News

".com 25" Nominees Announced as 25th Anniversary of .com Approaches

Honorees to Be Celebrated at San Francisco Gala Hosted by Dana Carvey

London, February 11, 2010 - VeriSign, the long-time operator of the .com domain, announced last week it will recognize 25 years of Internet innovation with a year-long celebration of how far the consumer Internet has come, the impact it's had on our daily lives and, more important, what the next 25 years hold.

A cornerstone of this campaign will be the recognition of the ".com 25," the pioneering companies and individuals who have had a lasting impact on the Internet's development. The winners will be announced during an evening gala in San Francisco, at San Francisco City Hall on May 26, 2010.

The 25 Years of .com Gala, hosted by comedian Dana Carvey, will be a festive evening event focused on celebrating the ".com 25." Selected by a distinguished panel including some of Silicon Valley's leading observers, the .com 25 honors the remarkable innovators, entrepreneurs and companies whose inspiring contributions were fundamental in shaping the Internet and, thereby, forever changing the way we think and act as individuals and as a society.

.com 25 Nominees
Seventy-five people and companies have been nominated and ratified by the judging panel. The list includes luminaries like John Chambers of Cisco, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Tim Berners-Lee, as well as pioneering companies like Google, Facebook and eBay. For a full list of the nominees, please see below or visit www.25yearsof.com.

.com 25 Judges
From the list of nominees, a distinguished panel comprised of some key Internet's influencers will select the winners of the .com 25. The judges are:

• Steve Blank, Retired Entrepreneur and Stanford and Berkeley Adjunct Professor
• David Kirkpatrick, Journalist and Author (The Facebook Effect), co-founder of Techonomy
• Kevin Maney, Technology Author and Journalist
• Dan Scheinman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Media Solutions Group
• Drew Schutte, Senior Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer, Conde Nast Digital
• Jonah Seiger, Founder, Managing Partner at Connections Media LLC
• Ikhlaq Sidhu, Founding Director of UC Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology

The judges will make the final selection of the .com 25, but the public is also encouraged to weigh in on their favorites at www.25yearsof.com.

A web site - www.25yearsof.com - will host a variety of multimedia content throughout the coming months, showcasing the innovators and entrepreneurs who have shaped the Internet.

25yearsof.com is a year-long celebration of Internet innovation, all of which can be followed at:

• Twitter: Keep up with our latest news at @25yearsofdotcom
• Facebook: Friend us at facebook.com/25yearsofdotcom
• Video: Watch people from leading Internet companies answer the question "How Do You .com?" at 25yearsof.com

The .com 25 Award Nominees:
1. Al Gore, Former Vice President
2. Alibaba Group, Chinese holding company of Internet-based businesses
3. Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos
4. Andy Grove, Intel
5. AOL, Steve Case
6 Apple, Steve Jobs
7. Baidu, Chinese search engine
8. Barry Diller, IAC
9. BEA, enterprise application infrastructure solutions
10. Blogger.com, blog development/creation service
11. Cisco, John Chambers
12. CitySearch, online city guide
13. Cnet, news service
14. CNN.com, news service
15. Craigslist, online classifieds
16. Digg, content sharing service
17. eBay, Pierre Omidyar
18. eHarmony, dating service
19. ESPN, sports information
20. eTrade, financial services
21. Evite, invitation service
22. Expedia, travel service
23. Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg
24. Fandango, movie info/sales
25. FedEx.com, shipping service
26. Flickr, photo sharing
27. Gawker, celebrity gossip
28. Google, Larry Page & Sergey Brin
29. Huawei, networking and telecomm equipment provider
30. Huffington Post, news service
31. Hulu, video content service
32. IMDB, movie/television information
33. Infosys (India), IT services company
34. James Gosling, creator of Java
35. Jim Clark, Netscape/WebMD
36. LinkedIn, professional networking
37. Mapquest, travel service
38. Match.com, dating service
39. Microsoft/MSN/Gates Foundation, Bill Gates
40. Monster.com, career resource service
41. Motley Fool, financial services
42. MSNBC.com, news
43. Muhammed Yunus, Bangladeshi banker and economist
44. MySpace, social networking
45. Napster, Sean Fanning
46. Netflix, movie rentals
47. Netscape, Marc Andreessen
48. Opentable, restaurant info/reservations
49. Oracle, Larry Ellison
50. Overstock.com, retail
51. Pandora, music sharing
52. Paypal, payment service
53. Priceline.com, travel service
54. Salesforce.com, SaaS company
55. Salon.com, news service
56. Shutterfly, photo-sharing service
57. Skype, Niklas Zennstrom & Janus Friis
58. Slate.com, news service
59. Snapfish, photo-sharing service
60. Sun Microsystems, Scott McNealy
61. The Onion, news satire
62. TheKnot, wedding service
63. Tim Berners-Lee, engineer and computer scientist
64. TMZ, celebrity gossip
65. Travelocity, travel service
66. TripAdvisor, travel service
67. Twitter, social networking and micro blogging service
68. Vinod Khosla, Indian-American Venture Capitalist, Co-founder Sun Microsystems
69. Vint Cerf, computer scientist
70. Walmart.com, retailer
71. WebMD, health information service
72. Wired, monthly magazine and online periodical
73. Yahoo, Jerry Yang
74. YouTube, video sharing website
75. Zappos, shoe retailer

About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) is the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world. Billions of times each day, VeriSign helps companies and consumers all over the world engage in communications and commerce with confidence. Additional news and information about the company is available at www.verisign.com.

Media Relations:
Victoria Henry,
vhenry@verisign.com,
+ 44 (0) 7920 598 016

Weber Shandwick for VeriSign:
Lydia Curtis,
Lcurtis@webershandwick.com,
+44 (0)207 067 0513

Investor Relations:
Nancy Fazioli,
nfazioli@verisign.com,
+1 650-426-5146

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results due to such factors as the inability of VeriSign to successfully develop and market new products and services and customer acceptance of any new products or services, including the VeriSign PKI Platform; the possibility that VeriSign’s announced new services may not result in additional customers, profits or revenues; and increased competition and pricing pressures. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.

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