From page 28, no more than 38% of revenues could possibly be used to support their registry systems and obligations (this number includes costs of revenues, administrative expenses, and interest expense). The remainder, 62%, is used for expansion and profit: 9% sales and marketing ($90m), 6% R&D ($63m), the remainder to income tax and shareholders. And obviously sales and R&D take up some of administrative expenses and usage of debt raised as well.
That's a pretty sizeable margin for a non-differentiated product. If they didn't have the contract for .com and .net, there are many other players who could jump in: per page 6, "there are over 840 other operational gTLD registries" that do not use Verisign's services.
Don't bet on them losing the contract, though, unless you want to bet against Berkshire Hathaway - which recently upped its investment in Verisign despite uncertainty about ICANN's future. For better or for worse, a lot of smart people think Verisign's current business model is here to stay.
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/VRSN/2260644339x0x888...
From page 28, no more than 38% of revenues could possibly be used to support their registry systems and obligations (this number includes costs of revenues, administrative expenses, and interest expense). The remainder, 62%, is used for expansion and profit: 9% sales and marketing ($90m), 6% R&D ($63m), the remainder to income tax and shareholders. And obviously sales and R&D take up some of administrative expenses and usage of debt raised as well.
That's a pretty sizeable margin for a non-differentiated product. If they didn't have the contract for .com and .net, there are many other players who could jump in: per page 6, "there are over 840 other operational gTLD registries" that do not use Verisign's services.
Don't bet on them losing the contract, though, unless you want to bet against Berkshire Hathaway - which recently upped its investment in Verisign despite uncertainty about ICANN's future. For better or for worse, a lot of smart people think Verisign's current business model is here to stay.
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/why-buffett-broke-his-rule-and...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/14/icann-int...