VeriSign sells off Network Solutions

VeriSign said this morning that it is selling its Network Solutions domain registration business for roughly $100 million, but plans to retain control over the database that directs people to .com and .net addresses.

By Matt Hines Staff Writer, CNET News.com http://news.com.com/2100-1025-5092316.html

October 16, 2003

VeriSign said Thurday that it is selling its Network Solutions domain registration business for roughly $100 million, but plans to retain control over the database that directs people to .com and .net addresses.

The Network Solutions business is set to go to Pivotal Private Equity, a Phoenix-based venture capital firm, in exchange for $60 million in cash and a $40 million senior subordinated note. VeriSign will also retain a 15 percent equity stake in Network Solutions.

VeriSign said it would not part with the .com and .net database it operates, which it acquired through its $21 billion buyout of an independent company called Network Solutions three years ago. That company consisted of two businesses -a registrar, which sells Internet addresses, and a registry, which directs people to Web sites.

It's giving up the registrar business, which has become essentially a commodity service in a field in which competition has been heating up. VeriSign rebranded the unit in January as Network Solutions after two years of operation under its own name and had been seeking a buyer for the business over the last several months.

What it's keeping is the registry, recently renamed as VeriSign Naming and Directory Services--and which operates in a field where the company still has a relative monopoly. The registry business, according to VeriSign, is the backbone of a global .com and .net domain name infrastructure that handles over 10 billion interactions per day.

The deal was made in order to tighten VeriSign's focus on delivering infrastructure services across Internet, telecommunications and Web security markets, a spokesman said.

VeriSign in recent weeks has been in the middle of a growing controversy over its Site Finder service, which redirects all misspelled or unassigned .com domain names to a search page it manages. On Wednesday, the company told a group of technical experts in Washington, D.C., that it plans to revive the service after having found "no identified security or stability problems" in the system.

When it was active, Site Finder added a "wild card" for .com and .net domains that snared queries to nonexistent Internet sites and forwarded them to VeriSign's own servers.

The Network Solutions transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

News.Com story at: http://news.com.com/2102-1025_3-5092316.html

Comment

gone bust ! IRegistrations

Posted by: netrophet at 2004-01-02

Be warned Iregistrations a Enom reseller - who Enom have seem to have washed their hands of conveniently ??

Burst on to the market early last year with their $5.95 .com registration offer... and still offer that deal, although mysteriously their credit card /processing back-end disappeared in early December and has not re-appeared [ yet ] ... renders them unable to transact any new business.

There are a number of problems with this Australian based reseller, a Mr Peter Jacobs mail@iregistrations.com seems to be head cook & bottlewasher !

THEY DO NOT MENTION THEY ARE RESELLERS 2. THEY HAVE TAKEN MY FUNDS AND I DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE DOMAIN I PURCHASED AND THEY DO NOT ANSWER ANY EMAILS OR ONLINE SUPPORT REQUESTS 3. THE DOMAINS I PURCHASED ARE NOT LIVE AND YET NOT FOR SALE EITHER ? 4. I HAVE LODGED A COMPLAINT TO ICANN AND ENOM 5. THE ALSO FRAUDULANTLY CHARGE YOUR CREDIT CARD FOR HOSTING AND POSTING SERVICES $49 ON TOP OF THE DOMAIN PURCHASE PRICE , A FEW MONTHS LATER

So look out, stay clear and if you have domains with them monitor them closely or transfer them now while you can.

I hold the largest private collection of dot.com domains in the world in excess of 53,000

I do not create these reports lightly.

Happy 2004 Mark the netprophet