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Brand on the Dot: Unlocking the Power of gTLDs
Brand on the Dot: Unlocking the Power of gTLDs

Martechvibe

time3 days ago

  • Business
  • Martechvibe

Brand on the Dot: Unlocking the Power of gTLDs

Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) can elevate brand trust, visibility, and digital control. How can marketers take advantage? Imagine if your brand could own not just a website—but an entire slice of the Internet. Not another .com or .net, but a custom, branded domain space like .brand, .store, or .finance, exclusively under your control. That's exactly what generic top-level domains (gTLDs) offer—and a new global survey shows marketing leaders are starting to wake up to the opportunity. Yet despite the growing recognition of their power, many brands are still flying blind. A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that generic top-level domains (gTLDs)—those letters that come after the dot in a web address, like .brand, .tech, or .menu—might be one of the most underutilized brand assets available today. The research reveals that while over half (52%) of marketing leaders see strong potential in gTLDs, nearly a third admit they're unfamiliar with them altogether. But once the concept is explained, 92% agree that gTLDs could boost brand trust, visibility, and control online. This is more than a naming convention. It's a chance to redefine your digital identity—and those who move first will have the most to gain. ALSO READ: Composability 2025: Shifts in Martech Stack Gravity The findings show a significant shift in perception once marketing professionals understand what gTLDs are and what they offer. While only 52% initially saw their potential, a staggering 92% recognised clear benefits after being given a proper definition. These benefits include: Enhanced brand differentiation (46%) Improved customer trust (45%) Greater control over online presence (44%) Improved SEO performance (44%) Marketing With a Custom Domain: The Strategic Advantage Owning a custom gTLD allows brands to control a fully branded digital namespace. Imagine websites like or under your exclusive control. This isn't just about looking modern. It's about building brand equity, streamlining user journeys, and increasing digital security and trust. At a time when 53% of marketing leaders say it's harder than ever to differentiate from competitors, and over half are struggling to engage the right audience, a gTLD can offer a meaningful edge. It signals credibility, authority, and innovation in a space where attention is hard-won. The Awareness Gap Despite the upside, 32% of marketing leaders remain unfamiliar with gTLDs, and just 19% have worked at organizations that previously applied for one. The top three barriers? Perceived high costs (31%) Knowledge gaps (27%) Lack of internal resources (24%) This disconnect highlights a critical missed opportunity for marketers tasked with leading digital transformation and driving growth. Simply put: many brands are leaving competitive value on the table. ALSO READ: Media Waste Isn't an Accident — It's a Choice What Marketers Should Do Now Now is the time for marketing leaders to: Audit how a gTLD could enhance your brand architecture Engage cross-functional teams early—especially legal, digital, and IT Develop a business case rooted in trust, visibility, and user experience Consumers are more skeptical today so a custom domain can act as a signal of security and authenticity—a private corner of the Internet where customers know they're in the right place. Marketers spend millions every year to boost visibility, loyalty, and customer trust. But few are capitalising on a digital asset that can achieve all three—and offer a competitive moat that no one else can replicate. With the next gTLD window opening soon, now's the moment to ask: What could your brand achieve if it owned its own corner of the Internet? ALSO READ: Value Orchestration is What's Next for Customer Success The Martechvibe team works with a staff of in-house writers and industry experts. View More awarenessbrand strategybrand visibilitygTLDLeadersmarketingMarTech Locala's omnichannel advertising platform leverages granular insights and cutting-edge AI to help marketers plan, activate, and measure campaigns that are personalised to the local consumer. It specialises in transforming complex mobility and consumer data into actionable audience insights, fueling advanced media strategies. 