Edgar Filing: VERISIGN INC/CA

PRE 14A

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

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¨ Definitive Proxy Statement.

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¨ Soliciting Material under §240.14a-12.

VeriSign, Inc.

(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

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VeriSign, Inc.

12061 Bluemont Way

Reston, Virginia 20190

April , 2016

To Our Stockholders:

You are cordially invited to attend the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of VeriSign, Inc. (“Verisign”) to be held at our corporate offices located at 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190 on Thursday, June 9, 2016, at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time (the “Meeting”).

The matters expected to be acted upon at the Meeting are described in detail in the following Notice of the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Proxy Statement.

We have implemented a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule that allows companies to furnish their proxy materials over the Internet. As a result, we are mailing to our stockholders a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials instead of a paper copy of our annual report to security holders, which includes our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 (collectively, the “Annual Report”), and this Proxy Statement. The Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials contains instructions on how to access those documents over the Internet. The Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials also contains instructions on how each stockholder can receive a paper copy of our proxy soliciting materials, including this notice and Proxy Statement, our Annual Report and a form of proxy card or voting instruction card. We believe that this process will conserve natural resources and reduce the costs of printing and distributing our proxy materials.

It is important that you use this opportunity to take part in the affairs of Verisign by voting on the business to come before this meeting. WHETHER OR NOT YOU EXPECT TO ATTEND THE MEETING, PLEASE COMPLETE THE PROXY ELECTRONICALLY OR BY PHONE AS DESCRIBED ON THE NOTICE OF INTERNET AVAILABILITY OF PROXY MATERIALS AND UNDER “INTERNET AND TELEPHONE VOTING” IN THE PROXY STATEMENT, OR ALTERNATIVELY, IF RECEIVING PAPER COPIES OF PROXY MATERIALS, DATE, SIGN AND PROMPTLY RETURN THE ACCOMPANYING PROXY IN THE ENCLOSED POSTAGE-PAID ENVELOPE SO THAT YOUR SHARES MAY BE REPRESENTED AT THE MEETING. Returning or completing the proxy does not deprive you of your right to attend the Meeting and to vote your shares in person.

We look forward to seeing you at our 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Sincerely,

/s/ D. James Bidzos

D. James Bidzos

Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

VERISIGN, INC.

12061 Bluemont Way

Reston, Virginia 20190

Notice of the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders

TO OUR STOCKHOLDERS:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of VeriSign, Inc. (the “Company”) will be held at the Company’s corporate offices located at 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190 on Thursday, June 9, 2016, at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time. The 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is being held for the following purposes:

1. To elect the seven directors of the Company named in the Proxy Statement, each to serve until the next annual meeting, or until a successor has been elected and qualified or until the director’s earlier resignation or removal.

2. To approve, on a non-binding, advisory basis, the Company’s executive compensation.

3. To approve the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan.

4. To approve an amendment to the Company’s Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to permit the Board of Directors to amend the Company’s bylaws.

5. To ratify the selection of KPMG LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2016.

6. To vote on a stockholder proposal, if properly presented at the meeting, requesting that the Board of Directors take steps to amend the bylaws to adopt proxy access.

7. To transact such other business as may properly come before the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders or any adjournment or postponement thereof.

The foregoing items of business are more fully described in the Proxy Statement accompanying this Notice.

Only stockholders of record at the close of business on April 15, 2016, are entitled to notice of and to vote at the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders or any adjournment or postponement thereof.

By Order of the Board of Directors,

/s/ Thomas C. Indelicarto

Thomas C. Indelicarto

Secretary

Reston, Virginia

April , 2016

WHETHER OR NOT YOU EXPECT TO ATTEND THE MEETING, PLEASE COMPLETE THE PROXY ELECTRONICALLY OR BY PHONE AS DESCRIBED ON THE NOTICE OF INTERNET AVAILABILITY OF PROXY MATERIALS AND UNDER “INTERNET AND TELEPHONE VOTING” IN THE PROXY STATEMENT, OR ALTERNATIVELY, IF RECEIVING PAPER COPIES OF PROXY MATERIALS, COMPLETE, DATE, SIGN AND PROMPTLY RETURN THE PROXY IN THE ENCLOSED POSTAGE-PAID ENVELOPE SO THAT YOUR SHARES MAY BE REPRESENTED AT THE MEETING.

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be Held on June 9, 2016: The Proxy Statement and Annual Report are available at www.edocumentview.com/vrsn.

TABLE OF CONTENTS



	Page
Proxy Statement for the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders	1
Proposal No. 1—Election of Directors	4
Director Nominees	4
Non-Employee Director Compensation Table for Fiscal 2015	7
Corporate Governance	8
Independence of Directors	8
Board Leadership Structure	8
Board Role in Risk Oversight	8
Board and Committee Meetings	8
Board Members’ Attendance at the Annual Meeting	9
Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee	9
Audit Committee	9
Audit Committee Financial Expert	9
Report of the Audit Committee	10
Compensation Committee	11
Communicating with the Board	11
Code of Ethics	11
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management	12
Beneficial Ownership Table	13
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance	15
Proposal No. 2—To Approve, on a Non-Binding Advisory Basis, Verisign’s Executive Compensation	16
Executive Compensation	17
Compensation Discussion and Analysis	17
Compensation Committee Report	29
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation	29
Summary Compensation Table	30
Grants of Plan-Based Awards for Fiscal 2015	31
Outstanding Equity Awards at 2015 Fiscal Year End	32
Option Exercises and Stock Vested for Fiscal 2015	33
Potential Payments Upon Termination or Change-in-Control	33
Equity Compensation Plan Information	36
Policies and Procedures With Respect to Transactions With Related Persons	36
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions	37
Proposal No. 3—To Approve the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan	38
Proposal No. 4—To Approve the Amendment to the Company’s Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation	44
Proposal No. 5—Ratification of Selection of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm	47
Principal Accountant Fees and Services	48
Policy on Audit Committee Pre-Approval of Audit and Permissible Non-Audit Services of Independent Auditors	48
Proposal No. 6—Stockholder Proposal Requesting the Directors Take Steps to Amend the Bylaws to Adopt Proxy Access	49
Other Information	51
Stockholder Proposals for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders	51
Other Business	52
Communicating With Verisign	52
Appendix A—VeriSign, Inc. Annual Incentive Compensation Plan	A-1
Appendix B—Bylaws of VeriSign, Inc.	B-1
Appendix C—Proposed Amendment to Article Five of the Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation	C-1

VERISIGN, INC.

12061 Bluemont Way

Reston, Virginia 20190

PROXY STATEMENT

FOR THE 2016 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

April , 2016

The accompanying proxy is solicited on behalf of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of VeriSign, Inc. (“Verisign” or the “Company”) for use at the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Meeting”) to be held at our corporate offices located at 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190 on Thursday, June 9, 2016 at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time. Only holders of record of our common stock at the close of business on April 15, 2016, which is the record date, will be entitled to vote at the Meeting. This Proxy Statement and the accompanying form of proxy (collectively, the “Proxy Statement”) were first made available to stockholders on or about April , 2016. Our annual report to security holders, which includes our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 (collectively, the “Annual Report”), is enclosed with this Proxy Statement for stockholders receiving a paper copy of proxy soliciting materials. The Annual Report and Proxy Statement can both be accessed on the Investor Relations section of our website at https://investor.verisign.com, or at www.edocumentview.com/vrsn.

All proxies will be voted in accordance with the instructions as submitted. Unless contrary instructions are specified, if the applicable proxy is submitted (and not revoked) prior to the Meeting, the shares of Verisign common stock represented by the proxy will be voted: (1) FOR the election of each of the seven director candidates nominated by the Board; (2) FOR the non-binding, advisory resolution to approve Verisign’s executive compensation; (3) FOR the approval of the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan; (4) FOR the approval of an amendment to the Company’s Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to permit the Board to amend the bylaws; (5) FOR the ratification of the selection of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2016 (“fiscal 2016”); (6) AGAINST the stockholder proposal, if properly presented at the meeting, requesting that the Board of Directors take steps to amend the bylaws to adopt proxy access and (7) in accordance with the best judgment of the named proxies on any other matters properly brought before the Meeting.

Voting Rights

At the close of business on the record date, we had shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote.Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held as of the record date.

Quorum, Effect of Abstentions and Broker Non-Votes, Vote Required to Approve the Proposals

A majority of the shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote must be present or represented by proxy at the Meeting in order to have a quorum. Abstentions and broker non-votes will be treated as shares present for the purpose of determining the presence of a quorum for the transaction of business at the Meeting. A broker non-vote occurs when a bank, broker or other stockholder of record holding shares for a beneficial owner has not received voting instructions from the beneficial owner and does not vote on a particular proposal because that record holder does not have discretionary voting power with respect to that “non-routine” proposal. Each of the election of directors, the non-binding, advisory vote to approve executive compensation, the approval of the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan, the amendment of the Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and the stockholder proposal, if properly presented at the meeting, requesting that the Board take steps to amend the bylaws to adopt proxy access is a “non-routine” proposal and so shares for which record holders do not receive voting instructions will not be voted on such matters.

If a quorum is present, a nominee for election to a position on the Board will be elected by a plurality of the votes validly cast at the Meeting. Stockholders may not cumulate votes in the election of directors.

If a quorum is present, approvals of the proposals for:


•	the non-binding, advisory resolution to approve Verisign’s executive compensation;


•	the approval of the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan;


•	the ratification of the selection of KPMG LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2016; and


•	the stockholder proposal, if properly presented at the meeting, requesting that the Board take steps to amend the bylaws to adopt proxy access

require the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares of common stock present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the subject matter. Under this voting standard, abstentions will have the effect of votes cast against the proposal, and broker non-votes will not affect the voting outcome. If a nominee for director in an uncontested election is not elected and the nominee is an incumbent director, the director must promptly tender his or her resignation to the Board, subject to acceptance by the Board. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will make a recommendation to the Board as to whether to accept or reject the tendered resignation and the Board must act on the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee’s recommendation and publicly disclose its decision and the rationale therefor within 90 days following the date of the certification of the relevant election results.

If a quorum is present, approval of the amendment to the Company’s Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the voting power of the outstanding capital stock of Verisign outstanding and entitled to vote thereon. Abstentions and broker non-votes will have the same effect as votes “against” the approval of the amendment.

The inspector of elections appointed for the Meeting will separately tabulate affirmative and withheld votes, abstentions and broker non-votes.

Adjournment of Meeting

In the event that a quorum shall fail to attend the Meeting, either in person or represented by proxy, the chairman may adjourn the Meeting, or alternatively, the holders of a majority of the shares of stock entitled to vote who are present, in person or by proxy, may adjourn the Meeting. Any such adjournment proposed by a stockholder or person named as a proxy would require the affirmative vote of the majority of the outstanding shares present in person or represented by proxy at the Meeting.

Expenses of Soliciting Proxies

Verisign will pay the expenses of soliciting proxies to be voted at the Meeting. Verisign intends to retain Morrow & Co., LLC for various services related to the solicitation of proxies, which we anticipate will cost approximately $30,000 to $35,000, plus reimbursement of expenses. Following the original mailing of the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials and paper copies of proxies and other proxy soliciting materials, we and/or our agents may also solicit proxies by mail, telephone, electronic transmission, including email, or in person. Following the original mailing of the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials and paper copies of the proxies and other proxy soliciting materials, we will request that brokers, custodians, nominees and other record holders of our shares forward copies of the proxy and other proxy soliciting materials to persons for whom they hold shares and request authority for the exercise of proxies. In such cases, we will reimburse the record holders for their reasonable expenses if they ask us to do so.

Revocability of Proxies

A stockholder who holds shares of record as a registered stockholder may revoke any proxy that is not irrevocable by attending the Meeting and voting in person or by delivering a proxy in accordance with applicable law bearing a later date to the Secretary of the Company. If your shares are held through a bank or brokerage firm, you must follow the instructions provided by that institution to change or revoke your voting instructions.

Internet and Telephone Voting

If you hold shares of record as a registered stockholder, you can simplify your voting process and save the Company expense by voting your shares by telephone at 1-800-652-VOTE (8683) or on the Internet at www.envisionreports.com/vrsn twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Telephone and Internet voting are available through 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time the day of the Meeting. More information regarding Internet voting is given on the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials. If you hold shares through a bank or brokerage firm, the bank or brokerage firm will provide you with separate instructions on a form you will receive from them. Many such firms make telephone or Internet voting available, but the specific processes available will depend on those firms’ individual arrangements.

Householding

A number of brokerage firms have instituted a procedure called “householding,” which has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Under this procedure, the firm delivers only one copy of the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials or paper copies of the Annual Report and Proxy Statement, as the case may be, to multiple stockholders who share the same address and have the same last name, unless it has received contrary instructions from an affected stockholder. If your shares are held in “street name” and you would like to receive only one copy of these materials (instead of separate copies) in the future, please contact your bank, broker or other holder of record to request information about householding. If you would like to receive an individual copy of the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials or paper copies of the Annual Report and Proxy Statement, as the case may be, now or in the future, we will promptly deliver these materials to you upon request to VeriSign, Inc., 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190, Attention: Secretary or (703) 948-3200.

PROPOSAL NO. 1

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

There are currently eight directors, as determined by a written resolution of the Board. With the resignation of Mr. Chenevich, as described below, the Board has decreased the size of the Board to seven directors effective as of the Meeting. The terms of the current directors, who are identified below, expire upon the election and qualification of the directors to be elected at the Meeting. The Board has nominated D. James Bidzos, Kathleen A. Cote, Thomas F. Frist III, Jamie S. Gorelick, Roger H. Moore, Louis A. Simpson and Timothy Tomlinson, each of whom are current directors, for re-election at the Meeting to serve until the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and until their respective successors have been elected and qualified. Proxies cannot be voted for more than seven persons, which is the number of nominees. Mr. Frist, who joined the Board in December 2015, was recommended by Mr. Bidzos.

William L. Chenevich, 72, announced his retirement from the Board and will serve the remainder of his term ending at the Meeting. The Board extends its sincere appreciation to Mr. Chenevich for his years of service on the Board. Mr. Chenevich, a current member of both the Audit Committee and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, has given generously of his time and has consistently provided the Board with independent insight and advice. His expertise in corporate governance, as well as his significant operational and financial expertise has been invaluable to the Board and to the Company.

Unless otherwise directed, the persons named in the proxy intend to vote all proxies FOR the re-election of the nominees, as listed below, each of whom has consented to serve as a director if elected. If, at the time of the Meeting, any of the nominees is unable or declines to serve as a director, the discretionary authority provided in the enclosed proxy will be exercised to vote for a substitute candidate designated by the Board, unless the Board chooses to reduce its own size. The Board has no reason to believe any of the nominees will be unable or will decline to serve if elected.

Director Nominees

Set forth below is certain information relating to our director nominees, including details on each director nominee’s specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills that led the Board to conclude that the person should serve as a director of the Company.



Name	Age	Position
Nominees for election as directors for a term expiring in 2017:
D. James Bidzos	61	Chairman of the Board, Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Kathleen A. Cote(1)(2)	67	Director
Thomas F. Frist III (2)	48	Director
Jamie S. Gorelick(2)(3)	65	Director
Roger H. Moore(1)(2)	74	Director
Louis A. Simpson(2)(3)	79	Lead Independent Director
Timothy Tomlinson(1)(2)(3)	66	Director


(1)	Member of the Audit Committee.


(2)	Member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.


(3)	Member of the Compensation Committee.

D. James Bidzos has served as Executive Chairman since August 2009 and President and Chief Executive Officer since August 2011. He served as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer on an interim basis from June 2008 to August 2009 and served as President from June 2008 to January 2009. He served as Chairman of the Board since August 2007 and from April 1995 to December 2001. He served as Vice Chairman of the Board from December 2001 to August 2007. Mr. Bidzos served as a director of VeriSign Japan K.K. (“VeriSign Japan”) from March 2008 to August 2010 and served as Representative Director of VeriSign Japan from March 2008 to September 2008. Mr. Bidzos served as Vice Chairman of RSA Security Inc., an Internet identity and access management solution provider, from March 1999 to May 2002, and Executive Vice President from July 1996 to February 1999. Prior thereto, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of RSA Data Security, Inc. from 1986 to February 1999.

Mr. Bidzos is a business executive with significant expertise in the technology that is central to the Company’s businesses. Mr. Bidzos is an Internet and security industry pioneer who understands the strategic technology trends in markets that are important to the Company. Mr. Bidzos was a founder of the Company and has been either Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors since the Company’s founding in April 1995, providing him with valuable insight and institutional knowledge of the Company’s history and development. Mr. Bidzos has prior experience on our Compensation Committee and our Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and as a member of several other public-company boards. Mr. Bidzos’s years of board-level experience contribute important knowledge and insight to the Board. Additionally, Mr. Bidzos’s executive-level experience includes

many years as a Chief Executive Officer, providing him with a perspective that the Board values. Mr. Bidzos also has international business experience from his service as a director of VeriSign Japan.

Kathleen A. Cote has served as a director since February 2008. From May 2001 to June 2003, Ms. Cote served as Chief Executive Officer of Worldport Communications Company, a provider of Internet managed services. From September 1998 to May 2001, she served as Founder and President of Seagrass Partners, a consulting firm specializing in providing strategic planning, business, operational and management support for startup and mid-sized technology companies. Prior thereto, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Computervision Corporation, a supplier of desktop and enterprise, client server and web-based product development and data management software and services. During the past five years, Ms. Cote has held directorships at Asure Software Corporation, GT Advanced Technologies Inc., 3Com Corporation and Western Digital Corporation. Ms. Cote holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, an M.B.A. degree from Babson College, and a B.A. degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Ms. Cote is a business executive with significant expertise overseeing global companies in technology and operations in the areas of systems integration, networks, hardware and software, including web-based applications and Internet services. Ms. Cote’s expertise in technology and operations is directly relevant to the Company’s businesses. Ms. Cote’s expertise as a business executive also includes sales and marketing, product development, strategic planning and international experience, which contributes important expertise to the Board in those areas of business administration. Ms. Cote’s financial and accounting skills qualify her as an audit committee financial expert. In addition to Ms. Cote’s tenure as a director of the Company, Ms. Cote has served on several other boards of directors, including service on the audit and corporate governance committees of those boards, providing her with valuable board-level experience. Ms. Cote’s executive-level experience includes experience as a Chief Executive Officer, providing her with a perspective that the Board values.

