SiliconBeat

Less than a month after being announced, VeriSign’s proposed acquisition of content-protection supplier Certicom has been terminated after the Canadian company said it found a better deal elsewhere.

On January 23, VeriSign announced an agreement between the companies under which VeriSign was to buy all the outstanding shares of Certicom for about Read the rest of this entry »

VeriSign filed details of the compensation package being given to founder James Bidzos, who returned to the company as its interim chief executive at the end of June. His annual salary was set at $900,000, half of which is guaranteed for six months, regardless of whether a permanent CEO is hired.

Bidzos also received a grant of restricted stock worth $4 million when they were approved Aug. 4. The stock vests quarterly over a one-year period, no matter what.

VeriSign shares plunged 12.7 percent yesterday after the Internet infrastructure company reported a wider second-quarter loss as it absorbed the costs of a major reorganization. The drop may have helped hasten a move by the company’s board authorizing a stock buyback of $680 million worth of VeriSign shares.

VeriSign’s founder and original chief executive, Jim Bidzos, was named interim chief executive and chairman of the board, according to an SEC filing Thursday. He replaces William Roper, who resigned Monday after just over a year as CEO and after five years as a director.

Roper’s resignation was voluntary, Bidzos told analysts today on a conference call. “I don’t think it was fair Read the rest of this entry »

VeriSign has agreed to sell its facilities at 675 and 685 E. Middlefield Road in Mountain View. The buildings make up 159,000 square feet of the 290,000 square feet the company now owns and occupies as its headquarters on East Middlefield Road, according to an SEC filing Wednesday.

The buyer, listed as PR III Middlefield Road, will pay $49 million for the property upon completion of its due diligence review, and may terminate the sale for any or no reason.

VeriSign has agreed to lease back the properties for 30 months after the sale is completed, which is expected to take place later this month, paying $12.5 million or about $2.62 per square foot per month. Verisign will also have the option to extend the lease for five more years when it expires.

Lets hope the executives and directors at VeriSign are better at filing their taxes on time than they are filing reports on their stock transactions. In its proxy filed Tuesday the Internet services firm cited eighteen of them as being late last year at least once in filing the necessary paper work with the SEC surrounding reportable stock transactions. That included thirteen of the sixteen, or more than 80 percent, of its named executives and directors on its board.

Read the rest of this entry »

John Donovan, Verisign’s executive vice president in charge of product sales and marketing, told the company last week that he is stepping down as of March 31, according to an SEC filing Thursday.

He joined Verisign less than a year and a half ago when it acquired San Diego- based inCode Wireless, where Donovan had been chief executive. He was granted a $5 million payment when inCode was acquired and also received $1.37 million to help him relocate to the Bay Area.

More corporate money well spent.

When last we wrote of Stratton Sclavos, former CEO of VeriSign (ticker:VRSN) and international man of mystery, he was leaving his former company under less than ideal circumstances (options backdating probe, blah, blah, blah). No charges or accusations of wrongdoing, but still…

Then in July, we learned he got a $25 million severance package. And since then, it’s been all quiet on the Sclavos front.

Today, we got a little reminder that he’s still alive and kicking and serving on the board of Salesforce.com (ticker:CRM). In a series of Form 4s filed on Wednesday, Stratton reported that he sold 90,780 shares of his Salesforce.com stock on Nov. 20 to collect about $5.1 million.

Stratton picked a good day to sell. Salesforce’s stock jumped from $54.51 to $57.40 as he sold his stock through out the day. We’re not sure what gave the stock its boost.

Say this for Stratton: For a guy who doesn’t have a full-time, he’s still managing to make a heck of a lot more money than most of us.