Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has invested $74 million in VeriSign, a company that acts as a wholesaler of .com and .net domain names and helps support the infrastructure of the internet. This investment comes even as VeriSign’s stock price fell 1.38% year to date, while the tech-heavy index saw significant gains over the same period. Berkshire Hathaway first invested in VeriSign more than a decade ago and has recently bought about 377,736 shares worth around $74 million in trading sessions leading up to Dec.
24. With this latest investment, Berkshire now owns more than 13 million shares in VeriSign, valued at approximately $2.6 billion, making it the company’s largest shareholder. VeriSign’s high margins may be one of the reasons behind Berkshire’s investment.
Berkshire Hathaway boosts VeriSign investment
The company is tied for the fifth-best profit margin among S&P 500 companies and has the third-highest operating margin among the biggest U.S. companies. VeriSign’s shares reached a peak of $253.82 in 2021, benefiting from optimism in tech stocks and an increase in year-over-year .com and .net domain name registrations.
However, since then, its stock price has fallen by about 19%. As of Monday, VeriSign’s shares were trading up less than 1% at around $205. This investment in VeriSign comes as Berkshire Hathaway has been actively buying and selling stocks while the overall market has experienced significant growth in 2024.
According to its last report, Berkshire held $325 billion in cash and cash equivalents and had sold off more than half of its stake in its biggest holding.