Thomas F. Frist III has served as a director since December 2015. Mr. Frist is the Founder and Managing Principal of Frist Capital, LLC, an investment firm based in Nashville, TN that makes long-term equity investments in public and private companies, and he has held this position since 1994. Mr. Frist previously was the managing member of FS Partners, L.L.C. and worked in principal investments at Rainwater, Inc. Mr. Frist holds a B.A. degree from Princeton University and an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Frist’s extensive directorship experience provides valuable expertise and perspective to the Board. Mr. Frist was on the Audit Committee and Board of Directors of Triad Hospitals, Inc. from 1998-2007. He joined the board of HCA Holdings, Inc., one of the largest non-governmental operators of health care facilities in the United States, in 2008, serving on the Executive and Audit Committees, and chairing the Nominating and Governance Committee. Mr. Frist has also served as a director for SAIC, Inc. since 2009, serving as Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee since its separation from Leidos in 2013. He also chaired the Finance Committee at legacy SAIC. In addition to the significant experience as a board member mentioned above, Mr. Frist provides valuable experience in areas of business administration, finance and operations.

Jamie S. Gorelick has served as a director since January 2015. Ms. Gorelick has been a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, an international law firm, since 2003. She served as Deputy Attorney General of the United States from 1994 to 1997 and as General Counsel of the Department of Defense from 1993 to 1994. She has been a director of Amazon.com, Inc. since 2012 and serves as Chair of its Nominating and Governance Committee. She previously served as a director of United Technologies Corp. and of Schlumberger, Ltd. She holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from Harvard University.

Ms. Gorelick is an experienced attorney with significant expertise in legal, policy and corporate matters. Ms. Gorelick’s regulatory and policy experience is directly relevant to the Company’s business. She is well-versed in critical infrastructure and national security issues and brings a valuable skill-set and wealth of government experience to the Board. Ms. Gorelick has served on several other corporate boards, a compensation committee, and a nominating and governance committee, and served on numerous government boards and commissions. Ms. Gorelick’s experience in both the public and private sectors, combined with her experience in the corporate boardroom, provides her valuable board experience, and she offers a perspective the Board values.

Roger H. Moore has served as a director since February 2002. From December 2007 to May 2009, he served as a consultant assisting Verisign in the divestiture of its Communications Services business. From June 2007 through November 2007, Mr. Moore served as interim Chief Executive Officer of Arbinet Corporation, a provider of online trading services. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Illuminet Holdings, Inc. from December 1995 until December 2001 when Verisign acquired Illuminet Holdings. Prior to Illuminet Holdings, Mr. Moore spent ten years with Nortel Networks in a variety of senior management positions including President of Nortel Japan. During the past five years, Mr. Moore has held directorships at Western Digital Corporation and Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. Mr. Moore holds a B.S. degree in General Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Mr. Moore is a business executive with significant expertise in general management, sales, technology and strategic planning in the telecommunications industry. Mr. Moore’s expertise contributes operational knowledge of important inputs to the Company’s businesses and provides valuable experience in areas of business administration. Mr. Moore also has significant experience, both as a senior executive and as a board member, in joint venture and mergers and acquisition transactions, which is experience that is valuable

to the Board. Mr. Moore’s financial and accounting skills qualify him as an audit committee financial expert. Mr. Moore also serves on several other boards of directors, including service on the audit, compensation and corporate governance committees of certain of those boards, providing him with valuable board-level experience. In addition to the several years of business management experience mentioned above, Mr. Moore has international business experience from his time as President of Nortel Japan and as President of AT&T Canada.

Louis A. Simpson has served as a director since May 2005. Mr. Simpson has served as Chairman of SQ Advisors, LLC, an investment firm, since January 2011. From May 1993 to December 2010, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Capital Operations, of GEICO Corporation, a passenger auto insurer. Mr. Simpson previously served as Vice Chairman of the Board of GEICO from 1985 to 1993. During the past five years, Mr. Simpson has held directorships at SAIC, Inc. and Chesapeake Energy Corporation. Mr. Simpson holds a B.A. degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and an M.A. degree in Economics from Princeton University.

Mr. Simpson is a business executive with significant expertise in insurance, finance and private investment. Mr. Simpson’s expertise contributes all around business acumen, skills in strategic planning and finance, along with knowledge important to mergers and acquisitions activity. Throughout his career, Mr. Simpson has served on the boards of directors of more than fifteen publicly traded companies, providing him with extensive and valuable board-level experience. Mr. Simpson’s board-level experience also includes previous audit committee, finance committee, nominating and corporate governance committee and compensation committee experience on certain of those public-company boards. Mr. Simpson is a recognized expert in corporate governance matters, having lectured and presented numerous times on corporate governance topics at seminars and continuing education courses. As indicated above, Mr. Simpson’s career includes executive-level experience as a Chief Executive Officer, providing him with a perspective that the Board values.

Timothy Tomlinson was a corporate lawyer employed as General Counsel of Portola Minerals Company, a producer and seller of limestone products, from May 2011 through December 2013. Mr. Tomlinson was employed as Of Counsel by the law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP from May 2007 through May 2011. Mr. Tomlinson was the founder and a named partner of Tomlinson Zisko LLP and practiced with this Silicon Valley law firm from 1983 until its acquisition by Greenberg Traurig, LLP in May 2007. He served as managing partner of Tomlinson Zisko LLP for multiple terms. Mr. Tomlinson is a long-tenured member of the Board, having served from the Company’s founding in 1995 until 2002, and again since his reappointment in November 2007. Mr. Tomlinson holds a B.A. degree in Economics, a Ph.D. degree in History, an M.B.A. and a J.D. degree from Stanford University.

Mr. Tomlinson has significant expertise in corporate matters including finance and mergers and acquisitions and has represented clients in the technology industry for more than thirty years. Mr. Tomlinson’s long-term service on our Board has provided him with valuable insight and institutional knowledge of the Company’s history and development. He has extensive experience in corporate governance, both as a lawyer advising clients, and through serving on our Audit, Compensation and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committees, as well as the audit, compensation, and governance committees of other public companies.

Compensation of Directors

This section provides information regarding the compensation policies for non-employee directors and amounts earned and securities awarded to these directors in fiscal 2015. Employee directors are not compensated for their services as directors. Mr. Bidzos is the Company’s Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. As an employee of the Company, Mr. Bidzos does not participate in the compensation program for non-employee directors, and he is compensated as an executive officer of the Company. Mr. Bidzos’ compensation is described in “Executive Compensation” elsewhere in this Proxy Statement.

Non-Employee Director Retainer Fees and Equity Compensation Information

On July 21, 2015, the Compensation Committee met to consider the cash and equity-based compensation to be paid to non-employee directors. The Compensation Committee reviewed competitive market data prepared by Frederic W. Cook & Co. (“FW Cook”), its independent compensation consultant, for the same peer group used to benchmark executive compensation and certain available information for other boards and reviewed the board compensation practices of these companies. For information about the peer group, see “Executive Compensation—Compensation Discussion and Analysis.” Following this review and consideration of the recommendations made by FW Cook, the Compensation Committee determined that it was in the best interests of Verisign and its stockholders to maintain the amount of the annual cash retainer fees at current levels and maintain the value of the annual equity award grant to each director at $240,000 (made solely in the form of restricted stock units (“RSUs”)). New directors are granted an equity award equal to the pro rata amount of such annual equity award, the amount of which is determined based on the date of such new director’s appointment or election to the Board. Directors are subject to the Company’s Stock Retention Policy as described in “Executive Compensation—Compensation Discussion and Analysis.”

Directors received annual cash retainer fees for fiscal 2015 as follows:



Annual retainer for non-employee directors	$	40,000
Additional annual retainer for Non-Executive Chairman of the Board(1)	$	100,000
Additional annual retainer for Lead Independent Director	$	25,000
Additional annual retainer for Audit Committee members	$	25,000
Additional annual retainer for Compensation Committee members	$	20,000
Additional annual retainer for Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee members	$	10,000
Additional annual retainer for Audit Committee Chairperson	$	15,000
Additional annual retainer for Compensation Committee Chairperson	$	10,000
Additional annual retainer for Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee Chairperson	$	5,000


(1)	The position of “Non-Executive Chairman of the Board” was not held during 2015, and as such no annual retainer fees were paid during this period.

Non-employee directors are reimbursed for their expenses in attending meetings.

Non-Employee Director Compensation Table for Fiscal 2015

The following table sets forth a summary of compensation information for our non-employee directors for fiscal 2015. As an executive officer of the Company during fiscal 2015, Mr. Bidzos received no additional compensation for services provided as a director. Information regarding Mr. Bidzos’ compensation may be found under “Executive Compensation.”

DIRECTOR COMPENSATION FOR FISCAL 2015



Non-Employee Director Name	Fees Earned or Paid in Cash ($)(1)	Stock Awards ($)(2)	Total ($)
William L. Chenevich	105,000	239,950	344,950
Kathleen A. Cote	80,000	239,950	319,950
Thomas F. Frist(3)	3,940	153,247	157,187
Jamie S. Gorelick(4)	63,361	352,996	416,357
Roger H. Moore	75,000	239,950	314,950
John D. Roach(5)	32,910	0	32,910
Louis A. Simpson	91,073	239,950	331,023
Timothy Tomlinson	90,490	239,950	330,440


(1)	Amounts shown represent retainer fees earned by each director.

(2)

Stock Awards consist solely of RSUs. Amounts shown represent the aggregate grant date fair value computed in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718 for the applicable awards granted in fiscal 2015. The grant date fair value of each Stock Award granted to each non-employee director (excluding Mr. Frist who was appointed on December 3, 2015) on July 21, 2015 was $ 239,950 (3,687 RSUs at $65.08 per share closing price on the grant date).


(3)	Mr. Frist was appointed to the Board of Directors on December 3, 2015 and received a grant of 1,665 RSUs at $92.04 per share, which represents the pro rata amount of annual equity awards given to members of the Board of Directors.


(4)	In addition to the grant on July 21, 2015, Ms. Gorelick received a grant on the date of her appointment to the Board of Directors, January 30, 2015, for 2,075 RSUs at $54.48 per share, which represents the pro rata amount of annual equity awards given to members of the Board of Directors.


(5)	Mr. Roach served as a director until the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

RSUs granted to non-employee directors in 2015 vested immediately upon grant. The Compensation Committee may authorize grants with different vesting schedules in the future. The vesting of equity awards for all non-employee directors accelerates as to 100% of any unvested equity awards upon certain changes-in-control as set forth in the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2006 Plan”).

The Board Recommends a Vote “FOR” the Election of Each of the Nominated Directors.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Independence of Directors

As required under The NASDAQ Stock Market’s listing standards, a majority of the members of our Board must qualify as “independent,” as determined by the Board. The Board consults with our legal counsel to ensure that the Board’s determinations are consistent with all relevant securities and other laws and regulations regarding the definition of “independent,” including those set forth in pertinent listing standards of The NASDAQ Stock Market.

Consistent with these considerations, after review of all relevant transactions and relationships between each director, or any of his or her family members, and Verisign, our executive officers or our independent registered public accounting firm, the Board affirmatively determined on February 18, 2016 that the majority of our Board is comprised of independent directors. Our independent directors are: Mr. Chenevich (who will not stand for re-election), Ms. Cote, Mr. Frist, Ms. Gorelick, Mr. Moore, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Tomlinson. Each director who serves on the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee or the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee is an independent director. Mr. Bidzos serves as Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and thus is not considered independent. John D. Roach, who served as a director until the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, was determined to be independent pursuant to these same standards.

Board Leadership Structure

The Board regularly considers the appropriate leadership structure for the Company and has concluded that the Company and its stockholders are best served by not having a formal policy on whether the same individual should serve as both Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. This flexibility allows the Board to utilize its considerable experience and knowledge to elect the most appropriate director as Chairman, while maintaining the ability to separate the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer roles when necessary. This determination is made according to what the Board believes is best to provide appropriate leadership for the Company at such time. Currently, the Company’s eight-member Board is led by Chairman D. James Bidzos. Mr. Bidzos is also an officer of the Company, serving as its Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. The Board has appointed Louis A. Simpson as Lead Independent Director. The Lead Independent Director presides at all meetings of the Board at which the Chairman of the Board is not present.

The Board has determined that its current leadership represents an appropriate structure for the Company. In particular, this structure capitalizes on the expertise and experience of Messrs. Bidzos and Simpson due to their long-tenured service to the Board. The structure permits Mr. Bidzos to engage in the operations of the Company in a more in-depth way as Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Lastly, the structure ensures Board independence from management by permitting the Lead Independent Director to call and chair meetings of the independent directors separate and apart from the Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Bidzos was a founder of the Company and its initial Chief Executive Officer, and he has been either Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors since the Company’s founding in 1995. Mr. Bidzos’s current tenure as Chairman of the Board dates to August 2007. Mr. Bidzos was appointed Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Verisign on an interim basis on June 30, 2008. On January 14, 2009, Mr. Bidzos resigned as President on an interim basis, and on August 17, 2009, Mr. Bidzos resigned as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer on an interim basis and was appointed Executive Chairman of Verisign. On August 1, 2011, Mr. Bidzos was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Simpson has been the Lead Independent Director since July 2015. Prior to Mr. Simpson, Mr. Chenevich served as the Lead Independent Director.

Board Role in Risk Oversight

The Board’s role in the Company’s risk oversight process includes receiving regular reports from members of senior management on areas of material risk to the Company, including operational, financial, legal and regulatory, and strategic and reputational risks. The full Board (or the appropriate committee in the case of risks that are under the purview of a particular committee) receives these reports from the appropriate member of senior management responsible for mitigating these risks within the organization to enable it to understand our risk identification, risk management and risk mitigation strategies. When a committee receives a report on risks under its purview, the Chairperson of the relevant committee reports on the discussion to the full Board during the committee reports portion of the next Board meeting. This enables the Board and its committees to coordinate the risk oversight role, particularly with respect to risk interrelationships. All of our Board members have experience with enterprise risk management. In addition, the Board discusses cyber risks regularly during its regularly scheduled board meetings.

Board and Committee Meetings

The Board met five times and its committees collectively met fifteen times during 2015. During 2015, Mr. Chenevich was the only director who attended fewer than 75% of the aggregate of (i) the total number of meetings held by the Board and (ii) the total number of meetings held by all committees on which he or she served. As the Lead Independent Director, Mr. Simpson may schedule and conduct separate meetings of the independent directors and perform other similar duties.

Board Members’ Attendance at the Annual Meeting

Although we do not have a formal policy regarding attendance by members of the Board at our annual meeting of stockholders, we encourage directors to attend. One member of the Board attended our 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee

The Board has established a Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee to recruit, evaluate, and nominate candidates for appointment or election to serve as members of the Board, recommend nominees for committees of the Board, recommend corporate governance principles and periodically review and assess the adequacy of these principles, and review annually the performance of the Board. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee is currently composed of Ms. Cote (Chairperson), Mr. Chenevich, Mr. Frist, Ms. Gorelick, Mr. Moore, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Tomlinson, each of whom has been determined by the Board to be an “independent director” under the rules of The NASDAQ Stock Market. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee operates pursuant to a written charter. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee’s charter is located on our website at https://investor.verisign.com/documents.cfm. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee met five times during fiscal 2015.

In nominating candidates for election to the Board, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee considers the performance and qualifications of each potential nominee or candidate, not only for his or her individual strengths but also for his or her potential contribution to the Board as a group. While it has no express policy, in carrying out this responsibility the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee also considers additional factors, such as diversity of business administration specialty, expertise within industries and markets tangential or complementary to the Company’s industry, and business contacts among the various market segments relevant to the Company’s sales, human resource and development strategies. Additionally, pursuant to its charter, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee evaluates and reviews with the Board the criteria for selecting new directors, including skills and characteristics, in the context of the current composition of the Board and its committees.

The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee considers candidates for director nominees proposed by directors and stockholders. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee may also from time to time retain one or more third-party search firms to identify suitable candidates.

If you would like to recommend to the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee a prospective candidate, please submit the candidate’s name and qualifications to: Thomas C. Indelicarto, Secretary, VeriSign, Inc., 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190.

The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will consider all candidates identified by the directors, chief executive officer, stockholders, or third-party search firms through the processes described above, and will evaluate each of them, including incumbents and candidates nominated by stockholders, based on the same criteria.

Audit Committee

The Board has established an Audit Committee that oversees the accounting and financial reporting processes at the Company, internal control over financial reporting, audits of the Company’s financial statements, the qualifications of the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, and the performance of the Company’s internal audit department and the independent registered public accounting firm. The independent registered public accounting firm reports directly to the Audit Committee, and the Audit Committee is responsible for the appointment (subject to stockholder ratification), compensation and retention of the independent registered public accounting firm. The Audit Committee also oversees the Company’s processes to manage business and financial risk, and compliance with significant applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and oversees the Company’s ethics and compliance programs. The Audit Committee is currently composed of Mr. Tomlinson (Chairperson), Mr. Chenevich, Ms. Cote and Mr. Moore. Each member of the Audit Committee meets the independence criteria of The NASDAQ Stock Market and the SEC. Each Audit Committee member meets The NASDAQ Stock Market’s financial knowledge requirements, and the Board has determined that the Audit Committee has at least one member who has past employment experience in finance or accounting, requisite professional certification in accounting, or any other comparable experience or background which results in the individual’s financial sophistication, including being or having been a chief executive officer, chief financial officer or other senior officer with financial oversight responsibilities as required by Rule 5605(c)(2) of The NASDAQ Stock Market. The Audit Committee operates pursuant to a written charter, which complies with the applicable provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and related rules of the SEC and The NASDAQ Stock Market. The Audit Committee’s charter is located on our website at https://investor.verisign.com/documents.cfm. The Audit Committee met five times during fiscal 2015.

Audit Committee Financial Expert

Our Board has determined that Mr. Chenevich, Ms. Cote, Mr. Moore and Mr. Tomlinson are “audit committee financial experts” as such term is defined in Item 407(d)(5) of Regulation S-K of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Mr. Chenevich, Ms. Cote, Mr. Moore and Mr. Tomlinson meet the independence requirements for audit committee members as defined in the applicable listing standards of The NASDAQ Stock Market.

Report of the Audit Committee

The Audit Committee is composed of four directors who meet the independence and experience requirements of The NASDAQ Stock Market Rules. The Audit Committee operates under a written charter adopted by the board of directors (the “Board”) of VeriSign, Inc. (“Verisign”). The members of the Audit Committee are Messrs. Tomlinson (Chairperson), Moore and Chenevich, and Ms. Cote. The Audit Committee met five times during fiscal 2015.

