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VRSN > SEC Filings for VRSN > Form 10-K on 3-Mar-2009All Recent SEC Filings

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Form 10-K for VERISIGN INC/CA


3-Mar-2009

Annual Report


ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Except for historical information, this Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and
Section 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, among other things, statements regarding our anticipated costs and expenses and revenues mix. Forward-looking statements include, among others, those statements including the words "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "believes" and similar language. Our actual results may differ significantly from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in Item 1A "Risk Factors." You should carefully review the risks described in other documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K that we filed in 2008. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly release any revisions to the forward-looking statements or reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document.

Business Overview

Overview

We are the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world. We offer a comprehensive spectrum of products and services that help a growing number of organizations and individuals to communicate and conduct commerce with confidence.

As of December 31, 2008, our business consisted of two reportable segments:
(1) Internet Infrastructure and Identity Services ("3IS"), which consists of Naming Services, Secure Socket Layer ("SSL") Certificate Services, Identity and Authentication Services ("IAS"), and VeriSign Japan, and (2) Other Services, which represents continuing operations of non-core businesses and legacy products and services from divested businesses. Prior to 2008, our business consisted of the following two reportable segments: Internet Services Group ("ISG") and the Communication Services Group ("CSG"). As a result of a comprehensive review of our business strategy, we changed our reportable segments in 2008. Comparative segment revenues and related financial information for 2008, 2007, and 2006 are presented in Note 16, "Segment Information," Description of Segments, of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Form 10-K. We have reclassified prior period amounts to conform to current period presentation. We have operations inside as well as outside the U.S. For a geographic breakdown of revenues and changes in revenues, see Note 16, "Segment Information," Geographic Revenues, of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Form 10-K.

The Naming Services business is the authoritative directory provider of all .com, .net, .cc, .tv, .name and .jobs domain names. The SSL Certificate Services business enables enterprises and Internet merchants to implement and operate secure networks and websites that utilize SSL protocol. These services provide customers the means to authenticate themselves to their end users and website visitors and to encrypt communications between client browsers and Web servers. The IAS business includes identity protection services, fraud detection services, managed public key infrastructure ("PKI") services, and unified authentication services. These services are intended to help enterprises secure intranets, extranets and other applications and devices, and provide authentication credentials. VeriSign Japan is a majority-owned subsidiary and its operations primarily consist of SSL Certificate Services and IAS. The Other Services segment consists of the continuing operations of our non-core Pre-pay billing and payment services ("Pre-pay") business as well as legacy products and services from divested businesses. We are in the process of winding down the operations of the Pre-pay business. In Other Services, the legacy products and services from divested businesses primarily include the following: Jamba,


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which provided mobile entertainment to consumers; the RDS business, which offered point-of-sale data information for retail, pharmaceutical and consumer goods customers; and the CDN business, which offered broadband content services that enable the delivery of high-quality video and other rich media securely and efficiently at a very large scale.

During the fourth quarter of 2007, we announced a change to our business strategy to allow management to focus its attention on our core competencies and to make additional resources available to invest in our core businesses. The strategy calls for a divestiture or winding down of all the business lines in our former CSG segment and all business lines in our former ISG segment except for our core businesses. The business lines that we expect to divest, including those that have been sold since the fourth quarter of 2007, accounted for approximately 50% of our overall revenues in fiscal 2007. These businesses are classified as disposal groups held for sale as of December 31, 2008, and their results of operations have been classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented. The continued execution of our divestiture plan is subject to the availability of financing, identification of buyers, and general market conditions, including further developments in the current global economic condition and potential continued deterioration of the credit markets. While we are executing our divestiture plan, we will experience additional risks, including, but not limited to the disruption of our business and the potential loss of key employees; difficulties separating operations, services, products and personnel; the potential damage to relationships with our existing customers; and the delay in completion of transition services. For example, our divestiture plan requires a substantial amount of management, administrative and operational resources. Once our divestiture plan is completed, the scale and scope of our operations will decrease in absolute terms, which we expect will allow our remaining core businesses to benefit from a more efficient and streamlined operational structure. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to achieve the full strategic and financial benefits we expect from the divestiture of our non-core businesses and there is no guarantee that the planned divestitures will occur or will not be significantly delayed, all of which may result in future variability in our results of operations. By divesting our non-core businesses, additional resources should be available to invest in our core services that will remain: Naming Services, SSL Certificate Services and IAS. In the first quarter of 2009, we announced a realignment of our three core services into two business units to include the following:
(1) Naming Services and (2) Authentication Services, which would include both SSL Certificate Services and IAS.

