Verisign CEO Jim Bidzos spoke about the Q3 results during an online conference with analysts. The Verisign-managed .COM and .NET once again performed well. The total number of registrations reached 172.1 million. This is 1.48 million more than in the previous quarter, and a 5.1% year-over-year increase.
However, Jim Bidzos’s comments on the fate of .WEB aroused almost greater interest. An unknown company Nu Dot Co won the auction for the right to manage it, having paid a record $135 million. Subsequently, it turned out that Verisign fully financed its bid and participation in the auction, and took control over the domain. This caused violent discontent from other applicants for the domain. One of them, Afilias, is still trying to challenge the results of the auction. ICANN’s Independent Review Process, initiated by Afilias, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
However, Verisign seems to have no doubts about its success. Although Jim Bidzos said that it would be somewhat premature to talk about the launch date for .WEB, he still shared the company’s plans. Domain Incite reports that a domain can be launched a “couple of quarters from delegation”. Bidzos also noted that, unlike .COM and .NET, prices in .WEB will not be regulated by ICANN or the US authorities, which will provide the registry with sufficient pricing flexibility.
Also, the Verisign CEO addressed marketing promotion of .WEB. This is quite an acute issue, as many observers previously assumed that Verisign's main goal was to prevent .WEB from becoming a real rival to .COM and .NET. Such an approach would not imply a loud advertising campaign and active promotion of the domain zone. But Jim Bidzos dispelled all doubt: “We certainly intend to market and promote .WEB. Our plan, our desire, as we’ve stated — and I’ll say again — is to offer our customers more choice and to make .WEB a very successful TLD.”