Management is responsible for the preparation, presentation and integrity of Verisign’s financial statements, accounting and financial reporting principles and internal controls and processes designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting standards and applicable laws and regulations (the “Internal Controls”). The independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG LLP (“KPMG”), is responsible for performing an independent audit of Verisign’s consolidated financial statements and the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting in accordance with standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) and for issuing reports thereon.

The Audit Committee is responsible for oversight of Verisign’s financial, accounting and reporting processes and its compliance with significant applicable legal and regulatory requirements. The Audit Committee is also responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of Verisign’s independent registered public accounting firm, including (i) evaluating the independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and performance, (ii) reviewing and confirming the independent registered public accounting firm’s independence, (iii) reviewing and approving the planned scope of the annual audit, (iv) overseeing the audit work of the independent registered public accounting firm, (v) reviewing and pre-approving any non-audit services that may be performed by the independent registered public accounting firm, (vi) reviewing with management and the independent registered public accounting firm the adequacy of Verisign’s Internal Controls, and (vii) reviewing Verisign’s critical accounting policies, the application of accounting principles and conduct of the audit, including the oversight of the resolution of any issues identified by the independent registered public accounting firm.

To ensure the independence of Verisign’s independent registered public accountant, we follow the applicable laws, rules and regulations regarding the rotation of audit partners, including Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.

During fiscal 2015, the Audit Committee met privately with KPMG to discuss the results of the audit, evaluations by the independent registered public accounting firm of Verisign’s Internal Controls and quality of Verisign’s financial reporting. In addition, during its regularly scheduled meetings, the Audit Committee met privately with each of Verisign’s Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel and Compliance Officer and Vice President of Internal Audit to discuss various legal, accounting, auditing and internal control matters.

The Audit Committee has reviewed and discussed the audited consolidated financial statements contained in Verisign’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 with management. This review included a discussion of the accounting principles, reasonableness of significant judgments, and clarity of disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Management represented to the Audit Committee that Verisign’s consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and the Audit Committee has reviewed and discussed the consolidated financial statements with KPMG.

The Audit Committee has discussed with KPMG the matters required to be discussed under the applicable rules adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. In addition, the Audit Committee has received from KPMG the written disclosures and the letter required by applicable requirements of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding KPMG’s communications with the Audit Committee concerning independence, and the Audit Committee has discussed with KPMG their independence.

Based upon the review and discussions referred to above, the Audit Committee recommended to the Board that the audited consolidated financial statements be included in Verisign’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, for filing with the SEC.

This report is submitted by the Audit Committee


Timothy Tomlinson (Chairperson)	Kathleen A. Cote


William L. Chenevich	Roger H. Moore

Compensation Committee

The Board has established a Compensation Committee to discharge the Board’s responsibilities with respect to all forms of compensation of the Company’s employees, including directors and executive officers, to administer the Company’s equity incentive plans, and to produce an annual report on executive compensation for use in the Company’s proxy statement. The Compensation Committee is also responsible for approving and evaluating executive officer compensation arrangements, plans, policies and programs of the Company, and for administering the Company’s equity incentive plans for employees. The Compensation Committee operates pursuant to a written charter. The Compensation Committee’s charter is located on our website at https://investor.verisign.com/documents.cfm. The Compensation Committee is currently composed of Mr. Simpson (Chairperson), Ms. Gorelick, and Mr. Tomlinson, each of whom is an “independent director” under the rules of The NASDAQ Stock Market for compensation committee members, a “non-employee director” pursuant to Rule 16b-3 promulgated under Section 16 of the Exchange Act and an “outside director” pursuant to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The Compensation Committee met five times during fiscal 2015. For further information regarding the role of compensation consultants and management in setting executive compensation, see “Executive Compensation—Compensation Discussion and Analysis.”

Communicating with the Board

Any stockholder who desires to contact the Board may do so electronically by sending an e-mail to the following address: bod@verisign.com. Alternatively, a stockholder may contact the Board by writing to: Board of Directors, VeriSign, Inc., 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190, Attention: Secretary. Communications received electronically or in writing are distributed to the Chairman of the Board or other members of the Board, as appropriate, depending on the facts and circumstances outlined in the communication received.

Code of Ethics

We have adopted a code of ethics that applies to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer and other senior accounting officers. This code of ethics, titled “Code of Ethics for the Chief Executive Officer and Senior Financial Officers,” is posted on our website under “Ethics and Business Conduct” at https://investor.verisign.com/corporate-governance.cfm along with the “Verisign Code of Conduct” that applies to all officers and employees, including the aforementioned officers.

We intend to satisfy any disclosure requirement under Item 5.05 of Form 8-K regarding an amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of the “Code of Ethics for the Chief Executive Officer and Senior Financial Officers” or, to the extent also applicable to the principal executive officer, principal financial officer, or other senior accounting officers, the “Verisign Code of Conduct—2012” by posting such information on our website, on the Web page found by clicking through to “Ethics and Business Conduct” as specified above.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT

The following table sets forth certain information with respect to the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of March 31, 2016, except as otherwise indicated, by:


•	each current stockholder who is known to own beneficially more than 5% of our common stock;


•	each current director;


•	each of the Named Executive Officers (see “Executive Compensation—Summary Compensation Table” elsewhere in this Proxy Statement); and


•	all current directors and executive officers as a group.

The percentage ownership is based on 108,879,250 shares of common stock outstanding at March 31, 2016. Shares of common stock that are covered by RSUs vesting within 60 days of March 31, 2016, are deemed outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of the person holding such RSUs but are not deemed outstanding for computing the percentage ownership of any other person. Unless otherwise indicated in the footnotes following the table, the persons and entities named in the table have sole voting and sole investment power with respect to all shares beneficially owned, subject to community property laws where applicable.

BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP TABLE



	Shares Beneficially Owned
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner	Number(1)	Percent(1)
Greater Than 5% Stockholders

T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.(2) 100 E. Pratt Street Baltimore, MD 21202	18,002,288	16.53	%

Capital World Investors(3) 333 South Hope Street Los Angeles, CA 90071	15,462,044	14.20	%

Warren Buffett(4) Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. 3555 Farnam Street Omaha, NE 68131	12,985,000	11.93	%

The Vanguard Group(5) 100 Vanguard Boulevard Malvern, PA 19355	8,247,543	7.57	%

BlackRock, Inc. (6) 55 East 52^nd Street New York, NY 10022	6,433,266	5.91	%

New Perspective Fund(7) 333 South Hope Street Los Angeles, CA 90071	5,733,444	5.27	%

Directors and Named Executive Officers
D. James Bidzos	522,081	*
William L. Chenevich	30,034	*
Kathleen A. Cote	39,332	*
Thomas F. Frist III	1,665	*
Jamie S. Gorelick	6,762	*
Roger H. Moore	29,991	*
Louis A. Simpson(8)	207,661	*
Timothy Tomlinson(9)	16,477	*
Todd B. Strubbe(10)	29,135	*
George E. Kilguss, III(11)	77,964	*
Thomas C. Indelicarto(12)	13,773	*
All current directors and executive officers as a group (11 persons)(13)	1,004,875	*


*	Less than 1% of Verisign’s outstanding common stock.


(1)	The percentages are calculated using 108,879,250 outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock on March 31, 2016 as adjusted pursuant to Rule 13d-3(d)(1)(i). Pursuant to Rule 13d-3(d)(1) of the Exchange Act, beneficial ownership information for each person also includes shares subject to options exercisable, or RSUs vesting, within 60 days of March 31, 2016, as applicable.


(2)	Based on Schedule 13G/A filed on February 11, 2016 with the SEC by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. with respect to beneficial ownership of 18,002,288 shares. T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. has sole voting power over 5,169,371 of these shares and sole dispositive power over 18,002,288 of these shares.


(3)	Based on Schedule 13G/A filed on February 16, 2016 with the SEC by Capital World Investors, with respect to beneficial ownership of 15,462,044 shares. Capital World Investors has sole voting power over 15,462,044 of these shares and sole dispositive power over 15,462,044 of these shares.

(4)

Based on Schedule 13G filed on August 4, 2014 with the SEC by Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., with respect to beneficial ownership of 12,985,000 shares. Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., is a diversified holding company which Mr. Buffett may be deemed to control. Mr. Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway share voting and dispositive power over 12,985,000 of these shares, which include shares beneficially owned by certain subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway.


(5)	Based on Schedule 13G/A filed on February 11, 2016 with the SEC by The Vanguard Group with respect to beneficial ownership of 8,247,543 shares. The Vanguard Group has sole voting power over 182,666 of these shares, sole dispositive power over 8,046,209 of these shares, shared voting power over 10,300 of these shares and shared dispositive power over 201,334 of these shares.


(6)	Based on Schedule 13G/A filed on February 10, 2016 with the SEC by BlackRock, Inc. with respect to beneficial ownership of 6,433,266 shares. BlackRock has sole voting power over 5,532,939 of these shares and sole dispositive power over 6,433,266 of these shares.

(7)

Based on Schedule 13G filed on February 16, 2016 with the SEC by New Perspective Fund with respect to beneficial ownership of 5,733,444 shares. New Perspective Fund has sole voting power over 0 shares, shared voting power over 0 shares, sole dispositive power over 0 shares, and shared dispositive power over 0 shares. New Perspective Fund is advised by Capital Research and Management Company which manages equity assets through three divisions, Capital Research Global Investors, Capital World Investors, and Capital International Investors, each of which generally function separately from each other and make investment decisions on a separate basis.


(8)	Includes 207,661 shares held by the Louis A. Simpson Living Trust, under which Mr. Simpson is the trustee.


(9)	Includes 16,477 shares held indirectly by the Tomlinson Family Trust, under which Mr. Tomlinson and his spouse are co-trustees.


(10)	Includes 19,477 RSUs vesting within 60 days of March 31, 2016 held directly by Mr. Strubbe.


(11)	Includes 4,914 RSUs vesting within 60 days of March 31, 2016 held directly by Mr. Kilguss.


(12)	Includes 250 RSUs vesting within 60 days of March 31, 2016 held directly by Mr. Indelicarto.


(13)	Includes the shares described in footnotes (8)-(12).

Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our directors and officers, and persons who own more than 10% of Verisign’s common stock to file initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership with the SEC and The NASDAQ Stock Market. These persons are required by SEC regulations to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms that they file. We file Section 16(a) reports on behalf of our directors and executive officers to report their initial and subsequent changes in beneficial ownership of our common stock.

Based solely on a review of the reports we filed on behalf of our directors and executive officers, or written representations from reporting persons that all reportable transactions were reported, the Company believes that all Section 16(a) filing requirements applicable to our directors and executive officers were complied with for fiscal 2015.

PROPOSAL NO. 2

TO APPROVE, ON A NON-BINDING ADVISORY BASIS, VERISIGN’S EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Under Schedule 14A of the Exchange Act and the corresponding SEC rules, Verisign is seeking an advisory stockholder vote with respect to compensation awarded to our Named Executive Officers for 2015 as disclosed in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section and accompanying compensation tables contained in this Proxy Statement. The stockholder vote on executive compensation is advisory only, and the result of the vote is not binding upon the Company or its Board. Although the resolution is non-binding, the Board and the Compensation Committee will consider the outcome of the advisory vote on executive compensation when making future compensation decisions. On May 26, 2011, the majority of the Company’s stockholders voted in favor of an annual non-binding stockholder advisory vote on executive compensation and, in consideration of the outcome of the frequency vote, the Board determined to hold such advisory vote each year. Following the Meeting, the next such non-binding advisory vote to approve Verisign’s executive compensation is scheduled to occur at the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Verisign’s executive compensation program and compensation paid to the Named Executive Officers are described elsewhere in this Proxy Statement. The Compensation Committee oversees the program and compensation awarded, adopting changes to the program and awarding compensation as appropriate to reflect the Company’s circumstances and to promote the main objectives of the program: to provide competitive overall pay relative to peers, taking into account company and individual performance, to effectively tie pay to performance, and to align the Named Executive Officers’ interests with stockholders.

This proposal allows our stockholders to express their opinions regarding the decisions of the Compensation Committee on the prior fiscal year’s annual compensation to the Named Executive Officers. You may vote for or against the following resolution, or you may abstain. This vote is advisory and non-binding.

Resolved, that the stockholders approve the compensation of VeriSign, Inc.’s Named Executive Officers, as disclosed under Securities and Exchange Commission rules, including the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section, the compensation tables and related material included in this Proxy Statement.

The Board Recommends a Vote “FOR” the foregoing resolution.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Compensation Discussion and Analysis

This Compensation Discussion and Analysis (“CD&A”) provides comprehensive information about our executive compensation program for our fiscal 2015 Named Executive Officers (“NEOs”), who are listed below, and provides context for the decisions underlying the compensation reported in the executive compensation tables in the Proxy Statement. Our NEOs are:


•	D. James Bidzos, Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”);


•	Todd B. Strubbe, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) (Mr. Strubbe joined the Company on April 20, 2015);


•	George E. Kilguss, III, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”); and


•	Thomas C. Indelicarto, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.

Messrs. Kilguss and Indelicarto were promoted to Executive Vice President on February 17, 2016.

In the sections below, we will describe the material elements of our executive compensation program for 2015, including how we set compensation and tied pay to performance. We refer to our NEOs and senior vice presidents, collectively as our “senior officers.”

Executive Summary

In 2015, our focus remained on the alignment of pay and performance. The following table provides highlights of our 2015 compensation program:



Item	Action	Description/Rationale

Annual base salary increases	Salary increases were provided to Messrs. Kilguss and Indelicarto.	Salary adjustments were made to better align salaries with the market.

Annual incentive bonus	Funded bonus pool at 117% of target.	The pre-established formula for determining the size of the bonus pool yielded funding equal to 117% of target based on achievement levels of the plan’s financial targets for revenue and non-GAAP operating margin.

Long-term incentive compensation	Granted annual equity awards comprised of 50% time-vesting Restricted Stock Units (“RSUs”) and 50% performance-based RSUs. The equity awards for the CEO are comprised of 42% time-vesting RSUs and 58% performance-based RSUs.	Awards provided immediate retentive value, tied long-term incentive compensation to Company performance, and created strong alignment with stockholder value creation.

Stock retention policy	Left ownership guidelines unchanged: • 6x base salary for CEO; • 2x base salary for SVP/EVP levels. • 5x annual retainer for Directors These guidelines remain in place until six months after separation of service from the company.	Guidelines continue to ensure alignment of our Directors, CEO’s, Executive Vice Presidents’ and Senior Vice Presidents’ interests with the interests of stockholders.

Peer group	Conducted a comprehensive review of companies to be included in our peer group. Our selection criteria included industry, financial size (revenue, operating income and market capitalization), inclusion in the S&P 500, consistent profitability, cash flow, and return of capital to shareholders.	Changes in peer group were designed to ensure our peer group reflects the market in which we compete for talent and includes companies similar to us in industry, size and complexity.

Key features of our current compensation programs include:


•	A majority of our senior officers’ compensation is performance based


•	Our senior officers do not have employment contracts


•	Our senior officers’ change in control agreements contain a double trigger and do not allow for tax gross-ups


•	We do not have special pension plans, special retirement plans or other significant perquisites for senior officers


•	Our senior officers participate in the same benefit programs as all employees


•	Our Board has established a compensation recoupment policy applicable to our NEOs in the event of a restatement of the Company’s financial statements


•	We have stock ownership requirements applicable to our senior officers and directors


•	Our securities trading policy prohibits any employee or director from hedging or pledging our stock


•	The Compensation Committee has retained an independent compensation consultant

Results of Shareholder Advisory Votes on Executive Compensation: When the Compensation Committee set compensation amounts for 2016, it took into account the results of the stockholder advisory vote on executive compensation that took place in May 2015. Although the vote was advisory and not binding, our stockholders indicated strong support of our executive compensation program for our NEOs as disclosed in the 2015 Proxy Statement (97,555,092 votes were in favor, 95,264 abstained and 1,926,883 voted against, with 6,975,346 broker non-votes). Over 99% of the votes cast and approximately 85% of the shares entitled to vote (the number of shares entitled to vote as of the record date was 116,428,984) were in favor of our NEO compensation program. As such, we did not make any material changes to our 2015 executive compensation program from 2014.

Compensation Philosophy and Objectives

Verisign’s reputation as an industry leader in the secure and reliable operation of critical Internet infrastructure is built on the executive talent we are able to attract and retain. Our executive compensation program is designed to ensure we have the talent we need to maintain our current high performance standards and grow our business for the future. Our philosophy is to provide a mix of compensation that motivates our executives to achieve our short and long-term performance goals, which in turn will create value for our stockholders.

Our executive compensation program is designed with the following objectives in mind:



Objective		Program Design Element

Attract and retain talented executives		• Provide a competitive level of total direct compensation (base salary, bonus and long-term incentive). • Provide a portion of executive compensation in the form of time-vesting RSUs that have retentive value as they vest over a multi-year period.

Tie a significant portion of executives’ compensation to achievement of the Company’s performance objectives		• Provide a compensation program that is weighted in favor of annual and long-term incentives and includes performance-based RSUs with performance objectives that are tied to stockholder value creation and other financial and strategic goals.

Recognize and reward individual performance		• Provide awards, under the annual incentive program, based on Company performance that may be modified up or down based on individual performance to closely align executives’ personal accomplishments with their compensation.



Objective		Program Design Element
Align the interests of our executives with our stockholders		• Provide a significant portion of compensation tied to the long term value of our stock. This design element includes: Annual equity grants that vest over a multi-year period and are comprised of 50% time-vesting RSUs and 50% performance-based RSUs. The annual equity grants for the CEO are more heavily weighted to performance-based RSUs (42% time-vesting RSUs and 58% performance-based RSUs). Time-vesting RSUs that vest over a four-year period. Basing the value of performance-based RSUs on the Company’s performance over a three-year period. Requiring executives to meet stock ownership guidelines and retain their required ownership until six months after termination of employment.

Pay and Performance Relationship: Attracting and retaining the level of executive talent we need to be successful is a key objective of our executive compensation program. However, it is equally important that our executives are motivated and rewarded to achieve objectives that provide long-term benefits to our stockholders. We have designed our executive compensation program so that a significant amount of our NEOs’ compensation is performance-based to ensure the actual compensation paid to our executives is appropriately aligned with our Company’s performance and stockholders’ long-term interests. The charts below illustrate our emphasis on performance-based compensation.

¹Performance-Based Compensation = Annual incentive bonus and long-term incentive (“LTI”), valued as of the date of the grant.