Our Core Services

Our core services consist of our Naming Services, SSL Certificate Services and
IAS.

Naming Services

As of December 31, 2008, we had approximately 90.4 million domain names registered under the .com and .net registries, which are our principal registries. The number of domain names registered is largely driven by Internet usage and broadband penetration rates. Although growth in absolute number of registrations remains greatest in mature markets such as the U.S. and Western Europe, growth on an annual percentage basis is expected to be greatest in markets outside of the U.S. and Europe where Internet penetration has demonstrated the greatest potential for growth. We are largely insulated from the risk posed by fluctuations in exchange rates due to the fact that all revenues paid to us for .com and .net registrations are in U.S. dollars.

SSL Certificate Services

As of December 31, 2008, we had an installed base of SSL certificates of approximately 1.1 million. We currently offer the following SSL Certificate Services: VeriSign®, GeoTrust ®, and thawte® branded certificates. The major factors impacting the growth and performance of our SSL Certificate Services business are the penetration and adoption of the Internet, especially through broadband services, the spread of e-commerce, the utilization of electronic means for executing financial transactions (such as credit card payments), and the extent to which advertising through search engines encourages consumers to engage in e-commerce. As a result of the


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growing impact of the Internet on global commercial transactions, we expect continued revenue growth in our business, primarily in markets outside of the U.S. where e-commerce has the largest growth potential.

IAS

As with our SSL Certificate Services, the major factors impacting the growth and performance of our IAS are the penetration and adoption of the Internet, especially through broadband services, the spread of e-commerce, the utilization of electronic means for executing financial transactions (such as credit card payments), and the extent to which advertising through search engines encourages consumers to engage in e-commerce.

2008 Business Highlights

• Our 3IS segment recorded revenues of $936.3 million in 2008, an increase of 20% from last year.

• We recorded income from continuing operations of $92.6 million in 2008, compared to a net loss from continuing operations of $147.7 million in 2007.

• We sold certain non-core businesses for aggregate net cash consideration of $102.4 million, and recorded an aggregate net loss on sale of $13.7 million, net of an aggregate income tax benefit of $5.2 million, including estimated losses recorded prior to sale. See "Assets held for sale and Discontinued Operations" in Item 7 of this Form 10-K for further information.

• We sold our remaining 49% ownership interest in the Jamba joint ventures to Fox for $199.4 million and recorded a gain of $66.9 million, net of an income tax expense of $11.0 million.

• We acquired Global Name Registry, Ltd. ("GNR"), the registry operator for the .name gTLD, for net cash consideration of $11.7 million.

• We recorded an other-than-temporary impairment charge of $8.2 million relating to our investments in certain money-market funds managed by The Reserve's Primary Fund (the "Primary Fund") and The Reserve International Liquidity Fund, Ltd. (the "International Fund"). For further information, see Note 8, "Other Balance Sheet Items," Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets, of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Form 10-K for further information.

• We terminated the $45.0 million trust established during 2004 for our director and officer liability self-insurance coverage and classified the amount as Cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2008, as our ability to use it is no longer restricted.

• We repurchased 38.6 million shares of our common stock at an average stock price of $34.07 per share for an aggregate cost of approximately $1.3 billion under the 2008 and 2006 Stock Repurchase Programs. As of December 31, 2008, we have $950.0 million remaining for further repurchases under the 2008 and 2006 Stock Repurchase Programs.

