2022

PROXY STATEMENT

2021

ANNUAL REPORT

DEAR VERISIGN STOCKHOLDERS:

OUR MISSION

Enable the world to connect online with reliability and confidence, anytime, anywhere

OUR VALUES

  • We are stewards of the internet and our Company

  • We are passionate about technology and continuous improvement

  • We respect others and exhibit integrity in our actions

  • We take responsibility for our actions and hold ourselves to a higher standard

Throughout a second year operating in our pandemic work posture, Verisign continued to deliver the registration and resolution services on which the world depends. Our management focus on mission and safety allowed our teams to continue enabling the world to connect online with reliability and confidence. We have now maintained 100 percent operational availability and accuracy for .com and .net resolution for over 24 years, helping to keep the world connected online, seamlessly and securely, even as the COVID pandemic continued.

Our financial results remained strong in 2021. Some financial highlights for the year are:

  • Revenues totaled $1.33 billion for 2021, marking 11 straight years of revenue and operating income expansion since divesting non-core assets.

  • The domain name base for .com and .net names ended 2021 with 173 million names, up by 8.3 million net new names, which represents a 5.0 percent increase over the base at the end of the prior year.

  • We repurchased 3.3 million shares, returning $700 million to our stockholders. Since the company's inception we have returned more than $11.7 billion to stockholders through share repurchases and $1.0 billion in special dividends.

  • Our balance sheet remained strong, with year-end cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at $1.2 billion.

  • Having frozen registry prices for all our top-level domains in March 2020 as an immediate response to the emergent COVID-19 pandemic, in September 2021 we implemented a 7% increase in the wholesale registration cost of a .com domain name.

In 2021, Verisign expanded its efforts to set an example of good corporate citizenship. We began the process of benchmarking and quantifying our ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) metrics, which in turn will help us to refine and improve both our practices and our disclosures. We also continued to provide tangible help to the communities in which we live and work, through our Verisign Cares program. Contributions in 2021 included support for:

  • Organizations directly assisting those impacted by COVID-19, both in the United States and in India, where many of our workforce have personal connections;

  • Food banks in areas where we have business operations; and

  • The Equal Justice Initiative and the Stand with Asian Americans initiative, cementing our commitment to addressing recent and historic injustice

We also grew our workforce retraining program, which helps those affected by COVID-19 to access training, certification, and mentorship. From one regional launch partnership in 2020 we added three more partnerships, expanding our reach both across the country and virtually. Virginia Ready, our first launch partner, enrolled their 3,000th scholar in 2021 - an achievement of which we should all be proud.

In an ever-changing cyber environment, with ever-increasing reliance of online services, Verisign's mission continues to grow in importance. In 2022, we will work to ensure the continued reliable and accurate delivery of the critical infrastructure services we are charged with providing.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Jim Bidzos

Chairman of the Board of Directors,

Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer April 2022

NOTICE OF

2022 ANNUAL MEETING AND

PROXY STATEMENT

VERISIGNPROXYSTATEMENT

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2022

VeriSign, Inc.

12061 Bluemont Way Reston, Virginia 20190

April 12, 2022

To Our Stockholders:

You are cordially invited to attend the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual Meeting") of VeriSign, Inc. ("we," "our," "us," or the "Company") to be held at our corporate offices located at 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190 on Thursday, May 26, 2022, at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time.

The matters expected to be acted upon at the Annual Meeting are described in detail on the following pages.

We are using a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule that allows us to furnish our proxy materials over the internet. As a result, we are mailing to our stockholders a Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials instead of a paper copy of the following Proxy Statement, together with our 2021 Annual Report. The Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials contains instructions on how to access those documents over the internet or receive a paper copy of those documents. We believe that this process will conserve natural resources and reduce the costs of printing and distributing our proxy materials.

It is important that you use this opportunity to take part in the affairs of the Company by voting on the business to come before the Annual Meeting. Whether or not you plan to attend the Annual Meeting, please vote electronically via the internet or by telephone as described in the Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials and under "Information About the Meeting- Internet and Telephone Voting" within the following Proxy Statement, or alternatively, if you have received paper copies of our proxy materials, please complete, date, sign, and promptly return the accompanying proxy card or voting instruction form by mail using the enclosed envelope so that your shares may be represented at the Annual Meeting. Returning or completing the proxy card does not deprive you of your right to attend the Annual Meeting and vote your shares.

Thank you for your continued support of the Company.

Sincerely,

/s/ D. James Bidzos D. James Bidzos

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Executive Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer

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VeriSign Inc. published this content on 12 April 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 12 April 2022 21:04:04 UTC.