Note for purposes of the NEOs Excluding CEO Pay Mix at Target chart, the annual base salary and annual target bonus for Mr. Strubbe (hired on April 20, 2015) was not prorated and LTI consists of all equity grants received throughout 2015. If Mr. Strubbe were to be excluded, the Pay Mix would be 14.4% (Base Salary), 9.4% (Target Bonus), and 76.2% (LTI Grant Value).

Our Process for Setting Compensation

Role of the Compensation Committee: The Compensation Committee oversees our compensation and benefit programs and sets the policies that govern compensation of our senior officers, including NEOs, and other employees. As part of its role in approving senior officers’ compensation, the Compensation Committee annually:


•	Reviews and makes changes as appropriate to the peer group used to benchmark competitive compensation levels for our senior officers;


•	Reviews the report from its compensation consultant describing the relationship of the Company’s compensation philosophy and amounts to its peer group and its industry;


•	Reviews and approves design elements of senior officer compensation for market competitiveness and alignment with Company performance;


•	Sets performance goals for our annual and long-term incentive compensation programs;


•	Reviews the Board’s assessment of the individual performance of the CEO achieved during the fiscal year and determines any adjustments to the CEO’s base salary, annual incentive and equity awards based on this assessment; and


•	Reviews the CEO’s assessment of individual performance of each senior officer in conjunction with performance achieved during the fiscal year and approves any adjustments to base salary, annual incentive and equity awards based on this assessment.

Role of Management: The CEO annually reviews the performance of each senior officer, other than the CEO (whose performance is reviewed by the Board), and makes recommendations to the Compensation Committee for base salary adjustments, annual incentive and equity awards based on this assessment.

Role of External Compensation Consultant: The Compensation Committee has engaged Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc. (“FW Cook”) as its independent consultant to assist it in evaluating and analyzing the Company’s executive compensation program and principles. FW Cook also reviews compensation design recommendations by the Company’s management and provides recommendations to the Compensation Committee for any changes to the CEO’s compensation. FW Cook provides the following services to the Compensation Committee:


•	Analyzes the senior officers’ annual compensation based on comparisons to the Company’s peer group, including comparing target and actual total compensation and advises the Compensation Committee on the appropriateness of management’s recommendations for any changes to the senior officers’ compensation;


•	Reviews the Company’s peer group annually and provides recommendations for changes as appropriate;


•	Advises the Compensation Committee on best practices related to governance and design of executive compensation programs;


•	Reviews the Company’s equity compensation philosophy and incentive design;


•	Reviews the risk assessment of company incentive plans and arrangements;


•	Reviews the draft CD&A; and


•	Reviews non-employee director compensation.

At its meeting in October 2015, the Compensation Committee reviewed FW Cook’s performance, and in December 2015, the Committee assessed FW Cook’s independence against the six independence factors set forth in the NASDAQ rules. FW Cook provided the Committee with a written statement addressing the six independence factors and presented information which addressed all factors. Upon review of FW Cook’s responses, the Committee determined that FW Cook was independent and engaged FW Cook for fiscal year 2016. FW Cook performs no other services for the Company and the Committee believes its services for the Committee do not raise any conflicts of interest.

Competitive Market Assessment: Each year, we assess the competitiveness of our senior officers’ (including our NEOs’) base salary, annual incentive bonus targets and long-term incentive compensation targets (element by element and in aggregate) by comparing our program to a peer group of publicly-traded high technology companies that we view as our competitors for executive talent. We examine the compensation data of our peer group and also review broader publicly-available survey data for high technology companies that are comparable to us in annual revenues.

The Compensation Committee carefully considers our peer group and survey data when determining total compensation for its NEOs. The Compensation Committee also considers a senior officer’s individual performance, future potential, and scope of responsibilities and experience when approving compensation.

Each year, the Compensation Committee reviews the peer group with the assistance of its independent consultant and makes changes as appropriate in order to ensure it continues to appropriately reflect the competitive market for executive talent. As part of its annual

review in April of 2015, the Compensation Committee identified several additional companies to add to our peer group for 2015 to establish a broader set of peer companies.

For 2015, we expanded our peer selection criteria to include companies more closely aligned in strategic focus as well as financial size and industry. The criteria used to evaluate potential peers were based on financial size (revenue, operating income, and market capitalization), free cash flow yield, EBITDA growth, use of dividends or buybacks, inclusion in the S&P 500 and industry. Similar to Verisign, the resulting peer group includes companies that exhibit high free cash flow on a per share basis, return excess capital to shareholders, are focused on driving continuous profitable growth and have longevity within their business.

For 2015 our peer group was:



*Alliance Data Systems		Nuance Communications
Akamai Technologies		*Paychex
ANSYS		Rackspace Hosting
Autodesk		Red Hat
Citrix Systems		*Roper Technologies
Equinix		Rovi
*F5 Networks		Solera Holdings
Factset Research Systems		*Teradata
*Fiserv		*Total System Services
*Intuit

*addition to peer group as of April 2015

The chart below illustrates Verisign’s revenue, operating income and market capitalization percentile as compared to its 2015 peer group as of December 31, 2015 with revenue reflecting the most recently reported four quarters.

Note: The data source is Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ

Elements of Our Executive Compensation Program

Our executive compensation program is made up of three main elements: base salary, annual incentive bonus, and long-term incentive compensation. The chart below shows our objectives for each element of compensation and what factors we use to determine actual awards. For each element of compensation, we review the 50^th percentile of our peer group and relevant survey data to determine award levels.



Element	Objective	Factors Used to Determine Awards

Base Salary	Provide a guaranteed level of annual income in order to attract and retain our executive talent.	• Job responsibilities • Experience • Individual contributions • Future potential • Internal pay equity • Effect on other elements of compensation

Annual Incentive Bonus	Provide a target reward for achieving financial and strategic operational goals, and a greater than target award for exceeding goals.	• Company performance measures • Individual performance

Long-Term Incentive Compensation	Provide a reward that incentivizes executives to manage Verisign from the perspective of a stockholder. Also, to retain our executive talent.	• Job responsibilities • Individual contributions • Future potential • Value of vested and unvested outstanding equity awards • Internal pay equity

Base Salary: For 2015, the Compensation Committee reviewed competitive benchmark data provided by FW Cook and recommendations from our CEO regarding each senior officer’s individual performance. Based on that review, adjustments were made to NEOs’ salaries as summarized in the chart below. The base salary for each of our NEOs was at or below the 50^th percentile of our peer group.



Name	Position	2014 Base Salary		2015 Base Salary		Rationale for Adjustment
D. James Bidzos	Executive Chairman, President and CEO	$	750,000	$	750,000	Mr. Bidzos’ salary was not increased and has not been since he assumed the CEO role in August 2011.

Todd B. Strubbe	Executive Vice President, COO	-		$	550,000	Mr. Strubbe was hired April 20, 2015

George E. Kilguss, III	Senior Vice President and CFO	$	410,000	$	425,000	Mr. Kilguss’ base salary was increased by 3.7% in February of 2015 to better align with peer group market data

Thomas C. Indelicarto	Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary	$	330,000	$	350,000	Mr. Indelicarto’s base salary was increased by 6% in February of 2015 to better align with peer group market data

Annual Incentive Bonus: We provide annual cash bonuses to our employees, including our NEOs, under the Verisign Performance Plan (“VPP”). These bonuses are based on the Company’s achievement of pre-established financial goals, as well as individual performance.

We determine the target annual incentive opportunity for each of our NEOs based on a comparison to our peer group and information obtained from relevant survey data. Each of the target bonuses for our NEOs was at or below the 50^th percentile of our peer group. For 2015, the Compensation Committee approved the following bonus targets as a percent of base salary for our NEOs:



NEOs	2015 Bonus Target as a % of Base Salary
CEO	100	%
COO	80	%
CFO	70	%
Senior Vice Presidents	60	%

Messrs. Kilguss and Indelicarto were promoted to Executive Vice President on February 17, 2016 with a new target bonus level of 75% for 2016.

The Compensation Committee approves actual annual incentive award payments for our senior officers, including NEOs, taking into account the Company’s performance. The Company’s performance determines the initial level of funding for the annual incentive bonus pool. The Compensation Committee then considers, and approves as appropriate, management’s recommendation for modifying any individual awards above or below the level of funding based on an assessment of individual performance, subject to the maximum individual bonus payments described below for NEOs under Tax Treatment of Executive Compensation.

The Company’s performance goals for the fiscal 2015 VPP were approved by the Compensation Committee in December 2014 and were based on two financial measures: Revenue and non-GAAP operating margin, both weighted equally at 50%.

For purposes of determining the bonus pool, we calculate the non-GAAP operating margin by taking the consolidated non-GAAP operating income as a percentage of revenue. We determine the consolidated non-GAAP operating income by excluding stock-based compensation from the Company’s consolidated operating income. We use this non-GAAP performance measure because we believe it presents a clearer picture of the performance of the Company’s core operations than the corresponding GAAP performance measures.

A description of the performance measures and funding established for each of the goals pertaining to the 2015 VPP are set forth below:

•

Revenue: Weighted at 50% of the total bonus pool, this component would be funded when the actual results met a threshold level of achievement greater than 97% of the established target of $1,050.0 million. Revenue achievement between 97% and 100% of target would result in funding from 0% to 100% with respect to this goal; revenue achievement between 100% and 103.8% of target would result in funding from 100% to 200% with respect to this goal.

•

Non-GAAP operating margin: Weighted at 50% of the total bonus pool, this component would be funded when the actual results met a threshold level of achievement greater than 97% of the established target of 61.3%. Non-GAAP operating margin achievement between 97% and 100% of target would result in funding from 0% to 100% with respect to this goal; non-GAAP operating margin achievement between 100% and 104.4% of target would result in funding from 100% to 200% with respect to this goal

The chart below illustrates how each goal component and its respective performance achievement resulted in a final funding multiplier rounded to 117% of total target bonus pool for the VPP bonus plan.



Goal	Target	Actual	Actual as % of Target	Achievement	Weighting	Funding Multiplier
Revenue	$1,050.0	$1,059.4	100.9%	123.5%	50%	61.7%
Non – GAAP operating margin	61.3%	61.6%	100.4%	109.9%	50%	54.9%
Total						116.6%

In order to establish actual award amounts under the VPP bonus plan, the Compensation Committee also reviewed the CEO’s assessment of individual performance of the NEOs and considered the Board’s assessment of the CEO’s individual performance. The chart below indicates the Compensation Committee’s approved annual incentive bonus award for each NEO under the 2015 VPP bonus plan.



				2015 Actual Bonus Payment
Name	Position	2015 Base Salary	Bonus Target as a % of Base Salary	Funding Multiplier as a % of Target	Actual Payout as a % of Target	Actual Payout Amount	Actual Payout as a % of Base Salary	Notes
D. James Bidzos	Executive Chairman, President and CEO	$750,000	100%	117%	117.0%	$877,500	117.0%	Mr. Bidzos’ bonus payment was made at the funding multiplier level of 117% of his target bonus. No further adjustment was made.

Todd B. Strubbe	Executive Vice President, COO	$550,000	80%	117%	79.6%	$350,000	63.6%	Mr. Strubbe’s bonus payment was made at 79.6% of his target bonus due to proration based on his hire date of April 20, 2015.

George E. Kilguss, III	Senior Vice President and CFO	$425,000	70%	117%	117.6%	$350,000	82.4%	Mr. Kilguss’ bonus payout amount was rounded, resulting in a payout of 117.6%.

Thomas C. Indelicarto	Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary	$350,000	60%	117%	142.9%	$300,000	85.7%	Mr. Indelicarto’s bonus payout was made at 142.9% of his target. The adjustment over the funding multiplier was made due to performance and contributions.

Long-Term Incentive Compensation: Equity-based grants are a key element of our total compensation program. Consistent with our compensation philosophy, we believe it is important that these awards have a performance component and that they are aligned with total shareholder return. The target award amounts are based on several factors including competitiveness as determined by our peer group and relevant survey data provided by FW Cook, job responsibilities, individual contributions, and future potential of the executive. The target award amounts for our NEOs generally approximate the 50^thpercentile of our peer group.

In 2015, the Compensation Committee granted long-term equity compensation to our senior officers consisting of 50% performance-based RSUs and 50% time-vesting RSUs. The CEO received long-term equity compensation consisting of 58% performance-based RSUs and 42% time-vesting RSUs. The time-vesting RSUs provide strong retentive value for our executive talent as they vest ratably over four years, subject to continued employment. They are also linked to increases in stockholder value creation as their value goes up or down with the Company’s stock price. The performance-based RSUs are linked to long-term Company financial performance as well as increases in stockholder value.

The metrics associated with the 2015 performance-based RSUs consist of two financial measures - compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of operating income per share growth and Total Shareholder Return (“TSR”) of Verisign stock compared to the TSR of the S&P 500 index. The number of RSUs earned may range from 0 to 200% of the target award based on CAGR of operating income per share growth for the relevant performance period, but no more than 100% of target may be earned unless the TSR of Verisign stock equals or outperforms the TSR of the S&P 500 index for the period January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017. We believe that the performance metrics coincide with shareholder interests, create a long-term performance focus and complement the performance metrics in the Company’s short term annual incentive plan. The vesting of the 2015 performance-based RSUs at the end of a three-year performance period provides a strong retention incentive.

The chart below illustrates the vesting schedule for the 2015 equity grant.



	2016	2017	2018	2019
Grant of Time-Vesting RSUs 50% of LTI Grant (1)	25% vested on February 10, 2016	25% vesting on February 10, 2017	25% vesting on February 10, 2018	25% vesting on February 10, 2019
Grant of Performance-Based RSUs 50% of LTI Grant (1)	N/A	N/A	Number of RSUs earned based on performance achievement during 2015-2017 determined in February 2018(2)	N/A


(1)	Except for the CEO, whose grant of time-vesting RSUs was 42% of LTI Grant and performance-based RSUs was 58% of LTI grant.


(2)	Vesting will be on the later of the date the achievement of the performance goal is certified and the date the Company receives an unqualified signed opinion of the Company’s financial statements from its independent registered public accounting firm.

Equity awards for NEOs were granted on February 10, 2015 at the regularly scheduled Compensation Committee meeting. The Compensation Committee approved the total value granted to individual executives (time-vesting and performance-based) based on the factors discussed herein. The actual number of RSUs was a function of the closing stock price on February 10, 2015.

The chart below shows the number of RSUs granted to each NEO in February 2015:



		2015 Annual Equity Grants
Name	Position	Total Market Value of Equity Grant		FMV at Grant per RSU		Time- Vesting RSUs granted (1)	Performance- Based RSUs granted (2)	Notes
D. James Bidzos	Executive Chairman, President and CEO	$	5,999,968	$	60.88	41,064	57,490	Mr. Bidzos’ equity grant was positioned near the 50^th percentile for CEOs in our peer group.
Todd B. Strubbe	Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer	$	6,559,970	$	66.49	77,906	20,755	Mr. Strubbe was hired on April 20, 2015 and received a new hire equity award package. (3)
George E. Kilguss, III	Senior Vice President and CFO	$	1,999,908	$	60.88	16,425	16,425	Mr. Kilguss’ equity award value was determined taking into account alignment with market LTI values of our peer group, in addition to individual factors such as job responsibilities, experience, individual contributions, future potential, and internal equity.
Thomas C. Indelicarto	Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary	$	1,099,980	$	60.88	9,034	9,034	Mr. Indelicarto’s equity award was determined taking into account alignment with market LTI values in our peer group, in addition to individual factors such as job responsibilities, experience, individual contributions, future potential, and internal equity.


(1)	25% vested on February 10, 2016, and the remainder vests 25% at each annual anniversary of the grant date.

(2)

Vesting of shares for the 2015 performance-based RSUs granted is based on meeting a CAGR of the operating income per share target for the three-year period (January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017). Performance-based RSUs earned for CAGR of operating income per share above target are subject to the TSR of Verisign stock equaling or outperforming the TSR of the S&P 500 Index for the period January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017. Total market value of the grant in the table above is calculated based on FMV per RSU on the date of grant. Vesting occurs on the later of the date when the performance goal is certified by the Committee and the date the Company receives an unqualified signed opinion of the Company’s financial statements from its independent registered public accounting firm.

(3)

Mr. Strubbe received three new hire grants including: i) a time vested RSU grant valued at $3,799,970 based on the fair market value per RSU of $66.49 on April 20, 2015 with the first tranche vesting 25% on June 30, 2015 and the next three tranches vesting 25% on each annual anniversary date of the grant date; ii) a time vested RSU grant valued at $1,380,000 based on the fair market value per RSU of $66.49 on April 20, 2015, which vests 25% on the first anniversary of the grant date and 25% on each annual anniversary of the grant date, and iii) a performance-based RSU grant valued at $1,380,000 based on the fair market value per RSU of $66.49 on April 20, 2015, with performance based on the same criteria as outlined in the footnote above.

At its meeting on October 20, 2015, the Compensation Committee granted special equity awards for certain of its senior officers. The Committee approved one-time stock awards for Messrs. Bidzos, Kilguss and Indelicarto valued at approximately $5,000,000, $1,000,000 and $1,000,000, respectively. The one-time stock awards were evenly split between time-vested RSUs and performance-based RSUs. The time-vested RSUs were granted on October 20, 2015 and the PSUs were granted on January 4, 2016, in order to align the awards with the performance period of the PSUs. The PSUs are based on TSR achievement over a four-year performance period. The time-vested RSUs vest over four years with 25% vesting on the one year anniversary of the award and quarterly (6.25% per quarter) thereafter for the remaining three years. This one-time stock award was in recognition of each executive’s performance and value to the Company and was designed to serve as a retentive tool.

The chart below shows the number of RSUs granted to each NEO in October 2015:



2015 Special Equity Grants
Name	Position	Total Market Value of Equity Grant	FMV at Grant per RSU	Time- Vesting RSUs granted
D. James Bidzos	Executive Chairman, President and CEO	$2,499,933	$75.79	32,985
Todd B. Strubbe (1)	Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer	-	-	-
George E. Kilguss, III	Senior Vice President and CFO	$499,987	$75.79	6,597
Thomas C. Indelicarto	Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary	$499,987	$75.79	6,597


(1)	Mr. Strubbe was appointed Executive Vice President, COO on April 20, 2015 and did not receive the 2015 Special Equity Grant.

2016 Long-Term Incentive Program

At its meeting on December 10, 2015, the Committee approved the 2016 Equity Program for its senior officers. The program includes a mix of time-vesting RSUs and performance-based RSUs. Performance measures and goals associated with the performance-based RSUs include CAGR of the operating income per share growth and TSR of Verisign stock equaling or outperforming the TSR of the S&P 500 Index over the three-year period ending December 31, 2018.

