There Are 113 Million .COM & .NET Domain Names Online

Sites include verisign.com . Published on February 6th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

If and when SOPA and PIPA becomes law, the number of domains currently registered may take on a different picture, but for now, registrations are booming.

VeriSign, the operator for the .Com and .Net registries posted its fourth quarter results for 2011, and the numbers revealed that there is a steady increase of new domain registrations over the previous year (2010). According to VeriSign’s report, there are over 113 million domains spread across both the .Com and .Net top level domains. This number all told, represents a 8% growth on the previous year’s figure and by all accounts translates into some solid earnings for the online verification and domain registrar company.

Fourth quarter 2011 revenues were a staggering 204 million, a 14% increase on figures for 2010. Net income was also positive for VeriSign and the $54 million recorded was a stark contrast to the $41 million net loss that was recorded for the same period in 2010.

All told, the company finished 2011 with a strong cash position and liquid assets (i.e. Cash, Cash Equivalents, Marketable Securities and Restricted Cash) came in at a staggering $1.35 billion. This strong position of course, isn’t lost on domainers, who are quick to conclude that there is still money to be made. And who can blame them? If VeriSign can have a cool $1.35 billion to boast about, then the market is indeed still healthy.