of that might have been a payoff to get Altanova to drop its opposition.
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