Achievement of Performance Awards Granted in 2013

In February 2013, the Committee granted performance-based RSUs with two performance periods. The first performance period was for the two year period ended December 31, 2014, the results of which have been previously reported. The second performance period was for the three-year period ended December 31, 2015. In February 2016, the Committee confirmed the extent of achievement of the performance goal results for the second performance period, January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015, associated with these performance-based RSUs. The performance goals were based on average annualized EPS growth over the three-year period ended December 31, 2015, with above target potential subject to TSR of Verisign stock outperforming the TSR of the S&P 500 Index for the relevant performance periods. The Committee noted that in 2013 the Company recognized an income tax benefit of $375.3 million from a worthless stock deduction, offset by $167.1 million income tax expense related to repatriation of foreign earnings, both of which, if excluded, would have resulted in annualized EPS growth of 13.9% over the three-year period, an amount still in excess of 12%, the level associated with the maximum payout level. The TSR of Verisign stock of 141.29% was greater than the index return of 53.52%. This resulted in performance at the maximum achievement level of 200% for this three-year performance period.

The chart below shows the number of performance-based RSUs that were earned in 2015 based on achievement of the performance metrics tied to the second performance period of the 2013 performance-based grant.



2013 RSUs Earned Based on January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2015 Performance
Name	Position	Total Performance- Based RSUs Granted in 2013	Shares Subject to Vest in Second Performance Period (50% of Granted Amount)	Goal Achievement	Performance Based RSUs Earned and Vested in February 2015
D. James Bidzos	Executive Chairman, President and CEO	78,159	39,080	200%	78,159
Todd B. Strubbe(1)	Executive Vice President, COO	-	-	-	-
George E. Kilguss, III	Senior Vice President and CFO	18,981	9,491	200%	18,981
Thomas C. Indelicarto(2)	Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary	-	-	-	-


(1)	Mr. Strubbe was appointed Executive Vice President, COO on April 20, 2015 and therefore was not eligible for the 2013 Performance Grant.


(2)	Mr. Indelicarto was appointed Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary effective November 14, 2014 and therefore was not eligible for the 2013 Performance Grant.

CEO Compensation

Our philosophy is that our CEO should be primarily compensated in the form of performance-based compensation. We place the greatest emphasis on the annual and long-term incentive compensation elements when determining appropriate compensation levels, and especially emphasize equity compensation. We believe that it is important that our CEO make decisions that are in the best interests of our stockholders, and we reinforce that philosophy through our executive compensation program.

Mr. Bidzos’ 2015 compensation was determined by the Compensation Committee as part of its annual review of executive compensation in February 2015. The components of his compensation are summarized below:


•	Mr. Bidzos’ annual base salary of $750,000 was not adjusted in 2015. Based on data provided by FW Cook for CEOs in our peer group, the Committee determined that Mr. Bidzos’ salary aligned with the market 50^th percentile of our peer group and was appropriately set at its current level.

•

Mr. Bidzos’ bonus target of 100% of his base salary was not adjusted for 2015. His bonus target aligns with the market 50^th percentile of bonus target data provided by FW Cook for CEOs in our peer group. In February 2016, the Committee awarded Mr. Bidzos a bonus of $877,500. The Committee determined this amount as it reflected the performance achievement as approved by the Committee for the 2015 VPP (117%), as discussed above.

•

Mr. Bidzos received an equity award for 2015 with an aggregate value of $5,999,968 consisting of 41,064 time-vested RSUs and 57,490 performance-based (at target achievement level) with a fair market value per RSU of $60.88 on the date of the grant. The value of the equity granted was positioned near the 50^th percentile for CEOs in our peer group. The time-based RSUs vest at 25% per year on each anniversary of the grant date. The performance-based RSUs vest based on performance achievement between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017.


•	The Compensation Committee also approved a one-time special stock award for Mr. Bidzos in October 2015. This award was in recognition of his performance and value to the Company and was designed to serve as a retentive tool. The grant, valued at approximately $5,000,000, was evenly split between time-vested RSUs and performance-based RSUs.


◦	The time-vested RSUs were granted on October 20, 2015 in the amount of $2,499,933 consisting of 32,985 time-vested RSUs with a fair market value per RSU of $75.79. The time-vested RSUs vest over four years with 25% vesting on the one year anniversary of the award and quarterly (6.25% per quarter) thereafter for the remaining three years.


◦	The PSUs were granted on January 4, 2016 in order to align the awards with the performance period of the PSUs. The PSUs are based on TSR achievement over a four-year performance period.

•

Mr. Bidzos is eligible for certain payments and benefits in the event of a change-in-control, but is not otherwise eligible for any severance payments. His change-in-control agreement provides for a severance payment of two times his base salary and a bonus payment of two times target bonus plus the cash equivalent of two years of continuation of health benefits if he participates in the Company’s health plans at the date of his termination. The other terms of his change-in-control agreement are the same as other senior officers as described below.

Features of our Executive Compensation Program

Stock Retention Policy: Our stock retention policy applies to our employees at the Senior Vice President level and above, officers who are subject to the provisions of Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Section 16 Officers”), and board members.

Ownership levels are set as a multiple of base salary or annual retainer and are as follows:


•	CEO: 6x Base Salary


•	Directors: 5x Annual Retainer


•	Section 16 Officers and Senior Vice Presidents, other than the CEO: 2x Base Salary

The policy also requires participants to retain 50% of their shares received from equity awards (net of taxes) until they reach their minimum ownership level and that shares at specified ownership targets must be held until six months after the participant ceases employment or board service with the Company. We believe requiring senior employees and board members to continue to retain stock after their service with the Company ceases is important to align our senior officers’ interests with the long-term interests of our stockholders. Our Stock Retention Policy can be found on our website at https://investor.verisign.com/documents.cfm.

Securities Trading Policy: Our Securities Trading Policy prohibits employees, including our senior officers and directors, from buying or selling derivative securities related to our common stock, such as puts or calls on our common stock. We believe derivative securities diminish the alignment of incentives between our senior officers and stockholders. The Policy also prohibits employees and directors from entering into agreements or purchasing instruments designed to hedge or offset decreases in the market value of the Company’s securities. Additionally, under our Policy, our senior officers and directors may only purchase and sell our common stock during approved trading windows. These windows are related to the time of our earnings releases.

Recovery of Incentive Compensation: The Compensation Committee adopted an executive compensation recovery policy in March 2010, and amended it in 2014, that applies to annual and long-term incentive awards. The policy applies when there is an inaccurate financial statement, including statements of earnings, revenues, or gains or any other material inaccurate performance metric criterion, regardless of whether such inaccuracy was the subject of an accounting restatement. If, as a result of such inaccurate financial statement, certain senior officers received materially more incentive compensation than they would have had the correct financial statement been prepared at the time of the compensation award, the Compensation Committee shall seek recovery of this overpayment. The recovery could occur either by limiting future awards or directly seeking repayment. The Compensation Committee may determine not to seek recovery of such an overpayment if the direct costs of recovery are expected to exceed the amount of recovery. In the case of fraudulent, intentional, willful or grossly negligent misconduct by the recipient of an award, the Compensation Committee can recoup previous incentive awards paid regardless of when the awards were paid to the senior officer. If the inaccuracy is not the result of these circumstances, the Compensation Committee can only recover incentive awards paid based on the inaccuracy if they were paid in the three years prior to the determination that the financial statement was inaccurate.

Equity Award Practices: The Compensation Committee approves all equity awards to our senior officers, the aggregate annual equity pool, employee grant guidelines, and all equity awards to all employees during the annual grant process, which generally takes place in February. For employees hired during the year that are below the Senior Vice President level, the Compensation Committee has

delegated actual award determination to the Grant Committee which currently has one member, D. James Bidzos. Grant Committee awards are granted on the 15^th of the month (or next scheduled trading day if the 15^th is not a trading day) following approval by the Grant Committee.

Benefits: We do not provide our senior officers with any benefits other than those provided to all of our other U.S.-based employees. All of our U.S.-based employees are eligible for medical, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, short and long-term disability, paid time off, an employee stock purchase plan, and a qualified 401(k) salary deferral plan.

Severance Agreements: We generally do not enter into severance or employment agreements with our senior officers, nor do we provide severance or other benefits following voluntary termination. However, the Compensation Committee may determine in special circumstances that providing such severance payments and benefits is warranted in order to attract a potential executive or for other business considerations.

Change-In-Control and Retention Agreements: We have entered into change-in-control and retention agreements with our senior officers. These agreements provide for change-in-control severance benefits and payments in the event the senior officer’s employment is terminated in connection with a change in control of the Company. They are “double trigger” agreements which means the senior officers will only be eligible for payments under the agreements if both a change-in-control of the Company occurs and the senior officer’s employment is terminated without cause (or by the senior officer for good reason) within 24 months of the change-in-control.

The Compensation Committee believes these agreements are necessary to attract and retain executive talent and to neutralize the personal interests of our executives when making decisions related to potentially beneficial corporate transactions. Each year, the Compensation Committee reviews the provisions of the change-in-control agreements with FW Cook and makes adjustments as necessary to ensure alignment of senior officers’ interests with stockholders’ interests. No changes were made to the existing agreements in 2015 as FW Cook advised the Compensation Committee that they were in line with best practices which include double trigger benefits, severance multiples less than or equal to 2x base salary and target bonus and the lack of a tax-gross up provision. Additional details about these agreements, including potential payments, may be found in the “Potential Payments Upon Termination or Change-in-Control” and “Change-in-Control Benefit Estimates as of December 31, 2015” table.

Risk Assessment: In 2015, we performed a comprehensive assessment of our compensation policies and program design to determine whether risks arising under them would be likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company. We considered each element of our compensation programs and policies in our enterprise-wide risk assessment and determined that none of our compensation policies and programs creates a risk that is reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company.

Tax Treatment of Executive Compensation: Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 limits the amount of compensation in excess of $1,000,000 that the Company may deduct in any one year with respect to its CEO and three other most highly compensated officers (excluding the CFO) serving at the end of the fiscal year as disclosed in the annual proxy statement. There are exceptions to this deduction limit if the compensation is “performance-based” under Section 162(m). The Company does not limit compensation as a result of Section 162(m) but does try to structure its executive compensation program to maximize the amount of compensation that may be deducted. While base salaries and time-vesting RSUs are subject to the deduction limitation, our performance-based awards, including annual incentive bonus and performance-based RSUs, are designed to allow for qualification as performance-based compensation under Section 162(m).

In order to try to ensure that annual incentive bonuses paid to certain senior officers are considered performance-based compensation under Section 162(m), in 2015, stockholders approved the Annual Incentive Compensation Plan (“AICP”). The AICP is the vehicle under which certain of our senior officers’ bonuses, determined as described above, are paid.

For 2015, assuming the performance goal was met, each such senior officer could be awarded a maximum bonus of 300% of his or her target bonus (but no more than $5 million), subject to the Compensation Committee’s discretion to award bonuses in lesser amounts. The Compensation Committee exercised its discretion to award bonuses in lesser amounts and primarily based the AICP payments on the funding results of the VPP annual bonus program of 117%.

The performance goal for the AICP was approved by the Compensation Committee at its February 10, 2015 meeting and provided that the Company must achieve non-GAAP operating income in excess of $50 million before a bonus could be paid. This target was achieved.

Compensation Committee Report

The Compensation Committee has reviewed and discussed with management the Compensation Discussion and Analysis included in this Proxy Statement. Based on the review and discussions, the Compensation Committee recommended to the Board that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in this Proxy Statement.




This report is submitted by the Compensation Committee
Louis A. Simpson (Chairperson)	Timothy Tomlinson
Jamie S. Gorelick

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

The members of the Compensation Committee during 2015 were Louis A. Simpson, Jamie S. Gorelick, Timothy Tomlinson and John D. Roach (through May 2015). All of the members of the Compensation Committee during 2015 were independent directors, and none of the members of the Compensation Committee during 2015 were employees or officers or former officers of Verisign. No executive officer of Verisign has served on the compensation committee (or other board committee performing equivalent functions, if any) or the board of directors of another entity, one of whose executive officers served as a member of the Compensation Committee of Verisign during 2015; and no executive officer of Verisign has served on the compensation committee (or other board committee performing equivalent functions or, in the absence of any such committee, the entire board of directors) of another entity, one of whose executive officers served as a member of the Board during 2015.

Summary Compensation Table

The following table sets forth certain summary information concerning the compensation received by each person who served as our principal executive officer and principal financial officer during fiscal 2015, and the other most highly compensated executive officer as of the end of fiscal 2015. We refer to these executive officers as our “Named Executive Officers.”

SUMMARY COMPENSATION TABLE



Named Executive Officer and Principal Position	Year	Salary ($)(1)	Stock Awards ($)(2)	Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation ($)(3)	All Other Compensation ($)(4)		Total ($)
D. James Bidzos	2015	752,885	8,499,901	877,500	20,421	(5)	10,150,707
Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer	2014	752,885	5,999,948	885,000	15,032	(5)	7,652,865
Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer	2013	752,885	6,810,008	957,750	20,484	(5)(6)	8,541,127

Todd B. Strubbe	2015	372,308	6,559,970	350,000	222,764	(7)	7,505,042
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

George E. Kilguss, III	2015	424,327	2,499,895	350,000	8,807		3,283,029
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer	2014	411,577	1,699,956	350,000	8,480		2,470,013
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer	2013	406,192	2,237,298	375,000	43,027	(8)	3,061,517

Thomas C. Indelicarto(9)	2015	348,269	1,599,966	300,000	499		2,248,734
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary	2014	275,440	829,600	140,267	515		1,245,822
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary


(1)	Includes, where applicable, amounts electively contributed by each Named Executive Officer under our 401(k) Plan.

(2)

Amounts shown represent the aggregate grant date fair value, which is based on the closing share price on the date of the grant. Stock Awards consist of RSUs granted in 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively. Amounts shown in “Stock Awards” include the value of awards subject to performance conditions based upon the probable outcome of the performance conditions as of the grant date of the award, excluding the effect of estimated forfeitures. Grant date fair value for performance-based RSUs included in “Stock Awards” were as follows: Mr. Bidzos, $3,499,991 (2015), $3,499,951 (2014), $3,499,960 (2013); Mr. Kilguss, $999,954 (2015), $849,978 (2014), $849,969 (2013), Mr. Strubbe, $1,380,000 (2015), and Mr. Indelicarto, $549,990 (2015). Grant date fair value for performance-based RSUs granted in 2015, 2014, and 2013 at the maximum achievement level (i.e., 200% payout) would be 163%, 153% and 171%, respectively, of the amounts for each executive, calculated using a Monte Carlo simulation model. The performance-based RSUs granted in 2013 vested in February 2015 and February 2016 at the maximum achievement level, resulting in 200% payout. The value specific to the one-time special performance-based RSUs granted in 2013 and included in “Stock Awards” were as follows: Mr. Bidzos, $810,070; and Mr. Kilguss, $537,360. Vesting of these awards was subject to achievement of the 2013 AICP performance goal. The goal was achieved, and as such, 100% of the awards were earned as of February 21, 2014.


(3)	Amounts shown are for non-equity incentive plan compensation earned during the year indicated, but paid in the following year.


(4)	Except as otherwise indicated, amounts in “All Other Compensation” for fiscal 2015, fiscal 2014, and fiscal 2013 include, where applicable, matching contributions made by the Company to the VeriSign, Inc. 401(k) Plan, Wellness Incentive payment, Life insurance and Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance payments.


(5)	Includes $11,450 (2015), $14,204 (2014), and $17,997 (2013) in payments for a leased automobile.


(6)	Includes $1,607 in relocation payments for Mr. Bidzos.


(7)	Includes $222,284 in relocation payments for Mr. Strubbe, who was hired April 20, 2015.


(8)	Includes $34,649 in relocation payments for Mr. Kilguss.


(9)	Mr. Indelicarto was appointed Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary effective November 14, 2014.

Grants of Plan-Based Awards for Fiscal 2015

The following table shows all plan-based awards granted to the Named Executive Officers during fiscal 2015 under annual and long-term plans.

GRANTS OF PLAN-BASED AWARDS FOR FISCAL 2015⁽¹⁾



Named Executive Officer	Grant Date	Estimated Future Payouts Under Non-Equity Incentive Plan Awards ($)			Estimated Future Payouts Under Equity Incentive Plan Awards			All Other Stock Awards: Number of Shares of Stock or Units (#)	Grant Date Fair Value of Stock and Option Awards ($)
Named Executive Officer	Grant Date	Threshold ($)	Target ($)	Maximum ($)	Threshold (#)	Target (#)(2)	Maximum (#)(2)		Grant Date Fair Value of Stock and Option Awards ($)
D. James Bidzos	2/10/2015	0	750,000	2,250,000
	2/10/2015							41,064(3)	2,499,976
	2/10/2015				0	57,490	114,980		3,499,991
	10/20/2015							32,985(4)	2,499,933
Todd B. Strubbe	4/20/2015	0	440,000(5)	1,320,000	0
	4/20/2015							57,151(6)	3,799,970
	4/20/2015							20,755(3)	1,380,000
	4/20/2015					20,755	41,510		1,380,000
George E. Kilguss, III	2/10/2015	0	297,500	892,500
	2/10/2015							16,425(3)	999,954
	2/10/2015				0	16,425	32,850		999,954
	10/20/2015							6,597(4)	499,989
Thomas C. Indelicarto	2/10/2015	0	210,000	630,000	0
	2/10/2015							9,034(3)	549,990
	2/10/2015					9,034	18,068		549,990
	10/20/2015							6,597(4)	499,986


(1)	Named Executive Officers are eligible to receive an annual cash bonus under the annual incentive program and long-term incentive compensation under our 2006 Plan as described in “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” elsewhere in this Proxy Statement.


(2)	The Named Executive Officers were awarded performance-based RSUs to be earned based on Company performance in fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017 and determination to be made after the end of fiscal year 2017.


(3)	The RSU awards vest 25% of the total award on each anniversary of the date of grant until fully vested.


(4)	The RSU awards vest 25% of the total award on the first anniversary of the date of grant and then vest 6.25% of the total award each quarter thereafter, until fully vested.


(5)	Mr. Strubbe joined the Company on April 20, 2015. His actual bonus is pro-rated based on his hire date.


(6)	The RSU award vested 25% on June 30, 2015 and will vest 25% of the total award on each anniversary of the date of grant until fully vested.

