VeriSign plans to shed units
Internet
company wants to focus on domain name registry, other core operations.
November 14 2007: 7:30 AM EST
The
Mountain View, Calif.-based company is scheduled to announce its plans, though
not any done deals, on Wednesday in a meeting with analysts.
Chief
Executive Bill Roper said in an interview beforehand that he will outline the
results of the company's recent review of its business units. It plans to sell
businesses where it's not the clear front-runner and focus on areas where it
is, Roper said.
Roper
declined to name a price for any division, and he said the company has not
selected all divisions to be sold.
VeriSign's
(Charts)
primary technology is behind some of the most common activities on the
Internet, including making sure that Web surfers can reach sites with
".com" and ".net" domain names and that Internet shoppers
have an encrypted line of communication with online merchants.
But
the company has sprawled out in recent years and today boasts a boggling list
of products and services that includes supply chain consulting, banking
technology for cell phones and Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP,
offerings.
The
biggest units up for sale are the communications division, which focuses on
telecommunications routing technologies, and a unit that processes transactions
for wireless providers, Roper said.
"We're
getting a lot of interest," he said. "It's not a matter of these
being cats and dogs that nobody's interested in. It's just a matter of, we
might not be the best home for those businesses."
Fresh
from a management shake-up and a stock-options accounting mess, VeriSign hopes
to placate investors who grew disenchanted with the company's prospects under former
Chief Executive Stratton Sclavos, who abruptly resigned in May for undisclosed
reasons after 12 years as CEO. 