Verisign ( NASDAQ : VRSN )just announced they will be holding a conference call and Live Webcast tomorrow morning, Friday November 30, 2012 at 8:30 AM EST:
“to provide a status update on the .com Registry Agreement renewal”.
“The call will be accessible by direct dial at (888) 676-VRSN (U.S.) or (913) 312-0400 (international).”
A listen-only live webcast of the conference call will also be available at http://investor.verisign.com.
November 30th is the date previously set by Verisign as the deadline for a determination on the .Com contract without requiring an extension from the DOC.
Shares of Verisign traded down almost 2% today to close at $39.31 and where trading down another 1% after hours but shares appear to have stopped trading.
We of course will be watching the webcast to see if they got the .com contract renewed and if so at what rate and with what guaranteed increase, if any.
As we reported, the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) wrote a lengthily letter to the to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), urging the DOC & the DOJ not to approve the renewal of the Verisign contract to operate the .com registry unless Verisign rolls back wholesale prices of .com domain names to the same price it charges for .net domain registrations and to limit price increases in the future to the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
It could be that the status quo is maintained for 6 months, while the NTIA/DOC/DOJ continue to evaluate things. The feds should open up a public comment period, and listen to what consumers have to say about the contract.
I guess we may see if the DOC & DOJ took ICA’s advice.