Narrative Disclosure to Summary Compensation Table and Grants of Plan-Based Awards Table

The Company generally does not enter into employment agreements with its executive officers, each of whom may be terminated at any time at the discretion of the Board. The Company and Mr. Bidzos, our President and Chief Executive Officer, are parties to the CEO Amended and Restated Change-in-Control and Retention Agreement, and the Company and other of its senior vice presidents, including the Named Executive Officers, are parties to Amended and Restated Change-in-Control and Retention Agreements.

An RSU is an award covering a number of shares of Verisign common stock which are typically settled by issuance of those shares on a one-for-one basis. Any dividends paid on our common stock during the vesting period applicable to RSUs will be credited to the participant in the form of additional RSUs, the number of which will be calculated based on the market price of our common stock on the date such dividends are paid to stockholders. Any such additional RSUs shall be subject to the same terms and conditions as the underlying RSU award.

Please refer to “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” elsewhere in this Proxy Statement for more information concerning our compensation practices and policies for executive officers.

Outstanding Equity Awards at 2015 Fiscal Year-End

The following table shows all outstanding equity awards held by the Named Executive Officers at the end of fiscal 2015 granted under the 2006 Plan.

OUTSTANDING EQUITY AWARDS AT 2015 FISCAL YEAR-END



		Stock Awards
Named Executive Officer	Grant Date	Number of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested (#)	Market Value of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested ($)(1)	Equity Incentive Plan Awards: Number of Unearned Shares, Units or Other Rights That Have Not Vested (#)	Equity Incentive Plan Awards: Market or Payout Value of Unearned Shares, Units or Other Rights That Have Not Vested (#)(1)
D. James Bidzos	02/21/2012	15,075(2)	1,316,952
	02/21/2012	7,407(3)	647,076
	02/26/2013	27,915(2)	2,438,654
	02/26/2013			78,159(4)	6,827,970
	02/26/2013	6,030(5)	526,781
	02/19/2014			126,718(6)	11,070,084
	02/19/2014	33,942(2)	2,965,173
	02/10/2015	41,064(2)	3,587,351
	02/10/2015			57,490(7)	5,022,326
	10/20/2015	32,985(8)	2,881,570

Todd B. Strubbe	04/20/2015	20,755(2)	1,813,157
	04/20/2015	42,863(9)	3,744,512
	04/20/2015			20,755(7)	1,813,157

George E. Kilguss, III	05/14/2012	10,000(2)	873,600
	05/14/2012	4,914(3)	429,287
	02/26/2013	9,490(2)	829,046
	02/26/2013			18,981(4)	1,658,180
	02/26/2013	4,000(5)	349,440
	02/19/2014	11,540(2)	1,008,134
	02/19/2014			30,774(6)	2,688,417
	02/10/2015	16,425(2)	1,434,888
	02/10/2015			16,425(7)	1,434,888
	10/20/2015	6,597(8)	576,314

Thomas C. Indelicarto (10)	02/21/2012	2,000(2)	174,720
	02/26/2013	3,320(2)	290,035
	04/15/2013	500(2)	43,680
	01/15/2014	750(2)	65,520
	02/19/2014	3,000(2)	262,080
	11/14/2014	6,750(2)	589,680
	02/10/2015	9,034(2)	789,210
	02/10/2015			9,034(7)	789,210
	10/20/2015	6,597(8)	576,314


(1)	The market value is calculated by multiplying the number of shares by the closing price of our common stock on December 31, 2015, which was $87.36.


(2)	The RSU award vests 25% of the total award on each anniversary of the date of grant until fully vested.


(3)	Performance-based RSUs earned based on performance in fiscal year 2012 vested 25% on each anniversary of the grant date, subject to certain employment conditions, until fully vested on February 21, 2016 except for Mr. Kilguss who was appointed Senior Vice President and CFO effective as of May 14, 2012 and his remaining performance-based RSUs granted in 2012 will fully vest on May 14, 2016.

(4)

Awards of performance-based RSUs were granted on February 26, 2013, with 50% eligible to be earned based on Company performance in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 and 50% eligible to be earned based on Company performance in fiscal years 2013, 2014 and 2015. Performance criteria were achieved at the maximum performance level for all periods covered by the grant and as such, 50% of the performance based-RSUs vested on February 13, 2015 and the remaining 50% of the performance-based RSUs vested on the date the Company received an unqualified signed opinion of the Company’s financial statements from its independent registered public accounting firm, February 19, 2016.

(5)

Awards of performance-based RSUs were granted on February 26, 2013. As previously specified, performance criteria were achieved with respect to fiscal year 2013; the performance-based RSUs earned vested 33% on the date the Company received an unqualified signed opinion of the Company’s financial statements from its independent registered public accounting firm, February 21, 2014 and vested 33% on each of the next two anniversaries of the date of grant. The awards were fully vested as of February 26, 2016.


(6)	Awards of performance-based RSUs were granted on February 19, 2014, to be earned based on Company performance in fiscal years 2014, 2015 and 2016 and determination to be made after the end of fiscal year 2016. The number of shares shown is based on achievement of maximum performance as the Company’s 2014 and 2015 performance exceeded the maximum performance level.


(7)	Awards of performance-based RSUs were granted on February 10, 2015 (at on April 20, 2015 to Mr. Strubbe), to be earned based on Company performance in fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017 and determination to be made after the end of fiscal year 2017. The number of shares shown is based on achievement of the target performance level.

(8) The RSU award vests 25% of the total award on the first anniversary of the date of grant and then vests 6.25% of the total award each quarter thereafter until fully vested.

(9) The RSU award vested 25% of the total award on June 30, 2015 and then 25% of the total award on each anniversary of the date of grant until fully vested.


(10)	Includes awards granted prior to promotion and appointment as NEO and Section 16 Officer.

Option Exercises and Stock Vested for Fiscal 2015

The following table shows all stock options exercised and the value realized upon exercise, and all stock awards vested and the value realized upon vesting, by our Named Executive Officers during fiscal 2015.

OPTION EXERCISES AND STOCK VESTED FOR FISCAL 2015



	Stock Awards
Name	Number of Shares Acquired on Vesting (#)	Value Realized on Vesting ($)
D. James Bidzos	131,944	8,307,857
Todd B. Strubbe	14,288	881,855
George E. Kilguss, III	46,487	2,947,167
Thomas C. Indelicarto	10,094	684,621

Potential Payments Upon Termination or Change-in-Control

Except as described below, the Company has no formal severance program for its Named Executive Officers, each of whom may be terminated at any time at the discretion of the Board.

Treatment of Equity Upon Death or Disability

On February 26, 2013, the Compensation Committee approved modifications to the form of Employee Restricted Stock Unit Agreements to allow for full acceleration of unvested equity for grants made on or after February 26, 2013 in the event of termination due to death or disability as follows:


•	Time-Based RSUs – unvested RSUs shall accelerate in full according to the terms in the “Employee Restricted Stock Unit Agreement;” and

•

Performance-Based RSUs – If termination occurs during the applicable performance period and before the conclusion of such performance period, then such RSUs will accelerate based on the target achievement level; if termination occurs after the conclusion of the applicable performance period but before the award for such performance period has been paid, then the RSUs will fully accelerate based upon the actual achievement level.

Change in Control Agreements

Each of our senior officers is party to a change in control and retention agreement (the “CIC Agreements”). Under the CIC Agreements, each of the senior officers is entitled to receive severance benefits if, within the twenty-four months following a “change-in-control” (or under certain circumstances, during the six-month period preceding a change-in-control), the senior officer’s employment is terminated by Verisign without “cause” or by the senior officer for “good reason” (referred to as a “qualified termination”). The terms and conditions of the CIC Agreements are described below.

Under the CIC Agreements, “change-in-control” means:

(a) any “person” (as such term is used in Sections 13(d) and 14(d) of the Exchange Act), other than a trustee or other fiduciary holding securities of the Company under an employee benefit plan of the Company or its subsidiaries, becomes the “beneficial owner” (as defined in Rule 13d-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act), directly or indirectly (excluding, for purposes of this Section, securities acquired directly from the Company), of securities of the Company representing at least thirty-five percent (35%) of (A) the then-outstanding shares of common stock of the Company or (B) the combined voting power of the Company’s then-outstanding securities;

(b) the consummation of a merger or consolidation, or series of related transactions, which results in the voting securities of the Company outstanding immediately prior thereto failing to continue to represent (either by remaining outstanding or by being converted into voting securities of the surviving entity), directly or indirectly, at least fifty (50%) percent of the combined voting power of the voting securities of the Company or such surviving entity outstanding immediately after such merger or consolidation;

(c) a change in the composition of the Board occurring within a 24-month period, as a result of which fewer than a majority of the directors are incumbent directors;

(d) the sale or disposition of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets (or consummation of any transaction, or series of related transactions, having similar effect); or

(e) stockholder approval of the dissolution or liquidation of the Company.

Under the CIC Agreements, “cause” means:

(a) an executive’s willful and continued failure to substantially perform the executive’s duties after written notice providing the executive with ninety (90) days from the date of the executive’s receipt of such notice in which to cure;

(b) conviction of (or plea of guilty or no contest to) the executive for a felony involving moral turpitude;

(d) an executive’s willful violation of the Company’s policies resulting in material harm to the Company.

Under the CIC Agreements, “good reason” means:

(a) a change in the executive’s authority, duties or responsibilities that is inconsistent in any material and adverse respect from the executive’s authority, duties and responsibilities immediately preceding the change-in-control;

(b) a reduction in the executive’s base salary compared to the executive’s base salary immediately preceding the change-in-control, except for an across-the-board reduction of not more than ten percent (10%) of base salary applicable to all senior executives of the Company;

(c) a reduction in the executive’s bonus opportunity of five percent (5%) or more from the executive’s bonus opportunity immediately preceding the change-in-control, except for an across-the-board reduction applicable to all senior executives of the Company;

(d) a failure to provide the executive with long-term incentive opportunities that in the aggregate are at least comparable to the long-term incentives provided to other senior executives at the Company;

(e) a reduction of at least 5% in aggregate benefits that the executive is entitled to receive under all employee benefit plans of the Company following a change-in-control compared to the aggregate benefits the executive was eligible to receive under all employee benefit plans maintained by the Company immediately preceding the change-in-control;

(f) a requirement that the executive be based at any office location more than 40 miles from the executive’s primary office location immediately preceding the change-in-control, if such relocation increases the executive’s commute by more than ten (10) miles from the executive’s principal residence immediately preceding the change-in-control; or

(g) the failure of the Company to obtain the assumption of the agreement from any successor as provided in the agreement.

Under the CIC Agreements, “incumbent director” means: directors who either (i) are directors as of the date of the CIC Agreement, or (ii) are elected, or nominated for election, to the Board with the affirmative votes of at least a majority of the incumbent directors at the time of such election or nomination (but shall not include an individual whose election or nomination is in connection with an actual or threatened proxy contest relating to the election of directors to the Company.

If a change-in-control occurs and the executive officer experiences a qualifying termination and timely delivers a general release agreement, the CIC Agreements provide that Verisign will make the following payments and provide the following benefits to the executive officer (subject to a six month delay if and to the extent required by the deferred compensation rules set forth in and promulgated under Section 409A of the Code):


•	a lump sum equal to the pro rata target bonus for the year in which the executive officer was terminated;

•

a lump sum equal to a specified multiple of the sum of (i) the executive officer’s annual base salary plus (ii) the average of the executive officer’s target annual bonus amount for the last three full fiscal years prior to a change-in-control, or, if the executive officer was employed by the Company for fewer than three full fiscal years preceding the fiscal year in which the change-in-control occurs, the average target bonus for the number of full fiscal years the executive officer was employed by the Company before the change-in-control or the target bonus for the fiscal year in which the change-in-control occurs if the executive officer was not eligible to receive a bonus from the Company during any of the prior three fiscal years; the applicable multiples are 200% of the annual base salary and bonus for the CEO and 100% of the annual base salary and bonus for other executive officer participants;


•	if the executive elects to continue medical coverage under COBRA, reimbursement of the executive’s premium, for 24 months for the CEO and for 12 months for all other executives;

•

immediate acceleration of vesting of all of the executive officer’s unvested stock options and RSUs; however, if the consideration to be received by stockholders of the Company in connection with the change-in-control consists of substantially all cash or if the stock options and RSUs held by the executive officer are not assumed in the change-in-control, then all of the executive officer’s then-unvested and outstanding stock options and RSUs shall vest immediately prior to the change-in-control regardless of whether or not there is a termination of employment in connection therewith; and


•	if performance shares are accelerated, and the performance period has not been completed, the amount payable is computed as if the performance has been satisfied at the target level.

In addition, the CIC Agreements include the following terms and conditions:

•

to the extent any change-in-control payments or benefits are characterized as excess parachute payments within the meaning of Section 4999 of the Code, and such characterization would subject the executive officer to a federal excise tax due to that characterization, the executive officer’s termination benefits will be reduced to an amount so that none of the amounts payable constitute excess parachute payments if this would result in the executive officer’s receipt, on an after-tax basis, of the greatest amount of termination and other benefits, after taking into account applicable federal, state and local taxes, including the excise tax under Section 4999 of the Code;


•	an initial term ending on August 24, 2012 and automatic renewal for one-year periods thereafter unless the Board terminates the CIC Agreement at least 90 days before the end of the then-current term, provided that such termination shall not be effective until the last day of the then-current term; and


•	the executive officer is prohibited from soliciting employees of Verisign or competing against Verisign for a period of twelve months following termination.

The following table shows the value of RSUs that would have vested for our Named Executive Officers as of December 31, 2015, as well as the additional cash compensation payable, if any, under the change-in-control and termination scenarios described above. The value of the accelerated RSUs is based on the market value of our common stock as of December 31, 2015, which was $87.36.

Termination and Change-in-Control Benefit Estimates as of December 31, 2015



	Value of Cash and Continued Health Benefits ($)(1)	Value of Accelerated Stock Awards ($)
Named Executive Officer	Change-in-Control plus Qualifying Termination	Death, Disability or Change-in-Control plus Qualifying Termination(2)
D. James Bidzos	3,760,341	31,748,895
Todd B. Strubbe	1,448,161	7,370,825
George E. Kilguss, III	1,017,494	9,937,986
Thomas C. Indelicarto	744,669	3,580,450


(1)	To the extent any payments made or benefits provided upon termination of an executive officer’s employment constitute deferred compensation subject to Section 409A of the Code, payment of such amounts or provision of such benefits will be delayed for six months after the executive officer’s separation from service if and to the extent required under Section 409A.


(2)	If the equity awards held by the executive are not assumed upon a change-in-control or the consideration to be received by stockholders consists of substantially all cash, then all such equity awards shall have their vesting and exercisability accelerated in full immediately prior to the change-in-control regardless of whether there is a qualifying termination.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

The following table sets forth information about our common stock that may be issued upon the exercise of options, warrants and rights under all of our existing equity compensation plans as of December 31, 2015.

EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN INFORMATION



	Equity Compensation Plan Information
	(A)		(B)		(C)
Plan Category	Number of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding options, warrants and rights(1)		Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights(2)		Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in column (A))
Equity compensation plans approved by stockholders (3)	2,109,973	(4)	$	18.64	11,572,936	(5)
Equity compensation plans not approved by stockholders	—		$	—	—
Total	2,109,973		$	18.64	11,572,936


(1)	Includes 2,108,411 shares subject to RSUs outstanding as of December 31, 2015 that were issued under the 2006 Plan.


(2)	Does not include any price for outstanding RSUs.


(3)	Includes the 2006 Plan, and the 2007 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “2007 Purchase Plan”).


(4)	Excludes purchase rights accruing under the 2007 Purchase Plan, which has a remaining stockholder-approved reserve of 1,424,590 shares as of December 31, 2015.

(5)

Consists of shares available for future issuance under the 2006 Plan and the 2007 Purchase Plan. As of December 31, 2015, an aggregate of 10,148,346 shares and 1,424,590 shares of common stock were available for issuance under the 2006 Plan and the 2007 Purchase Plan, respectively, including 149,073 shares subject to purchase under the 2007 Purchase Plan during the current purchase period. In addition to options and RSUs, shares can be granted under the 2006 Plan pursuant to stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, stock bonuses and performance shares.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES WITH RESPECT TO TRANSACTIONS WITH RELATED PERSONS

Verisign’s Audit Committee approved a written Policy for Entering into Transactions with Related Persons (the “Related Person Transaction Policy”) which sets forth the requirements for review, approval or ratification of transactions between Verisign and “related persons,” as such term is defined under Item 404 of Regulation S-K.

Pursuant to the terms of the Related Person Transaction Policy, the Audit Committee shall review, approve or ratify the terms of any transaction, arrangement or relationship or series of similar transactions, arrangements or relationships (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) in which (i) Verisign was or is to be a participant and (ii) a related person has or will have a direct or indirect material interest (“Related Person Transaction”), except for those transactions, arrangements or relationships specifically listed in the Related Person Transaction Policy that do not require approval or ratification. In determining whether to approve or ratify a Related Person Transaction, the Audit Committee will take into account, among factors it deems appropriate, whether the Related Person Transaction terms are no more favorable than terms generally available to an unaffiliated third-party under the same or similar circumstances and the materiality of the related person’s direct or indirect interest in the transaction.

Prior approval of the Audit Committee shall be required for the following Related Person Transactions:

•

Any Related Person Transaction to which a related person is a named party to the underlying agreement or arrangement; provided, however, certain agreements or arrangements between Verisign and a related person concerning employment and any compensation solely resulting from employment or concerning compensation as a member of the Board that have, in each case, been entered into or approved in accordance with policies of Verisign shall not be subject to prior approval of the Audit Committee;


•	Any Related Person Transaction involving an indirect material interest of a related person where the terms of the agreement or arrangement are not negotiated on an arm’s length basis or where the Related Person Transaction is not a transaction in the ordinary course of business; and


•	Any Related Person Transaction where the total transaction value exceeds $1,000,000.

On a quarterly basis, the Audit Committee shall review and, if determined by the Audit Committee to be appropriate, ratify any Related Person Transactions not requiring prior approval of the Audit Committee pursuant to the Related Person Transaction Policy.

In the event Verisign proposes to enter into a transaction with a related person who is a member of the Audit Committee or an immediate family member of a member of the Audit Committee, prior approval by a majority of the disinterested members of the

Board shall be required and no such member of the Audit Committee for which he or she or an immediate family member is a related person shall participate in any discussion or approval of such transaction, except to provide all material information concerning the Related Person Transaction.

The following Related Person Transactions shall not require approval or ratification by the Audit Committee:


•	Payment of compensation to executive officers in connection with their employment with Verisign; provided that such compensation has been approved in accordance with policies of Verisign.


