The deal was made with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which has control over the domain naming system of the internet. In exchange for losing control of the two top level domains (TLDs), VeriSign has been guaranteed control of the .com domain (which accounts for 80% of registered domain names) for the next six years and has been given a “presumption” that its control will continue thereafter.
Network Solutions Inc. (NSI) had a monopoly on the three publicly available TLDs until June 1999. In September 1999, the US Department of Commerce and NSI entered into an agreement scheduled to last four years, giving NSI control of the registry for the .com, .net, and .org domains but authorising others to sell the names. In June 2000, VeriSign bought NSI. Numerous domain name registrars now sell .com, .org and .net domain names but VeriSign still controls the master database and receives a percentage of every sale.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the new agreement with ICANN was motivated by VeriSign’s falling market share of domain name sales. ICANN’s board will formally vote on the agreement by 1st April.