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Ideal for both small businesses and enterprises, this software enables enhanced productivity and tailored solutions through predictive intelligence. VISIT WEBSITE Zendesk offers Zendesk Sell, an easy-to-deploy CRM platform that is simple to deploy and navigate, catering to businesses of any scale. Its mobile-friendly Sell app has the functionalities of geolocation, helping sales and marketing teams. Offering an all-in-one CRM platform, organisations can implement use cases like prospecting, engagement, lead generation and communication capabilities. VISIT WEBSITE SugarCRM is a global CRM software provider, helping marketing, sales, and service teams improve efficiency through automation, data, and intelligence in near real-time. It offers Sugar Market, an all-in-one marketing automation platform that helps marketers to automate their campaign with higher ROI. VISIT WEBSITE Salesforce is a one-stop sales and support CRM software that regularly updates customer records, tracks emails and calls, and creates organised support processes for quicker customer responses. Its simple and scalable infrastructure is ideal for businesses of all sizes. VISIT WEBSITE Pipedrive stands out with its emphasis on automation, tailorability, and seamless integration. Purposefully built to enhance the efficiency and productivity of sales professionals, this CRM solution has an intuitive setup and robust capabilities. It facilitates lead generation, comprehensive sales analytics, and seamless business expansion. VISIT WEBSITE Oracle NetSuite CRM, a component of Oracle's business software suite, is for all midsize and booming businesses that want a comprehensive, integrated CRM solution with ERP capabilities. Using it, customers and partners can directly interact with the platform, freeing the additional work load for their sales team. VISIT WEBSITE Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales represents a robust cloud-based CRM solution brimming with features such as pipeline assessment, relationship analytics, and conversational intelligence. It utilises AI-powered insights to provide actionable intelligence via predictive analytics, lead scoring and sentiment analysis. VISIT WEBSITE Less Annoying is a CRM software that utilises a straightforward search feature within its contact management system, making it easy to track contacts. It is ideal for small-sized businesses and offers a highly intuitive and user-friendly interface. VISIT WEBSITE Insightly offers CRM software solutions for enterprises looking to understand their audience data across various marketing functions. It integrates seamlessly with third-party apps, streamlining workflow automation, including bulk emailing and report generation. VISIT WEBSITE HubSpot's sleek dashboard with consolidated CRM tools simplify complex customer data, further transforming it into meaningful insights. Complementing typical CRM functionalities, HubSpot provides tailored options, including conversation intelligence and email monitoring. VISIT WEBSITE Apptivo delivers adaptable and web-based CRM solutions, enabling marketing and sales teams to streamline all customer service requirements across various devices and browsers. Despite its focused feature set, it encompasses over 65 interconnected applications alongside a robust sales pipeline management tool, ensuring efficient tracking of potential leads without any downtime. VISIT WEBSITE Sitecore offers composable cloud solutions with its flagship products, Sitecore Experience Platform(XP) and Sitecore Experience Manager (XM). They help marketers to overcome scalability challenges. Some of its features include intuitive visual editing, headless delivery, marketing automation, scalable personalisation, data and machine learning capabilities. VISIT WEBSITE Salesforce Experience Cloud is a platform that helps