•	Remuneration to directors in connection with their service as a member of the Board; provided that such remuneration has been approved in accordance with policies of Verisign.


•	Reimbursement of expenses incurred in exercising duties as an officer or director of Verisign; provided that such reimbursement has been approved in accordance with policies of Verisign.


•	Any transaction with another company at which a related person’s only relationship is as a director or beneficial owner of less than 10% of that company’s shares, if the aggregate amount involved does not exceed $1,000,000.


•	Any transaction with a related person involving services as a bank depositary of funds, transfer agent, registrar, trustee under a trust indenture, or similar services.


•	Any transaction involving a related person where the rates or charges involved are determined by competitive bids, or the transaction involves the rendering of services as a common or contract carrier, or public utility, at rates or charges fixed in conformity with law or governmental authority.


•	Any transaction where the related person’s interest arises solely from the ownership of Verisign’s common stock and all holders of Verisign’s common stock received the same benefit on a pro rata basis (e.g., dividends).

There are no transactions required to be reported under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K where the Related Person Transaction Policy did not require review, approval or ratification, or where the Related Person Transaction Policy was not followed during fiscal 2015.

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS

Since January 1, 2015, there has not been, nor is there currently proposed, any transaction or series of similar transactions to which we or any of our subsidiaries are or were to be a party in which the amount involved exceeded or will exceed $120,000 and in which any director, executive officer or beneficial holder of more than 5% of the common stock of Verisign or any member of the immediate family of any of the foregoing persons had or will have a direct or indirect material interest.

PROPOSAL NO. 3

APPROVAL OF THE AMENDED AND RESTATED VERISIGN, INC. 2006 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN

Our stockholders last approved the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2006 Plan”) on May 26, 2011. On April 8, 2016, upon recommendation of our Compensation Committee, our Board adopted the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Amended 2006 Plan”), subject to the approval of our stockholders, and directed the plan be submitted to our stockholders for approval. The Amended 2006 Plan will limit the compensation paid to any non-employee director to an aggregate dollar value, including equity and cash awards, of $600,000, with an exception to such limit for grants made in the first year of service. The Amended 2006 Plan also makes certain technical and administrative revisions regarding the definition of extraordinary items and limits on withholding for tax obligations. The approval by our stockholders at the Meeting will also act as a stockholder approval of the material terms under which performance based compensation is to be paid, including the performance goals, so that payments under the Amended 2006 Plan may continue to qualify as performance-based compensation under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, or Section 162(m) of the Code, to the extent applicable. The Amended 2006 Plan is set forth in Appendix A to this Proxy Statement.

Our Board believes that it is in the best interests of the Company and our stockholders to continue to provide for an incentive plan under which stock-based compensation awards made to the Company’s executive officers can qualify for deductibility by the Company for federal income tax purposes. Accordingly, the Amended 2006 Plan has been structured in a manner such that awards under it can satisfy the requirements for “performance-based” compensation within the meaning of Section 162(m) of the Code. In general, under Section 162(m) of the Code, in order for the Company to be able to deduct compensation in excess of $1 million paid in any one year to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer or any of the Company’s three other most highly compensated executive officers (other than the Company’s Chief Financial Officer), such compensation must qualify as “performance-based.” One of the requirements of “performance-based” compensation for purposes of Section 162(m) if the Code is that the material terms of the performance goals under which compensation may be paid be disclosed to and approved by the Company’s stockholders. For purposes of Section 162(m), the material terms include (i) the employees eligible to receive compensation, (ii) a description of the business criteria on which the performance goal is based and (iii) the maximum amount of compensation that can be paid to an employee under the performance goal. With respect to the various types of awards under the Amended 2006 Plan, each of these aspects is discussed below, and stockholder approval of the Amended 2006 Plan will be deemed to constitute approval of each of these aspects of the Amended 2006 Plan for purposes of the approval requirements of Section 162(m) of the Code. Although stockholder approval is one of the requirements for exemption under Section 162(m) of the Code, even with stockholder approval there can be no guarantee that compensation will be treated as exempt “performance-based” compensation under Section 162(m) of the Code. Furthermore, our Compensation Committee will continue to have the authority to provide compensation that is not exempt from the limits on deductibility under Section 162(m) of the Code.

Description of the Amended 2006 Plan

A summary of the proposed Amended 2006 Plan appears below. This summary is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Amended 2006 Plan, a copy of which is attached to this Proxy Statement as Appendix A.

General

The Amended 2006 Plan is a stock compensation plan that provides for a variety of equity and equity-based award vehicles, including stock options, performance shares, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units and other stock-based awards. Awards may be granted under the Amended 2006 Plan to eligible participants until May 26, 2016. On December 31, 2015, the closing price of Verisign’s common stock was $87.36 per share as reported by the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

Eligible Participants

Employees, non-employee directors, consultants, independent contractors and advisors of Verisign or any parent or subsidiary of Verisign are eligible to receive awards under the Amended 2006 Plan, subject to certain limitations on the grant of incentive stock options. As of the end of fiscal 2015, there were approximately 1,018 employees and seven non-employee directors eligible to receive awards under the 2006 Plan.

Shares Authorized

There are 27,000,000 shares authorized for grant under the Amended 2006 Plan , and as of December 31, 2015, there were 10,148,346 shares available for new grants under the Amended 2006 Plan, subject to adjustment to reflect stock splits and similar events. In addition, shares which cease to be subject to an option or stock appreciation right granted under the Amended 2006 Plan for any reason other than exercise of the option or stock appreciation right or which are subject to other awards granted under the Amended 2006 Plan that are forfeited or are repurchased by the Company at the original issue price or otherwise terminate without such shares being issued will again be available for grant and issuance in connection with subsequent awards under the Amended 2006 Plan. Stock appreciation rights to be settled in shares of Verisign’s common stock shall be counted in full against the number of shares

available for award under the Amended 2006 Plan, regardless of the number of shares ultimately issued upon settlement of the stock appreciation right.

Award Limits

The Amended 2006 Plan limits awards to individual participants as follows: No person may receive more than 1,500,000 shares issuable as awards in any calendar year, other than new employees, who may receive up to a maximum of 3,000,000 shares issuable as awards granted in the calendar year in which they first commence employment.

Administration

The Company’s Compensation Committee will administer the Amended 2006 Plan and may delegate to a committee of one or more members of Verisign’s Board or Verisign officers the ability to grant awards and take certain other actions with respect to participants who are not executive officers or non-employee directors. The applicable committee will select the individuals who receive awards, determine the number of shares covered by awards and, subject to the terms and limitations expressly set forth in the Amended 2006 Plan, establish the terms, conditions and other provisions of any awards granted under the Amended 2006 Plan. The Compensation Committee may interpret the Amended 2006 Plan and establish, amend and rescind any rules relating to the Amended 2006 Plan.

Award Types

The following awards may be granted under the Amended 2006 Plan:

(1) Non-qualified and incentive stock options

(2) Restricted stock awards

(3) Restricted stock units

(4) Stock bonus awards

(5) Stock appreciation rights (“SARs”)

(6) Performance shares

Vesting

The vesting of awards will be determined by the applicable committee, provided that the vesting of awards granted to executive officers and directors will be determined by the Compensation Committee. Historically, stock options were generally granted with vesting over four years (25% cliff vesting after one year and, thereafter, 6.25% vest quarterly until fully vested) and restricted stock units with vesting over four years as follows: 25% on the first anniversary of the date of grant, 25% on the second anniversary of the date of grant, 25% on the third anniversary of the date of grant, and 25% on the fourth anniversary of the date of grant. Beginning in 2016, the restricted stock units awarded vest over four years as follows: 25% on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 6.25% on each quarterly anniversary thereafter.

Exercise Price

The exercise price of stock options or stock appreciation rights granted under the Amended 2006 Plan may not be less than 100% of the closing price of Verisign stock on the day of grant. In the event a grant is made on a day when the NASDAQ Global Select Market (or other applicable principal national securities exchange on which Verisign’s common stock is traded) is closed, the fair market value will be determined as of the last preceding trading day.

Repricing Prohibited

Except as otherwise provided in the Amended 2006 Plan, repricing or reducing the exercise price of a stock option or stock appreciation right or issuance of new stock options or stock appreciation rights having a lower exercise price in substitution for canceled stock options or stock appreciation rights is prohibited without stockholder approval.

Non-Employee Director Awards

The Amended 2006 Plan provides for discretionary awards (except for awards of incentive stock options) to non-employee directors as determined by the Compensation Committee. Discretionary awards to non-employee directors will vest and be exercisable as determined by the Compensation Committee. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Amended 2006 Plan will limit the compensation paid to any non-employee director to an aggregate dollar value, including equity and cash awards, of $600,000, with an exception to such limit for grants made in the first year of service.

In the event of a corporate transaction, such as a dissolution or liquidation, merger or sale of substantially all of Verisign’s assets, all awards granted to non-employee directors will become fully vested and exercisable.

Terms Applicable to Stock Options and Stock Appreciation Rights

An option granted to a participant under the Amended 2006 Plan allows a participant to purchase up to the total number of shares of common stock of the Company at a specified exercise price per share during specified time periods. A stock appreciation right may be granted with respect to a certain number of shares of the Company’s common stock and may be settled in cash or shares, having a value equal to the product of the difference between the fair market value on the exercise date and the exercise price and the number of shares with which the stock appreciation right is being settled. The exercise price of stock options and stock appreciation rights granted under the Amended 2006 Plan may not be less than 100% of the closing price of Verisign common stock on the day of grant. Stock options will have a term no longer than ten years, and stock appreciation rights will have a term no longer than seven years. Subject to the limitations of the Amended 2006 Plan, the Compensation Committee will determine the terms and conditions applicable to awards of stock options and stock appreciation rights, including with regard to vesting and exercisability, which may be based on, among other things, continued employment with Verisign, the passage of time, or such performance criteria and the level of achievement versus such criteria as the Compensation Committee deems appropriate.

Terms Applicable to Restricted Stock Awards, Restricted Stock Unit Awards, Stock Bonus Awards and Performance Shares

Subject to the limitations of the Amended 2006 Plan, the Compensation Committee will determine the terms and conditions applicable to awards of restricted stock, restricted stock units, stock bonuses and performance shares, including with regard to any restrictions or vesting, which may be based on, among other things, continued employment with Verisign, the passage of time, or such performance criteria and the level of achievement versus such criteria as the Compensation Committee deems appropriate.

Terms Applicable to Performance Shares

The Compensation Committee will determine the terms of each award of performance shares If applicable, in establishing performance measures (as described below) and the performance period applicable to performance shares the Compensation Committee will: determine the nature, length and starting date of any performance period (not to exceed five years); set performance goals under the performance measures to be used and specify any exclusion(s) or inclusion(s) for charges related to any event(s) or occurrence(s) which the Compensation Committee determines should appropriately be excluded or included, as applicable, for purposes of measuring performance against the applicable performance measure, which may include restructurings, reorganizations, discontinued operations, non-core businesses in continuing operations, acquisitions, dispositions, or any extraordinary nonrecurring items that are unusual in nature or infrequently occurring as described in ASC Subtopic 225-20 and/or in management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations appearing in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the applicable year, the cumulative effects of tax or accounting changes, each in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, foreign exchange gains or losses, stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets, impairments of goodwill and other intangible assets, asset write downs, or non-cash interest expense or litigation or claim judgments or settlements; and determine the number of shares deemed subject to the award of performance shares.

Prior to settlement, the Compensation Committee will determine the extent to which performance shares have been earned. Performance periods may overlap and participants may participate simultaneously with respect to performance shares that are subject to different performance periods, performance measures and performance goals and other criteria. If the Compensation Committee determines that a change in the business, operations, corporate structure or capital structure of the Company, or the manner in which it conducts its business, or other events or circumstances, render previously established performance goals unsuitable, the Compensation Committee may in its discretion modify such performance goals or the related levels of achievement, in whole or in part, as the Compensation Committee deems appropriate and equitable; provided that, unless the Compensation Committee determines otherwise, no such action will be taken if and to the extent it would result in the loss of an otherwise available exemption of the award under Section 162(m) of the Code and the regulations thereunder.

The performance goals designated by the Compensation Committee under the performance measures may be specified in absolute terms, in percentages or in terms of growth from period to period or growth rates over time and may be determined solely by reference to the Company’s performance or the performance of a subsidiary, division, business segment or business unit of the Company, or based upon the relative performance of other companies or upon comparisons of any of the indicators of performance relative to other companies. The number of shares may be fixed or may vary in accordance with such performance goals and criteria as may be determined by the Compensation Committee. Performance measures are the factors selected by the Compensation Committee from among the following measures (whether or not in comparison to other peer companies) to determine whether the performance goals established by the Compensation Committee and applicable to awards have been satisfied: net sales; revenue; revenue growth or product revenue growth; operating income (before or after taxes); pre- or after-tax income or loss (before or after allocation of corporate overhead and bonus); earnings or loss per share; net income or loss (before or after taxes); return on equity; total stockholder return; return on assets or net assets; appreciation in and/or maintenance of the price of shares of the Company’s common stock or any other publicly-traded securities of the Company; market share; gross profits; earnings or losses (including earnings or losses before

taxes, before taxes and amortization, before interest and taxes, or before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization); economic value-added models or equivalent metrics; comparisons with various stock market indices; reductions in costs; cash flow or cash flow per share (before or after dividends); return on capital (including return on total capital or return on invested capital); cash flow return on investment; improvement in or attainment of expense levels or working capital levels, including cash, inventory and accounts receivable; operating margin; gross margin; year-end cash; cash margin; debt reduction; stockholders equity; operating efficiencies; market share; customer satisfaction; customer growth; employee satisfaction; regulatory achievements (including submitting or filing applications or other documents with regulatory authorities or receiving approval of any such applications or other documents and passing pre-approval inspections (whether of the Company or the Company’s third-party manufacturer) and validation of manufacturing processes (whether the Company’s or the Company’s third- party manufacturer’s)); strategic partnerships or transactions (including in-licensing and out-licensing of intellectual property; establishing relationships with entities with respect to the marketing, distribution and sale of the Company’s products (including with group purchasing organizations, distributors and other vendors); supply chain achievements (including establishing relationships with manufacturers or suppliers of component materials and manufacturers of the Company’s products); co-development, co-marketing, profit sharing, joint venture or other similar arrangements; financial ratios, including those measuring liquidity, activity, profitability or leverage; cost of capital or assets under management; financing and other capital raising transactions (including sales of the Company’s equity or debt securities; factoring transactions; sales or licenses of the Company’s assets, including its intellectual property, whether in a particular jurisdiction or territory or globally; or through partnering transactions); implementation, completion or attainment of measurable objectives with respect to research, development, manufacturing, commercialization, contracts, products or projects, production volume levels, acquisitions and divestitures; factoring transactions; or recruiting and maintaining personnel.

Transferability

The Compensation Committee has the discretion to permit a recipient of a non-qualified stock option to transfer his or her award pursuant to a permitted transfer (as defined in the Amended 2006 Plan). Without such permission, an award may not be transferred, sold, pledged, assigned, hypothecated or disposed of in any manner other than by will or by the laws of descent and distribution. No award may be made subject to execution, attachment or other similar process.

Amendments

Except as otherwise provided in the Amended 2006 Plan, the Board may at any time terminate or amend the plan in any respect, including, without limitation, amendment of any form of award agreement or instrument to be executed pursuant to the plan; provided , however , that the Board will not, without the approval of the shareholders of the Company, amend the Amended 2006 Plan in any manner that requires such shareholder approval; provided further, that a participant’s award shall be governed by the version of this plan then in effect at the time such award was granted, except as otherwise agreed to by the participant and the Company.

Adjustments

In the event that the number or type of outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock is changed by a stock dividend, recapitalization, stock split, reverse stock split, subdivision, combination, reclassification or similar change in the capital structure of the Company without consideration, or in the event of any extraordinary dividend, divestiture or other distribution (other than ordinary cash dividends) of assets to shareholders or any transaction similar to the foregoing, the Committee shall make such equitable substitutions or adjustments as it determines in its sole discretion to be necessary or appropriate, in respect of the number and class of shares reserved for issuance under this Amended 2006 Plan, the exercise prices of outstanding options and stock appreciation rights, the number of shares subject to outstanding awards, and the maximum number of shares that may be granted pursuant to the Amended 2006 Plan. However, fractions of a share will not be issued and no such substitution or adjustment will be made in a manner that would adversely affect the tax treatment in respect of an award and/or the Amended 2006 Plan for either the Company or a participant under Section 162(m), Section 409A or Section 422 of the Code or otherwise violate any applicable law.

Corporate Transactions

In the event of a corporate transaction, such as a dissolution or liquidation, merger or sale of substantially all of Verisign’s assets, any or all outstanding awards may be assumed, converted or replaced by a successor corporation, which assumption, conversion or replacement will be binding on all award recipients. In the alternative, a successor corporation may substitute equivalent awards or provide substantially similar consideration to award recipients as was provided to Verisign’s stockholders (after taking into account the existing provisions of outstanding awards). The successor corporation may also issue, in place of outstanding shares of Verisign held by award recipients, substantially similar shares or other property subject to repurchase restrictions no less favorable to such award recipient. In the event such successor corporation, if any, refuses to assume or replace the awards outstanding under the Amended 2006 Plan pursuant to a corporate transaction or if there is no successor corporation due to a dissolution or liquidation of the company, outstanding awards will expire on such transaction at such time and on such conditions as the Compensation Committee will determine, provided, however, that the Compensation Committee may, in its sole discretion, provide that the vesting of any or all awards will instead accelerate in the event of such corporate transaction, in which case such awards will become vested and

exercisable in full prior to the consummation of such event at such time and on such conditions as the Compensation Committee determines, and if such awards are not exercised prior to the consummation of the corporate transaction, they will terminate at such time as determined by the Compensation Committee.

In the event of a corporate transaction described above, the vesting of all awards granted to outside directors under the Amended 2006 Plan will become fully vested and exercisable and must be exercised, if at all, within six months following such transaction.

Federal Income Tax Consequences

The following summary constitutes a brief overview of the principal U.S. federal income tax consequences relating to awards that may be granted under the Amended 2006 Plan based upon current tax laws. This summary is not intended to be exhaustive and does not describe state, local or foreign tax consequences.

