RESTON, VA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/30/15 -- VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), a global leader in domain names and Internet security, today announced six million domain names were added to the Internet in the first quarter of 2015, bringing the total number of registered domain names to 294 million worldwide across all top-level domains (TLDs) as of March 31, 2015, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief.

The increase of six million domain names globally equates to a growth rate of 1.9 percent over the fourth quarter of 2014. Worldwide registrations have grown by 17.8 million, or 6.5 percent, year over year.

The .com and .net TLDs experienced aggregate growth in the first quarter of 2015, reaching a combined total of approximately 133.0 million .com and .net domain names in the domain name base. This represents a 3.1 percent increase year over year. As of March 31, 2015, the domain name base of .com equaled 117.9 million names, while .net equaled 15.1 million names.

In the first quarter, Verisign processed 8.7 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 8.6 million domain names for the same period in 2014.

During the first quarter of 2015, Verisign's average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load was 119 billion across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of 165 billion. Compared to the previous quarter, the daily average increased 8.6 percent and the peak increased 13.1 percent. Year over year, the daily average query load increased 40.2 percent and the peak query load increased 37.9 percent.

With changes to search algorithms that favor websites that look and perform better on mobile devices, non-mobile friendly website owners, including many small businesses, fear their search rankings will plummet. As online commerce continues to grow and as people continue to turn to the Internet when looking for information, this quarter's feature article, "'Mobilegeddon': Good for Small Business?" touts the benefits of mobile websites for business and why small businesses should make this a top priority.

Verisign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide Internet users throughout the world with statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry. The first quarter 2015 Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained at VerisignInc.com/DNIB.

About Verisign
Verisign, a global leader in domain names and Internet security, enables Internet navigation for many of the world's most recognized domain names and provides protection for websites and enterprises around the world. Verisign ensures the security, stability and resiliency of key Internet infrastructure and services, including the .com and .net domains and two of the Internet's root servers, as well as performs the root-zone maintainer functions for the core of the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS). Verisign's Security Services include intelligence-driven Distributed Denial of Service Protection, iDefense Security Intelligence and Managed DNS. To learn more about what it means to be Powered by Verisign, please visit VerisignInc.com.

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Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty of the impact of the U.S. government's transition of key Internet domain name functions (the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ("IANA") function) and related root zone management functions, whether the U.S. Department of Commerce will approve any exercise by us of our right to increase the price per .com domain name, under certain circumstances, the uncertainty of whether we will be able to demonstrate to the U.S. Department of Commerce that market conditions warrant removal of the pricing restrictions on .com domain names and the uncertainty of whether we will experience other negative changes to our pricing terms; the failure to renew key agreements on similar terms, or at all; the uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results due to such factors as restrictions on increasing prices under the .com Registry Agreement, changes in marketing and advertising practices, including those of third-party registrars, increasing competition, and pricing pressure from competing services offered at prices below our prices; changes in search engine algorithms and advertising payment practices; the uncertainty of whether we will successfully develop and market new products and services, the uncertainty of whether our new products and services, if any, will achieve market acceptance or result in any revenues; challenging global economic conditions; challenges of ongoing changes to Internet governance and administration; the outcome of legal or other challenges resulting from our activities or the activities of registrars or registrants, or litigation generally; the uncertainty regarding what the ultimate outcome or amount of benefit we receive, if any, from the worthless stock deduction will be; new or existing governmental laws and regulations; changes in customer behavior, Internet platforms and web-browsing patterns; system interruptions; security breaches; attacks on the Internet by hackers, viruses, or intentional acts of vandalism; whether we will be able to continue to expand our infrastructure to meet demand; the uncertainty of the expense and timing of requests for indemnification, if any, relating to completed divestitures; and the impact of the introduction of new gTLDs, any delays in their introduction, the impact of ICANN's Registry Agreement for new gTLDs, and whether our new gTLDs or the new gTLDs for which we have contracted to provide back-end registry services will be successful; and the uncertainty regarding the impact, if any, of the delegation into the root zone of over 1,300 new gTLDs. More information about potential factors that could affect our business and financial results is included in our filings with the SEC, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Verisign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this announcement.

© 2015 VeriSign, Inc. All rights reserved. VERISIGN, the VERISIGN logo, and other trademarks, service marks, and designs are registered or unregistered trademarks of VeriSign, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and in foreign countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Source: VeriSign, Inc.

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