enterprises link clients, partners, and employees to securely exchange information and documents. Built on its Customer 360 platform, Salesforce's DXP ensures seamless integration with any solution in the Salesforce ecosystem. VISIT WEBSITE Oracle Cloud offers a comprehensive suite of platform-based marketing automation solutions for personalised B2B and B2C automation campaigns. Some of its featured products are Eloqua Marketing Automation, CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement, and Unity Customer Data Platform. VISIT WEBSITE Optimizely is a digital experience platform (DXP) provider that offers Optimizely One, an easy-to-use and fully integrated suite. It provides a single, unified workflow with thoughtfully embedded AI and machine-learning algorithms, accelerating work across the entire marketing lifecycle. VISIT WEBSITE OpenText offers a cloud-native, scalable platform for enterprises to streamline their marketing functions. It provides fully composable content management, digital asset management, creative workflows, personalisation, targeting and customer data technologies in one place, ensuring a holistic approach to B2B, B2E and B2C experiences. VISIT WEBSITE Neptune DXP is a PaaS(Platform-as-a-Service) provider, helping marketing teams build custom apps based on modular, reusable application building blocks. The company offers flexible environments to businesses across different verticals, further providing personalised digital solutions at scale. VISIT WEBSITE Magnolia is a composable DXP that comes with no-code connector packs and low-code micro-frameworks for third-party integrations. It also offers an open-source version alongside its commercial plans enabling enterprises to build tailored use cases. VISIT WEBSITE Liferay DXP helps marketers deliver personalised and connected digital experiences across a broad range of channels, including customer portals, websites, intranets, mobile apps, and connected devices. It offers intuitive CMS, user analytics, and site management tools that businesses need to launch, test and optimise digital experiences for faster go-to-market. VISIT WEBSITE Powered by IBM Consulting, IBM iX offers a composable DXP, providing a comprehensive solution to make enterprises' systems future-ready. Utilising its data-driven insights and intelligent workflows, marketers can design and deliver human-centred experiences across the customer lifecycle. VISIT WEBSITE HCL Digital Experience (DX), forms part of a wider HCL Customer Experience (CX) product portfolio, offering core capabilities such as content management, DAM, CDP called Signals, and low-code application development. It provides services in government, life sciences, insurance, financial services, and other verticals. VISIT WEBSITE Contentstack is a headless CMS and Composable Digital Experience Platform (DXP) solution provider that helps marketers gain a competitive edge. It recently launched into Google Cloud Marketplace, and is also available on Microsoft Azure and AWS. It seamlessly enables mid-market brands to adopt its omnichannel campaign engine to drive higher conversions and sales. VISIT WEBSITE Bloomreach Commerce Experience Cloud provides businesses an edge with its modular capabilities: Content Management System (CMS), Discovery features for search and merchandising optimisation, and Engagement tools such as Customer Data Platforms (CDP) for personalisation and analytics. VISIT WEBSITE Adobe Experience Cloud offers a comprehensive set of services specifically designed to address the day-to-day requirements for personalised customer experience at scale. Its platform helps manage different digital content and assets to improve customer satisfaction. Some of its products include Adobe Gen Studio, Experience Manager Sites, Real-time CDP, and Marketo Engage. VISIT WEBSITE Acquia offers DXP solutions, comprising of two main elements: Acquia Drupal Cloud and Acquia Marketing Cloud. It can be accessed in both platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) with additional components such as Site Factory for multisite management, digital asset management (DAM), CDP, personalisation, and Campaign Studio. VISIT WEBSITE

