VeriSign, Inc.

Good day, everyone. Welcome to VeriSign's second quarter 2020 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. Recording of this call is not permitted unless pre-authorized. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. David Atchley, Vice President of Investor Relationships and Corporate Treasurer. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Operator. Welcome to VeriSign's second quarter 2020 earnings call. Thank you to everyone for joining our call today, and we hope each of you are staying safe and healthy. Joining me remotely from their respective locations are Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO, Todd Strube, President and COO, and George Kilgus, Executive Vice President and CFO. Thank you in advance for your patience if we experience any interference, delays, or sound quality issues during today's call. This call and presentation are being webcast from the Investor Relations website, which is available under About VeriSign on VeriSign.com. There you will also find our second quarter 2020 earnings release. At the end of this call, the presentation will be available on that site, and within a few hours, the replay of the call will be posted. Financial results in our earnings release are unaudited, and our remarks include forward-looking statements that are subject to the risks and uncertainties that we discuss in detail in our documents filed with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q. VeriSign does not update financial performance or guidance during the quarter unless it is done through a public disclosure. The financial results in today's call and the matters we will be discussing today include GAAP results and two non-GAAP measures used by VeriSign, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation information is appended to the slide presentation, which can be found on the investor relations section of our website, available after this call. In a moment, Jim and George will provide some prepared remarks, and afterward, we will open the call for your questions. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Jim.

Thanks, David, and good afternoon, everyone. With the increased demand for and reliance on Internet services during the COVID-19 crisis, the secure and reliable operation of our infrastructure becomes even more important. Our focus remains on our mission, which is to ensure the availability of our critical infrastructure. We have been and are prepared to continue operating all of our services, including registry services for .com and .net, and our root operations at the rigorous standards of performance and availability governed by ICANN, with most of our employees continuing to work remotely. Our focus on mission is emphasized by the fact that the company last week marked 23 years of 100% availability of the .com and .net domain name resolution system. This achievement is the result of the dedication and expertise of our team and of our specialized infrastructure. Also, as part of our response to the COVID-19 crisis, we announced in March a freeze of the wholesale prices in all of our TLDs, including .com, through the end of 2020. Today, given the current environment, we are further extending that price freeze for the wholesale prices in all of our TLDs through March 30th 31st, 2021. Additionally, we are also extending the waiver of the wholesale restore fee for expired domain names through the end of 2020. Now I will address our quarterly results. Q2 of 2020 was another consistent quarter for VeriSign in which we focused on our core business, expanded the domain name base, and delivered solid financial results. Regarding second quarter operational highlights, At the end of June, the domain name base in .com and .net totaled 162.1 million, consisting of 148.7 million names for .com and 13.4 million names for .net, with a year-over-year growth rate of 3.8%. During the second quarter, we processed 11.1 million new registrations, and the domain name base increased by 1.41 million names. Although renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter, we believe that the renewal rate for the second quarter of 2020 will be approximately 72.8%. This preliminary rate compares to 74.2% achieved in the second quarter of 2019 and 75.4% last quarter. For 2020, we now expect a domain name-based growth rate of between 2.75% and 4%. This updated range, which recognizes the ongoing uncertainty presented by COVID-19, reflects the strength we have seen in new registrations and our expectation for domain name-based growth for the balance of the year. During the second quarter, we continued our share repurchase program that resulted in 730,000 shares of common stock repurchased for $150 million. At June 30 of 2020, $676 million remained available and authorized under the current share repurchase program, which has no expiration. Our financial and liquidity position remains stable with $1.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities at the end of the quarter. We continually evaluate the overall liquidity and investing needs of the business and consider the best uses for our cash, including potential share repurchases. Now I'd like to turn the call over to George.