The Great VeriSign Garage Sale 10 Big VeriSign Sell Offs and Spin Offs
Buyer: SymantecBusiness Unit: Security business including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Services, the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Services, the VeriSign Trust Services and the VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Authentication Service, plus a stake in VeriSign Japan.Price: $1.28 billionDate: May 2010Symantec views this acquisition as going hand-in-hand with its PGP and GuardianEdge buys in order to help it create what it calls the "Trusted Web."
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Buyer: AT&TBusiness Unit: Global Security Consulting ServicesPrice: UndisclosedDate: October 2009AT&T’s buy of VeriSign’s consulting unit gives the telecom better leverage in a new operating environment that had most of its adversaries already holding a security consulting business in their portfolios.
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Buyer: SecureWorksBusiness Unit: Managed Security Services UnitPrice: UndisclosedDate: May 2009MSSP giant SecureWorks picked up VeriSign’s managed security services business (minus iDefense, which remains in VeriSign’s hands) in a move that it says builds up SecureWorks revenue to $100 million.
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Buyer: Syniverse TechnologiesBusiness Unit: Mobile Messaging-including Inter-Carrier Gateway, PictureMail, Premium Messaging Gateway and Mobile Enterprise Solutions technologiesPrice: $175 millionDate: August 2009VeriSign investors had been especially anxious for it to get rid of its growing cadre of mobile technology business units. This deal sold off about $140 million worth of annual business to a vendor better suited to bring it to market.
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Buyer: Mobile MessengerBusiness Unit: mQubePrice: $19 millionDate: November 2009A textbook fire sale, this deal saw Verisign barely recouping a fraction of the $250 million it paid for mQube when it acquired the company in 2006.
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Buyer: Fox EntertainmentBusinessUnit: JambaPrice: $387.4 millionDate: 2006/2008Fox Entertainment bought controlling interest in the VeriSign’s wholly owned mobile content subsidiary for $188 million in 2006. It snatched up the remaining 49 percent in 2008 for $199.4 million.
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Buyer: Sinon Invest HoldingBusiness Unit: VeriSign CommunicationPrice: UndisclosedDate: February 2009Sinon purchased VeriSign’s mobile applications services group in order to form the Vienna-based Mobile Messaging Solutions.
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Buyer: Moreover Technologies IncBusiness Unit: Real-Time Publisher ServicePrice: UndisclosedDate: May 2009Investors led by Paul Farrell purchased Real-Time Publisher Services and launched it back into the market as Morever Technologies, with Farrell heading it up as president.
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Buyer: Globys IncBusiness Unit: Billing analytics for telecom industryPrice: UndisclosedDate: April 2008With funding from Trilogy Partnership and Duff Ackerman & Goodrich, executives running the analytics business group spun off the unit into an independent company called Globys.
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Buyer: TNS IncBusiness Unit: Communications Services GroupPrice: $230 millionDate: March 2009TNS bolstered its telecommunications services group by acquiring the division at VeriSign that dealt in intelligent database services such as caller ID and roaming and clearing services.