• We sold certain land and buildings located in Mountain View, California, for net cash consideration of $47.6 million. At the time of closing, we entered into a separate lease agreement with the purchaser of the property for an initial term expiring on December 31, 2010, with an option to extend the lease for five years from the date of expiration of the initial term. We recorded a loss of $79.1 million upon sale of the property.

• Our 2008 restructuring plan was announced in late 2007 to complement our plan to divest our non-core businesses. We recorded $69.6 million in restructuring charges related to the 2008 restructuring plan, inclusive of amounts for discontinued operations. Of the total restructuring charges, expenses related to severance and benefit costs for terminated employees, inclusive of amounts for discontinued operations, totaled $63.8 million. Since announcing the 2008 restructuring plan, we have reduced our headcount in businesses targeted for divestiture, either through the sale of businesses, employee terminations or voluntary resignations.


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Acquisitions

On October 1, 2008, we completed our acquisition of GNR, a United Kingdom based company that manages and operates the registry for the .name top level domain. We paid $11.7 million in cash (net of cash acquired of $1.1 million) for the acquisition, which included $0.6 million to cover certain transaction costs. We recorded goodwill of $1.2 million, other indefinite-lived intangible asset of $11.7 million, and assumed net liabilities of $1.2 million. GNR is included in our 3IS segment. We had a pre-existing relationship with GNR, pursuant to a registry services agreement, whereby we provided certain registry services to GNR. The effective settlement of the pre-existing relationship, as a result of the acquisition, did not result in a gain or loss.

In 2007, we did not acquire any businesses.

In 2006, we acquired the following companies for an aggregate purchase price of $633.3 million: inCode Telecom Group, Inc., a privately held consulting firm for the wireless industry; GeoTrust, Inc., a privately-held provider of digital certificates and identity verification solutions; m-Qube, Inc., a privately-held mobile channel enabler that helps companies develop, deliver and bill for mobile content, applications and messaging services; Kontiki, Inc., a provider of broadband content services; 3united Mobile Solutions ag, a provider of wireless application services; CallVision, Inc., a privately-held provider of online analysis applications for mobile communications customers; and two other acquisitions that were not material on an individual basis or in the aggregate.

We account for all of our significant acquisitions as business combinations using the purchase method of accounting Accordingly, the acquired companies' revenues, costs and expenses have been included in our results of operations beginning with their dates of acquisition.

See Note 3, "Business Combinations," of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Form 10-K for further information regarding our business acquisitions over the last three years.

Jamba Joint Ventures

On October 6, 2008, we sold our remaining 49% ownership interest in the Jamba joint ventures to Fox for cash consideration of $199.4 million and recorded a gain on sale of $66.9 million, net of an income tax expense of $11.0 million, upon divestiture. Pursuant to the sale agreement, certain outstanding debts and accrued but unpaid interest owed among us and the Jamba joint ventures have been repaid, and the parties agreed to the settlement and discharge of all other amounts owed among them as of the date of the agreement.

See Note 2, "Joint Ventures," of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Form 10-K for further information regarding the Jamba joint ventures.

Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations

Completed Divestitures

On December 31, 2008, we sold our EMEA Mobile Media ("EMM") business which offered mobile application services that included interactive messaging applications, content portal services, and messaging gateway services for cash consideration of $7.8 million, of which $3.6 million is due in 2009, and $2.8 million related to an estimated working capital adjustment is due in 2009. We recorded a loss on sale of $13.3 million, net of an income tax benefit of $0.1 million, including estimated losses on disposal recorded prior to the sale. Our 3united Mobile Solutions business, which we acquired in 2006, was divested as part of the EMM business. The historical results of operations of the EMM business have been classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented.


