Verisign, a company managing TLDs like .COM and .NET, has significantly bumped up its forecast for 2026, Domain Incite reports. While earlier this year, Verisign analysts expected 1.5-3.5 percent in domain growth, the updated expectation is 3.1-4.3 percent, this optimism is due to the excellent performance in Q1. The company increased the number of domains under its management by 2.54 million over the first three months, which is 3.7 percent higher year-on-year. The total number of .COM and .NET registrations has reached 176.1 million.
Addressing analysts, Verisign CEO Jim Bidzos named two reasons for this major success: first, Verisign has implemented marketing programs for registrars; and second, website developers are increasingly using AI, fueling the demand for new domains. The company seems to be confident that the current trend will persist at least through the end of the year. The optimistic forecast was made soon after Verisign announced that .COM will see another price hike in November 2026.
Financially, the first quarter of the year was also quite successful for Verisign. The company earned $429 million in net sales, or 6.6 percent higher than in Q1 2025. Its net profit has grown from $199 million to $215 million, allowing the company to spend $214 million on buybacks and buy its own stock back from shareholders in the open market.
