Trump win likely seals fate of .com prices

Price relief for .com registrants takes a step back with Trump’s win.

It might seem trivial to talk about Donald Trump’s win and its impact on domain names, but this is a blog about domain names, so here we go.

Trump’s victory likely seals the fate of the price Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) can charge for .com domain names.

Under the Obama administration, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) froze wholesale prices on .com domain names. Under the Trump administration, the NTIA removed this freeze and allowed Verisign to increase .com prices by 7% in the last four of every six years of its contract. The contract also required mutual agreement between Verisign and the NTIA to change the terms of the agreement.

There has been talk over the past year about reining in these price increases, but this seems very unlikely in light of Trump’s win. It seems doubtful that the administration would reverse its prior decision. The Justice Department is also less likely to push antitrust claims than the Biden administration.

In fact, I would expect Verisign to push the NTIA to relax .com price controls further going forward.