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On December 31, 2008, we sold our Post-pay business which enabled advanced billing and customer care services to wireless telecommunications carriers for cash consideration of $28.3 million. The cash consideration includes $2.5 million that was placed in an escrow account to cover any contingent claims made by the buyer against us through December 31, 2009. If no claims are made, the amount in escrow will be released to us during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. We recorded a loss on sale of $1.9 million, net of an income tax benefit of $0.3 million, including estimated losses on disposal recorded prior to the sale. The historical results of operations of the Post-pay business have been classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented.

On October 31, 2008, we sold our Communications Consulting business, which offered a full range of strategy and technology consulting, business planning, sourcing, and implementation services to help telecommunications operators and equipment manufacturers drive profitable new business and technology strategies, in a management buyout transaction for cash consideration of $0.7 million. We recorded a loss on the sale of $20.9 million, net of an income tax benefit of $17.0 million, including estimated losses on disposal recorded prior to the sale. Our inCode Telecom Group business, which we acquired in 2006, was divested as part of the Communications Consulting business. The historical results of operations of the Communications Consulting business have been classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented.

On April 30, 2008, we sold our DBMS business, which offered a range of corporate domain name and brand protection services that help enterprises, legal professionals, information technology professionals and brand marketers monitor, protect and build digital brand equity. We received cash consideration of $50.4 million and recorded a gain on sale of $21.2 million, net of an income tax expense of $11.4 million. The cash consideration includes $5.0 million that was placed in an escrow account to cover any contingent claims made by the buyer against us through April 30, 2009. If no claims are made, the amount in escrow will be released to us during the second quarter of fiscal 2009. The historical results of operations of the DBMS business have been classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented.

On April 30, 2008, we sold our CDN business, which offered broadband content services that enable the delivery of high-quality video and other rich media securely and efficiently at a very large scale. We received cash consideration of $1.0 million and recorded a gain on sale of $1.7 million, net of an income tax expense of $1.1 million. Our Kontiki business, which we acquired in 2006, was divested as part of the CDN business. We retained an equity ownership in the CDN business and have accounted for our investment in the CDN business on an equity method basis. As a result of our continuing involvement in the CDN business, the historical results of operations of the CDN business have not been classified as discontinued operations. The historical results of operations of CDN are included in our Other Services segment.

On March 31, 2008, we sold our SC&A business, which provided on-line analysis applications for mobile communications customers and on-line customer self-service with a single view of billing across multiple systems. We received cash consideration of $14.2 million and recorded a loss on sale of $0.5 million, net of an income tax benefit of $0.3 million. Our CallVision business, which we acquired in 2006, was sold as part of the SC&A business. The historical results of operations of the SC&A business have been classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented.

On December 31, 2007, we sold our Retail Data Solutions ("RDS") business, which offered point-of-sale data information for retail, pharmaceutical and consumer goods customers, for $10.2 million in consideration. The sale price included $6.4 million in cash and $3.8 million in preferred stock of the acquiring company. We recorded the preferred stock as a long-term investment. We recorded a gain on sale of $4.5 million, net of income tax benefit of $1.5 million. As the historical results of operations of the RDS business were not significant, they have not been classified as discontinued operations. The historical results of operations of RDS are included in our Other Services segment.

On September 1, 2007, we sold our wholly-owned Jamba Service GmbH subsidiary ("Jamba Service"), which marketed insurance and extended service warranties to consumers for mobile electronic equipment and


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products. We received net cash consideration of $12.8 million and recorded a gain on sale of $1.8 million. The historical results of operations of Jamba Service have been classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented.

Assets Held for Sale

As of December 31, 2008, businesses classified as held for sale and presented as discontinued operations are the following:

Communications Services

Our Communications Services business provides communications services, such as Billing and Commerce Services, Connectivity and Interoperability Services and Intelligent Database Services. The Billing and Commerce Services primarily include our Billing Services, Global Consulting Services for Billing, Real-Time Rating and Payment Services, Real-Time Roaming Services, and Settlement and Exchange Services. The Connectivity and Interoperability Services primarily include our Signaling System 7 ("SS7") Connectivity, Voice and Data Roaming services, and Voice Over Internet Protocol Services. The Intelligent Database Services primarily include our Number Portability Services, Calling Name Database Services, Line Information Database Services and Toll-free Database Services.

