For Immediate Release (This is obviously false, so don't sue me)
Mountain View, Calif. - June 8, 2005. Verisign Incorporated (Nasdaq: VSGN) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire the ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $1.4 billion.
The combination of Verisign and ICANN will ensure that all Internet users will experience the service quality, timeliness of data delivery, and uptime that they have come to expect from Verisign. Together, the two companies will meet a wider set of shareholder profitability needs by eliminating costly and inefficient consumer choice from the Internet equation.
"Our incorporation of ICANN under the Verisign umbrella will allow us to offer a whole new range of services to the typical Internet surfer," said Verisign CEO Stratton Sclavos. "Take, for example, our new SiteFinder 2.0 service. SiteFinder 2.0 will allow Verisign to insert advertising into non-Verisign related Internet content, track consumer Internet usage for resale to interested parties, and redirect traffic away from objectionable material (such as controversial or adult material) to 'safe' material (such as our website.) This is clearly a brilliant move on my part."
Said ICANN CEO Paul Twomey, "This move by Verisign is actually the cementing of a relationship that ICANN and Verisign have shared for some time. We're very excited about the move from Verisign puppet to Verisign subsidiary. I was starting to get worried about all the covering up."
Posted by Ed at June 10, 2005 03:34 PM