New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap
New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap

Korea Herald

time23-05-2025

  • Business
  • Korea Herald

New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap

Global survey finds 92% of marketers recognize opportunities delivered by generic top-level domains, but cost and awareness barriers remain ahead of 2026 application window LOS ANGELES, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring. The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs. It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 – the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD. Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .ceo, .charity, .menu, and .paris). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand. The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online. However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking. Key findings from the research include: The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%). A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet. An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today's environment, where users often don't know whether they can trust the source on the Internet. Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy said: "The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests. Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands." To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants. The full report, "Understanding the gTLD Opportunity for Brands," is available at For more information on the New gTLD Program visit About ICANN ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address – a name or a number – into your computer or other device. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation with a community of participants from all over the world. About the survey This research was carried out by Focaldata on behalf of ICANN, with fieldwork conducted in March 2025. 2,000 marketing decision makers were surveyed, including Marketing Managers/Directors, CMOs, Heads of Marketing and other marketing-related roles. The research gathered a global perspective, including marketing decision makers across Brazil (161), China (165), India (350), Mexico (170), Nigeria (351), South Africa (156), U.K. (364), and U.S. (353).

New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap
New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap

Business Upturn

time21-05-2025

  • Business
  • Business Upturn

New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap

By Business Wire Published on May 21, 2025, 14:49 IST New Delhi, Delhi, India: A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring. The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs. It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 – the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD. Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .ceo, .charity, .menu, and .paris). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand. The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online. However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking. Key findings from the research include: After defining a gTLD, 92% of marketing leaders responded that they could see the potential benefits to gTLDs, with enhanced brand differentiation (46%), improved customer trust (45%), better control over online presence (44%), and improved SEO (44%) topping the list. 19% of marketing leaders work for organizations that have previously applied for a gTLD. Cost concerns (31%), knowledge gaps (27%), and insufficient resources (24%) were identified as the main barriers to application. The research revealed notable regional variations, with Nigerian (74%) and Indian (61%) marketing leaders showing the strongest belief in gTLDs' potential for branding and online presence. In contrast, marketers in China expressed more mixed views, with 50% seeing strong potential but 49% considering gTLDs an unnecessary investment with unclear Return On Investment. The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%). A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet. An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today's environment, where users often don't know whether they can trust the source on the Internet. Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy, said: 'The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests. Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands.' To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants. The full report, 'Understanding the gTLD Opportunity for Brands,' is available at About ICANN ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address – a name or a number – into your computer or other device. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation with a community of participants from all over the world. About the survey This research was carried out by Focaldata on behalf of ICANN, with fieldwork conducted in March 2025. 2,000 marketing decision makers were surveyed, including Marketing Managers/Directors, CMOs, Heads of Marketing and other marketing-related roles. The research gathered a global perspective, including marketing decision makers across Brazil (161), China (165), India (350), Mexico (170), Nigeria (351), South Africa (156), U.K. (364), and U.S. (353). Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Business Wire is an American company that disseminates full-text press releases from thousands of companies and organizations worldwide to news media, financial markets, disclosure systems, investors, information web sites, databases, bloggers, social networks and other audiences.

New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap Français
New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap Français

Cision Canada

time20-05-2025

  • Business
  • Cision Canada

New Research Reveals Marketing Leaders See Strong Potential in gTLDs Despite Knowledge Gap Français

Global survey finds 92% of marketers recognize opportunities delivered by generic top-level domains, but cost and awareness barriers remain ahead of 2026 application window LOS ANGELES, May 20, 2025 /CNW/ -- A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring. The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs. It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 – the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD. Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .ceo, .charity, .menu, and .paris). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand. The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online. However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking. Key findings from the research include: After defining a gTLD, 92% of marketing leaders responded that they could see the potential benefits to gTLDs, with enhanced brand differentiation (46%), improved customer trust (45%), better control over online presence (44%), and improved SEO (44%) topping the list. 19% of marketing leaders work for organizations that have previously applied for a gTLD. Cost concerns (31%), knowledge gaps (27%), and insufficient resources (24%) were identified as the main barriers to application. The research revealed notable regional variations, with Nigerian (74%) and Indian (61%) marketing leaders showing the strongest belief in gTLDs' potential for branding and online presence. In contrast, marketers in China expressed more mixed views, with 50% seeing strong potential but 49% considering gTLDs an unnecessary investment with unclear Return On Investment. The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%). A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet. An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today's environment, where users often don't know whether they can trust the source on the Internet. Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy said: "The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests. Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands." To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants. The full report, "Understanding the gTLD Opportunity for Brands," is available at For more information on the New gTLD Program visit About ICANN ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address – a name or a number – into your computer or other device. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation with a community of participants from all over the world. About the survey This research was carried out by Focaldata on behalf of ICANN, with fieldwork conducted in March 2025. 2,000 marketing decision makers were surveyed, including Marketing Managers/Directors, CMOs, Heads of Marketing and other marketing-related roles. The research gathered a global perspective, including marketing decision makers across Brazil (161), China (165), India (350), Mexico (170), Nigeria (351), South Africa (156), U.K. (364), and U.S. (353).