On March 2, 2009, we entered into a binding agreement to sell our Communications Services business to Transaction Network Services, Inc. for $230.0 million subject to certain adjustments to reflect normal fluctuations in working capital. The transaction is subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino Act review, and the agreement contains customary closing conditions. The parties anticipate that the transaction will close within 60 days.

Content Portal Services

Our CPS business enables a seamless end-to-end solutions business focused on providing best-in-class digital content storefront services. CPS can be used as a content delivery platform for games, ringtones, and other content services. Our CPS business provides services to mobile carriers and media companies primarily located in Canada.

Enterprise Security Services

Our Enterprise Security Services business includes Managed Security Services ("MSS"), iDefense Security Intelligence Services, and the Global Consulting Services. MSS enables enterprises to effectively monitor and manage their network security infrastructure 24 hours per day, every day of the year while reducing the associated time, expense, and personnel commitments by relying on our security platform and experienced security staff. Our iDefense Security Intelligence Services deliver comprehensive, actionable intelligence to help companies decide how to respond to threats and manage security risks on networks. Our Global Consulting Services help companies understand corporate security requirements, comply with all applicable regulations, identify security vulnerabilities, reduce risk, and meet the security compliance requirements applicable to the particular business and industry.

International Clearing

Our International Clearing business enables financial settlement and call data settlement for wireless and wireline carriers.

Messaging and Mobile Media

Our Messaging and Mobile Media ("MMM") Services business is an industry-leading global provider of short-messaging, multimedia messaging, and mobile content application services. MMM Services enable


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messages and multimedia content to be sent globally across any wireless operator and mobile device. MMM Services offer the global connectivity, network reliability, and scalability necessary to capitalize on the fast growing global messaging and media content markets.

Real-time Publisher Services

Our RTP Services allow organizations to obtain access to and organize large amounts of constantly updated content, and distribute it, in real time, to enterprises, Web-portal developers, application developers and consumers. RTP also makes it easier for publishers of all sizes to distribute and track their content feeds, which may improve the reliability and quality of their real-time content.

See Note 4, "Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations," of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Form 10-K for further information regarding our disposal groups.

Subsequent Events

On January 23, 2009, we entered into an arrangement agreement with Certicom Corp. ("Certicom"), a corporation continued under the laws of Canada, whereby we agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Certicom, for an aggregate purchase price, of approximately $73 million. On February 10, 2009, Certicom terminated the arrangement agreement in order to accept a superior acquisition proposal from a third-party, as determined by Certicom's Board of Directors. Certicom has paid a termination fee of $3.3 million to us, pursuant to the terms of the arrangement agreement.

On January 30, 2009, we received $85.8 million from the International Fund and on February 20, 2009, we received $8.3 million from the Primary Fund. The total distributions to date represents approximately 85% and 65% of our total investment in the Primary Fund and the International Fund, respectively. As of March 2, 2009, the funds held by the Primary Fund and the International Fund were $16.2 million and $40.1 million, respectively, net of the other-than-temporary impairment. For more information regarding the status of our investments with The Reserve, see Item 7A, "Quantitative and Qualitative Discussions About Market Risk."

In January 2009, we announced a realignment of our three core services into two business units to include the following: (1) Naming Services and
(2) Authentication Services, which would include both SSL Certificate Services and IAS.

On March 2, 2009, we entered into a binding agreement to sell our Communications Services business to Transaction Network Services, Inc. for $230.0 million subject to certain adjustments to reflect normal fluctuations in working capital. The transaction is subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino Act review, and the agreement contains customary closing conditions. The parties anticipate that the transaction will close within 60 days.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Management Estimates

The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared . . .

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