VRSN · CIK 1014473
What VeriSign, Inc. told the SEC could break it.
VeriSign's whole business rests on a single right: substantially all of its revenue comes from operating the .com and .net registries under agreements with ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce — .com running through November 2030, .net through June 2029, with regulated caps on its price increases — so any loss or modification of those rights would materially harm it. Its sales are also concentrated, with its largest registrar customer at about 31% of 2025 revenue, though it argues end-users would simply transfer to other registrars if that customer were lost. The remaining risks are operational and geopolitical: keeping its DNS infrastructure continuously secure and available (it cites more than 28 years of 100% uptime), and managing U.S.–China tariff tensions and OFAC sanctions-compliance obligations that affect its China business.
4 self-disclosed vulnerabilities, pulled from its own filings, each in the company’s words, with the source. This is the risk register almost nobody reads.
In its own words
What could break it.
Regulatory & policy
- ICANN/DOC .com and .net registry agreementshigh
Substantially all of VeriSign's revenue depends on its right to operate the .com gTLD (DOC Cooperative Agreement + ICANN .com Registry Agreement through Nov 2030) and .net gTLD (through June 2029), with regulated price-increase caps; loss or modification of these rights would materially harm the business.
“Substantially all of our revenues are derived from our operation of the . com gTLD under our Cooperative Agreement with the DOC and our . com Registry Agreement as well as our operation of the . net gTLD under our .net Registry Agreement. Any loss or modification of our right to operate the . com and . net gTLDs could have a material adverse impact on our business and result in loss of revenues.”
SEC filing →As of 2026 - US-China tensions/tariffs and OFAC sanctions compliancemedium
VeriSign faces US-China political/tariff tensions affecting its China business and OFAC economic-sanctions compliance (including registrant-information verification obligations), which could give rise to claims, fines or restrictions.
“Political tensions between the United States and China, including tensions resulting from tariffs or proposed tariffs, in particular may pose additional risks to our business in China. The U.S. government has imposed restrictions on certain Chinese companies and on trading in certain technologies.”
Customer concentration
- largest registrar customer (~31% of revenue)medium
VeriSign's largest customer (an unnamed registrar) accounted for ~31% of 2025 revenue (32% in 2024/2023); the company believes loss would not be material because end-users would transfer to other registrars, but the concentration is significant.
“The Company's largest customer accounted for approximately 31 % of revenues in 2025, and approximately 32 % of revenues in 2024 and 2023. The Company does not believe that the loss of this customer would have a material adverse effect on the Company's business because, in that event, end-users of this customer would transfer to the Company's other existing customers.”
SEC filing →As of 2026
Cybersecurity
- DNS infrastructure security and uptimemedium
VeriSign's business depends on continuous, secure DNS resolution for .com/.net (28+ years of 100% uptime; servers process hundreds of billions of transactions daily); a cybersecurity incident impairing integrity/availability would be critical.
“Our cybersecurity program is designed and implemented to assess, identify, mitigate and manage risks from cybersecurity threats that may result in adverse effects on the integrity and availability of our production and information systems and support our track record of more than 28 years of 100% DNS uptime for . com and . net .”
SEC filing →As of 2026
The hidden graph
Who it depends on, and who depends on it.
Relationships surfaced from filings, including ones disclosed by the other side, which is how the non-obvious ones come to light.
Its customers
“Each registry typically imposes a fee in association with the registration of a domain name. For example, VeriSign, the registry for .com and .net, has a current annual list prices of $10.26 and $11.66 for .com and .net registrations, respectively, and ICANN charges $0.20 for most domain names registered in the gTLDs within its purview.”
Cited →
In the MyPRIA app, this is checked against the companies you actually own.
← World Watch