VeriSign Shows Why It's a Buffett Favorite
VeriSign Shows Why It's a Buffett Favorite

Yahoo

time29-04-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

VeriSign Shows Why It's a Buffett Favorite

Warren Buffett is not known for betting big on technology stocks, but one long-term favorite of his has been VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN). Buffett began accumulating shares of the company back in 2012, and it was one of the few stocks he was buying in the fourth quarter of last year. The company demonstrated why it's a Buffett favorite when it released its Q1 earnings report. Although the overall market has been under pressure, the stock is up more than 30% year to date. (NYSE: GDDY) Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » VeriSign is never going to be confused with a flashy business; in fact, it could be described as quite boring. For those unfamiliar with the company, it essentially provides the internal plumbing for the internet. It maintains the database for all registered domains under .com, .net, and certain other suffixes. And it provides DNS (Domain Name System) services that connect domains to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and ensure that connections are fast and stable. The company does not sell domains to consumers, but it gets paid every time someone buys a .com or .net domain. It has a monopoly on the .com and .net domains through a long-term agreement with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that oversees the DNS. It gets a fixed yearly fee every time a domain is renewed. This is a great business as the company doesn't market or sell domains, which is left to registrars such as GoDaddy. As such, it has no customer acquisition costs. Meanwhile, its back-end costs don't tend to scale up at the same rate as revenue, which helps lead to high and expanding gross margins. VeriSign's strength was on full display in Q1 2025, when the company saw its revenue rise nearly 5% to $402.3 million. The increase came despite a 1.5% decline in .com and .net domain-name registrations to 169.8 million. It also processed 10.1 million new domain-name registrations for .com and .net in the quarter, up from 9.5 million a year ago. The increase in revenue stemmed from a nearly 7% price increase that the company implemented last September for .com domains, to $10.26 a year. The company is allowed to raise prices up to 7% annually via its agreement with ICANN, but only in the last four years of a six-year contract. That means it won't be able to raise .com prices this year or next. However, it will still be able to increase .net prices by up to 10% annually, since that agreement does not include any pauses in price increases. It last increased .net prices in February 2024, to $10.91. It said that while no immediate changes to .net prices have been announced, it regularly reviews its pricing strategies. Gross margin improved to 87.7% from 87.2%, while earnings per share (EPS) climbed 9% to $2.10. VeriSign is also a cash flow machine; it generated free cash flow of $286 million in the quarter. It spent $230 million to buy back 1 million of its shares in the quarter. Looking ahead, VeriSign said it expects its domain-name base to range somewhere between a decline of 0.7% and growth of 0.9%. This would be a nice improvement from the decline of between 2.3% and 0.3% that it projected in February. The company said that improving trends from the end of last year continued into Q1, and that registrars were starting to market more aggressively to acquire customers. As a result, it increased its revenue guidance for the year. It now expects to generate revenue of $1.635 billion to $1.65 billion, up from a prior forecast of $1.615 billion to $1.635 billion. It's easy to see why Buffett is attracted to VeriSign. The company has a monopoly with built-in price increases, no customer acquisition costs, and strong operating leverage. This allows it to be a classic solid growth compounder. It's the type of stock that just continues to build intrinsic value over time. At a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 31 based on 2025 analyst estimates, the stock is not in the bargain bin. Nonetheless, it is trading in its typical valuation range: The inability to increase .com prices over the next two years is likely going to hinder growth in the near term, but Verisign can still raise .net prices, and registrars appear to be ramping up their marketing spending. Long-term, though, the company will simply continue to be a strong growth compounder. That means investors should feel free to establish positions in the stock, and look to add shares on any weakness. Before you buy stock in VeriSign, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and VeriSign wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $594,046!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $680,390!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 872% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 160% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 28, 2025 Geoffrey Seiler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends VeriSign. The Motley Fool recommends GoDaddy. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. VeriSign Shows Why It's a Buffett Favorite was originally published by The Motley Fool

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