Internet giant VeriSign is known to most Internet users as a domain registrar, and perhaps also as the company which actually managed the heavily-populated .com and .net top-level domains through some controversial contracts with the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Now, the company has announced it plans to undergo a strategic re-alignment, selling off business units where it’s not the clear leader in a market, in order to focus on providing Internet infrastructure services like SSL certificates, its domain registration business, and providing related services like identity protection.
“The combination of focus and disciplined execution will provide the foundation we need to generate improved shareholder returns,” said VeriSign CEO Bill Roper, in a statement. “We have leadership positions in great businesses with high growth, attractive economic returns, and significant barriers to entry.”
Although VeriSign has not yet identified the units it plans to sell off—or named any prices it hopes to fetch for the operations—the company plans to divest itself of operations in communications, commerce, and billing operations.
VeriSign has expanded its business operations in the last several years to embrace a wide range of services, including mobile banking, VoIP services, and supply-chain consulting. Its communications business unit, which offers telecommunications routing services and processes transactions for wireless operators, is one of the biggest segments of the company slated to be sold off.
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