-= Verisign (VRSN) : discloses amendment to Department of Commerce cooperative agreement

• Disclosed an amendment, Amendment 35, to the Cooperative Agreement to the U.S. Department of Commerce; the amendment provides the co, which acts as a provider of domain name registry services and internet security, pricing flexibility to change its .com Registry Agreement with ICANN to increase its wholesale price for .com domain names by up to 7% for a specified period; amendment also confirms that co will operate the .com registry in a content neutral manner; upgraded to Neutral (from Underweight) at JP Morgan and to Outperform (from Neutral) at Robert W. Baird, which cites that the amended Cooperative Agreement removes legislative uncertainty for co in a favorable way and enables upside with little incremental cost, among other factors. 

(source)  U.S. Government Extends Its Cooperative Agreement With Verisign, Green Lights .Com Price Increase
By CircleID Reporter   Nov 01, 2018 3:00 PM PDT
NTIA released a statement today announcing the agreement reached to extend and modify Verisign's Cooperative Agreement. "These modifications are in line with policy priorities of the Trump Administration," reads the official statement. It further states: "The changes create a new commitment to content neutrality in the Domain Name System (DNS), provide market-based pricing flexibility, and reduce the regulatory burden on Verisign. ... The amendment repeals Obama-era price controls and provides Verisign the pricing flexibility to change its .com Registry Agreement with ICANN to increase wholesale .com prices. Specifically, the flexibility permits Verisign to pursue with ICANN an up to 7 percent increase in the prices for .com domain names, in each of the last four years of the six-year term of the .com Registry Agreement. The changes also affirm that Verisign may not vertically integrate or operate as a registrar in the .com top-level domain."