Non-Qualified Stock Options

Non-qualified stock options do not qualify for any special tax benefits to the optionee. An optionee will not recognize any taxable income at the time he or she is granted a non-qualified option. Upon exercise of the stock option, the optionee will generally recognize compensation income for federal tax purposes measured by the excess, if any, of the then fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise over the exercise price. Verisign is generally entitled to a tax deduction in an amount equal to the ordinary income recognized by the participant in connection with such exercise. The employee’s basis in the option stock will be increased by the amount of the compensation income recognized. Upon the sale of the shares issued upon exercise of a non-qualified stock option, any further gain or loss recognized will be treated as capital gain or loss and will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for less than one year.

Incentive Stock Options

The Code provides optionees with favorable federal income tax treatment of stock options that qualify as incentive stock options. If a stock option is treated as an incentive stock option, the optionee will recognize no income upon grant of the stock option and will recognize no income upon exercise of the stock option unless the alternative minimum tax rules apply. Verisign would not be allowed a deduction for federal tax purposes in connection with the exercise of an incentive stock option.

Upon the sale of the shares issued upon exercise of an incentive stock option occurring at least two years after the grant of the stock option and one year after exercise of the stock option, referred to as the “statutory holding periods,” any gain will be taxable to the optionee as long-term capital gain. If the statutory holding periods are not satisfied (i.e., the optionee makes a “disqualifying disposition”), the optionee will recognize compensation income equal to the excess, if any, of the lower of (1) the fair market value of the stock at the date of the stock option exercise, or (2) the sale price of the stock, over the option price. Verisign is generally entitled to a tax deduction in an amount equal to the ordinary income recognized by the participant in connection with such sale or disposition. The employee’s basis of the stock issued upon exercise of the option, referred to as the “option stock,” will be increased by the amount of the compensation income recognized. Any further gain or loss recognized on a disqualifying disposition of the shares will be characterized as capital gain or loss. Different rules may apply if shares are purchased by an optionee who is subject to Section 16(b) of the Exchange Act, and the optionee subsequently disposes of such shares prior to the expiration of the statutory holding periods.

Stock Appreciation Rights

A grant of a stock appreciation right has no federal income tax consequences at the time of grant. Upon the exercise of stock appreciation rights, the value of the shares or other consideration received is generally taxable to the recipient as ordinary income, and Verisign generally will be entitled to a corresponding tax deduction.

Restricted Stock

A participant receiving restricted stock may be taxed in one of two ways: the participant (i) pays tax when the restrictions lapse (i.e., they become vested) or (ii) makes a special election to pay tax in the year the grant is made. At either time the value of the award for tax purposes is the excess of the fair market value of the shares at that time over the amount (if any) paid for the shares. This value is taxed as ordinary income and is subject to income tax withholding. Verisign receives a tax deduction at the same time as, and for the same amount taxable to, the participant. If a participant elects to be taxed at grant, then, when the restrictions lapse, there will be no further tax consequences attributable to the awarded stock until the recipient sells or otherwise disposes of the stock.

Restricted Stock Units or Performance Shares

In general, no taxable income is realized upon the grant of a restricted stock unit award or an award of performance shares. The participant will generally include in ordinary income the fair market value of the award of stock at the time shares of stock are

delivered to the participant or at the time the restricted stock unit or performance shares vest. Verisign generally will be entitled to a tax deduction at the time and in the amount that the participant recognizes ordinary income.

Stock Bonus Awards

The participant will not realize income when a stock bonus award is granted, but will realize ordinary income when shares are transferred to him or her. The amount of such income will be equal to the fair market value of such transferred shares on the date of transfer. Verisign will be entitled to a deduction for federal income tax purposes at the same time and in the same amount as the participant is considered to have realized ordinary income as a result of the transfer of shares.

New Plan Benefits

As awards are made under the Amended 2006 Plan in the discretion of the Compensation Committee, future equity awards are not determinable at this time.

The Board Recommends a Vote “FOR” Approval of the Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc. 2006 Equity Incentive Plan.

PROPOSAL NO. 4

TO APPROVE AN AMENDMENT TO VERISIGN’S CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION TO PROVIDE THE BOARD AUTHORITY TO AMEND THE BYLAWS

The Board has determined that it is in the best interests of Verisign and its stockholders to seek stockholder approval of an amendment to Verisign’s Fifth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Certificate”) to explicitly grant the Board authority to amend Verisign’s bylaws.

Background

Based on a review of the Company’s corporate governance documents, including from its initial public offering (“IPO”) in January 1998, the Company determined that the bylaws attached as Appendix B are the bylaws currently in effect for the Company instead of the Seventh Amended and Restated Bylaws last filed by the Company on May 22, 2014 (the “2014 Bylaws”). The bylaws are comprised of the Company bylaws that were in effect prior to the IPO together with two amendments approved by the Company’s stockholders after the IPO. This is because the Company has determined that (1) the bylaws that were to take effect upon the IPO were subject to approval by the Company’s stockholders, which was not sought or obtained, and (2) the ability of the Board to adopt, amend or repeal the bylaws ceased upon the IPO, although that does not appear to have been the intent. Under Delaware law, a board’s authority to amend the bylaws must be set forth in the certificate of incorporation to be effective. Prior to the IPO, the Company’s certificate of incorporation stated that the Board had the authority to adopt, amend or repeal the bylaws. However, that authority was moved from the certificate of incorporation that became effective upon the IPO to the bylaws that were intended to become effective upon the IPO. Apart from the Board-adopted bylaw provisions, the Company does not believe that these events otherwise impacted the validity of any corporate actions taken since the IPO in any material manner.

Description of the Proposed Amendment

The proposed amendment to the Certificate would provide, consistent with most public companies, the Board authority to amend the bylaws, which would be accomplished by amending Article Five of the Certificate to state that the Board is expressly empowered to adopt, amend or repeal bylaws of Verisign (the “Proposed Amendment”). The Proposed Amendment would not divest or limit the power of the stockholders’ existing right to adopt, amend or repeal Verisign’s bylaws. Moreover, the Proposed Amendment would prohibit the Board from altering, amending or repealing any bylaw adopted by the stockholders that by its terms may be altered, amended or repealed only by the stockholders. The Board has approved, adopted and declared advisable the Proposed Amendment. This description of the Proposed Amendment is qualified in its entirety by the text of the amendment to Article Five of the Certificate, as marked to show changes to the current Article Five, which is included as Appendix C to this Proxy Statement. Upon approval of the Proposed Amendment, the Board intends to amend the bylaws to include certain provisions, as described below under “Providing the Board authority to amend the bylaws will enable the Board to update the bylaws.”

Reasons for the Proposed Amendment

For the reasons set forth below, the Board believes that the Proposed Amendment to Article Five of the Certificate is in the best interests of Verisign and its stockholders.

Providing the Board authority to amend the bylaws is consistent with the intent at the time of Verisign’s IPO and is in line with current practices at other publicly traded companies, which do not require stockholders to approve all bylaw amendments.

In advance of the IPO, Verisign filed with the SEC and thus publicly disclosed the governing documents that were intended to become effective upon the IPO. This included a form of bylaws that stated that the Board would continue to have the authority to amend Verisign’s bylaws. Thus, the Proposed Amendment is consistent with the intended scope of the Board’s authority regarding bylaws as understood by the Board and disclosed to the Company’s stockholders at the time of the IPO.

Moreover, in general the authority of a board of directors to amend a company’s bylaws is standard among public companies. This authority allows a board to efficiently implement and adopt corporate policies and procedures as changing circumstances may necessitate, and to respond quickly to corporate governance or other matters affecting a company’s business, without incurring the expense and delay of soliciting proxies from the stockholders and holding a meeting of stockholders. According to data from FactSet’s SharkRepellent, a corporate governance database, the board has authority to amend the bylaws without stockholder approval at over 97% of companies in each of the S&P 500, S&P 1500 and Russell 3000 indices. In addition, each of Verisign’s peer group companies identified in the CD&A beginning on page 21 permit their boards to amend their bylaws.

Providing the Board authority to amend the bylaws will enable the Board to update the bylaws.

Adoption of the Proposed Amendment would allow the Board to update the bylaws by amending them to incorporate certain provisions reflected in the 2014 Bylaws. As described above, the bylaws attached as Appendix B reflect the bylaws in effect before the IPO plus two stockholder-approved bylaws amendments adopted after the IPO. The bylaws do not include a number of provisions set

forth in the 2014 Bylaws and which are standard among large public companies, including majority voting in uncontested director elections and advance notice provisions governing the nomination of directors and submission of other matters for consideration at stockholder meetings. If the Proposed Amendment is not approved, implementing these provisions by stockholder approval in the future would require time, expense and uncertainty. If the Proposed Amendment is approved, however, the Board intends to amend the bylaws to include the following provisions that were addressed in the 2014 Bylaws (as well as a proxy access right, as described below):


•	Majority voting in uncontested director elections with plurality voting retained for contested elections.

•

An advance notice provision regarding nominating persons for election to the Board and proposing other business to be considered at annual and special stockholder meetings. For annual meetings, this provision would require a stockholder to provide notice and certain information about the stockholder and the nominee or item of business generally not later than the close of business on the 90th day nor earlier than the close of business on the 120th day prior to the first anniversary of the date of the corporation’s proxy statement released to stockholders in connection with the previous year’s annual meeting of stockholders.


•	Clarify that the Board may delegate authority to officers, employees and agents outside the bylaws.


•	Clarify the Board’s ability to use the methods in Delaware General Corporation Law Section 141(f) when the Board is taking action by unanimous consent in lieu of a meeting, which includes the use of electronic transmission.


•	Clarify the methods for giving notice for meetings of stockholders and Board meetings.


•	Remove inoperative language about stockholder action by written consent without a meeting of stockholders. Verisign’s Certificate requires stockholders to act only by voting at a stockholder meeting.


•	Other miscellaneous wording changes throughout the document to make corrections, to clarify language and, to conform the language in the bylaws to that of the Certificate (including as amended by this Proposal) or the Delaware General Corporation Law.

The Board does not intend to amend the bylaws to include a provision in the 2014 Bylaws that would increase the vote required for stockholders to amend the bylaws to the affirmative vote of a majority of outstanding shares.

Providing the Board authority to amend the bylaws will provide the Board necessary flexibility to respond on a cost-efficient basis to evolving circumstances, including proxy access.

Without adoption of the Proposed Amendment, stockholders would need to approve all future amendments to the bylaws, which would be burdensome and unnecessary, and is an inefficient use of company resources. For example, bylaws typically contain provisions pertaining to the internal operations of a company and its board, such as provisions on the conduct of board meetings and the appointment of officers. Seeking stockholder approval of every change to these types of provisions would be cumbersome and would involve stockholders in day-to-day aspects of a company’s governance practices.

Moreover, without adoption of the Proposed Amendment, the Board’s ability to respond quickly and efficiently to evolving circumstances such as governance norms would be hampered. In recent years, boards at many companies have been able to amend their companies’ bylaws in response to evolving governance norms such as majority voting in director elections and, more recently, proxy access. Rather than asking stockholders to approve these amendments, boards have been able to adopt them in a more efficient, cost-effective manner, without going through the process of soliciting and obtaining stockholder approval.

If the Proposed Amendment is adopted, in addition to the Bylaw amendments discussed above, the Board intends to further amend the bylaws to adopt a meaningful proxy access right for stockholders. Specifically, the bylaws would state that a stockholder, or a group of no more than 20 stockholders, that has continuously owned at least 3% of Verisign’s outstanding stock entitled to vote in the election of directors for at least three years, may nominate and include in Verisign’s proxy materials up to the greater of two directors or 20% of the number of Verisign’s directors then in office, provided that the stockholder(s) and the nominee(s) satisfy the requirements specified in the bylaws. Additional details regarding the proxy access right that the Board will include in the bylaws are described under Proposal No. 6. However, the Board will not be able to adopt proxy access in advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders if the Proposed Amendment is not adopted.

The Proposed Amendment would not divest stockholders of their right to amend Verisign’s bylaws and would restrict the Board’s authority to amend the bylaws.

The Proposed Amendment would not divest or limit the power of the stockholders to adopt, amend or repeal Verisign’s bylaws. Moreover, the Proposed Amendment would restrict the Board’s bylaw amendment authority by prohibiting the Board from altering, amending or repealing any bylaw adopted by the stockholders that by its terms may be altered, amended or repealed only by

the stockholders. In addition, if stockholders approve the Proposed Amendment, Verisign must disclose any bylaw amendments that the Board adopts within four business days in a filing with the SEC. Accordingly, stockholders will be informed promptly about any amendments to the bylaws.

Verisign’s corporate governance policies demonstrate that the Board is committed to implementing and maintaining effective corporate governance policies and practices that promote high standards of ethics, integrity and accountability to Verisign’s stockholders.

These policies and practices include:


•	Annual Director Elections - All directors stand for election to the Board each year.


•	An Independent Board - The Board consists entirely of independent directors, except Mr. Bidzos, our Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.


•	A Lead Independent Director - The Board has a Lead Independent Director to provide independent leadership for the Board.


•	No Supermajority Voting - Verisign’s corporate documents do not include any supermajority voting provisions.


•	A Special Meeting Right - Stockholders owning 35% of Verisign’s outstanding common stock can request a special meeting if they have held a net long position in the stock continuously for at least one year.

Conclusion

If the Proposed Amendment is approved, it will become legally effective upon the filing of a certificate of amendment to Verisign’s Certificate with the Delaware Secretary of State. Verisign intends to make that filing promptly after the 2016 Annual Meeting. Thereafter, as discussed above, the Board intends to adopt amendments to the bylaws, including adopting a proxy access right for stockholders.

If the Proposed Amendment is not approved, as discussed above, Verisign will continue to operate under the bylaws and stockholders will need to approve any future amendments. As noted above, the bylaws do not include a number of provisions that are standard among large public companies, including majority voting in uncontested director elections and advance notice provisions governing the nomination of directors and submission of other matters for consideration at stockholder meetings.

Vote Required

Approval of the Proposed Amendment requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the voting power of the outstanding capital stock of Verisign outstanding and entitled to vote thereon. Abstentions and broker non-votes will have the same effect as votes “against” the approval of the Proposed Amendment.

The Board Recommends a Vote “FOR” the Approval of the Amendment to Verisign’s Certificate of Incorporation to Provide the Board Authority to Amend the Bylaws.

PROPOSAL NO. 5

RATIFICATION OF SELECTION OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

The Audit Committee of the Board has selected KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm to perform the audit of our consolidated financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2016, and, as a matter of good corporate governance, our stockholders are being asked to ratify this selection. Representatives of KPMG LLP, expected to be present at the Meeting, will have the opportunity to make a statement at the Meeting if they desire to do so and are expected to be available to respond to appropriate questions.

The Board Recommends a Vote “FOR” the Ratification of the Selection of KPMG LLP as our

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES

The following table presents fees billed for professional services rendered by KPMG LLP for the audit of our annual consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, and fees billed for other services provided by KPMG LLP, in each of the last two completed fiscal years.



	2015 Fees		2014 Fees
Audit Fees (including quarterly reviews):
Consolidated Integrated Audit	$	1,349,000	$	1,355,000
Statutory Audits	203,128		215,665
Comfort Letters and Consent on SEC filing	234,720		—
Total Audit Fees	1,786,848		1,570,665
Audit-Related Fees(1)	255,000		437,697
Tax Fees(2)	85,000		—
All Other Fees	—		—
Total Fees	2,126,848		2,008,362

(1) Audit-Related Fees consist principally of reporting on Service Organization Controls (SOC 2 and 3 reports).

(2) Tax Fees consist principally of technical tax advice.

Policy on Audit Committee Pre-Approval of Audit and Permissible Non-Audit Services of Independent Auditors

Per the Audit Committee’s Charter, the Audit Committee, or a designated member of the Audit Committee, pre-approved all audit and permissible non-audit services provided by the independent registered public accounting firm. These services included audit services, audit-related services, tax services and other services. Any pre-approval is detailed as to the particular service or category of services and is generally subject to a specific budget. The independent registered public accounting firm and management are required to periodically report to the Audit Committee regarding the extent of services provided by the independent registered public accounting firm in accordance with this pre-approval, and the fees for the services performed to date.

PROPOSAL NO. 6

STOCKHOLDER PROPOSAL REQUESTING THAT THE BOARD TAKE STEPS TO AMEND THE BYLAWS TO ADOPT STOCKHOLDER PROXY ACCESS

John Chevedden has submitted a stockholder proposal for consideration at the Annual Meeting. Mr. Chevedden’s address is 2215 Nelson Avenue, No. 205, Redondo Beach, CA 90278. We have been notified that Mr. Chevedden has continuously owned no fewer than 50 shares of our common stock since November 1, 2014. If properly presented at the Annual Meeting, the Board unanimously recommends a vote “AGAINST” the following proposal. The affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the stock present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting will be required to approve the stockholder proposal. Mr. Chevedden has requested that the proposal set forth below in italics be presented for a vote at the Meeting:

Proposal 6 - Shareholder Proxy Access

RESOLVED; Shareholders ask our board of directors to adopt, and present for shareholder approval, a “proxy access” bylaw as follows:

Require the Company to include in proxy materials prepared for a shareholder meeting at which directors are to be elected the name, Disclosure and Statement (as defined herein) of any person nominated for election to the board by a shareholder or an unrestricted number of shareholders forming a group (the “Nominator”) that meets the criteria established below.

Allow shareholders to vote on such nominee on the Company’s proxy card.

The number of shareholder-nominated candidates appearing in proxy materials should not exceed one quarter of the directors then serving or two, whichever is greater. This bylaw should supplement existing rights under Company bylaws, providing that a Nominator must:

a) have beneficially owned 3% or more of the Company’s outstanding common stock, including recallable loaned stock, continuously for at least three years before submitting the nomination;

b) give the Company, within the time period identified in its bylaws, written notice of the information required by the bylaws and any Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules about (i) the nominee, including consent to being named in proxy materials and to serving as director if elected; and (ii) the Nominator, including proof it owns the required shares (the “Disclosure”); and

c) certify that (i) it will assume liability stemming from any legal or regulatory violation arising out of the Nominator’s communications with the Company shareholders, including the Disclosure and Statement; (ii) it will comply with all applicable laws and regulations if it uses soliciting material other than the Company’s proxy materials; and (iii) to the best of its knowledge, the required shares were acquired in the ordinary course of business, not to change or influence control at the Company.

The Nominator may submit with the Disclosure a statement not exceeding 500 words in support of the nominee (the “Statement”). The Board should adopt procedures for promptly resolving disputes over whether notice of a nomination was timely, whether the Disclosure and Statement satisfy the bylaw and applicable federal regulations, and the priority given to multiple nominations exceeding the one-quarter limit. No additional restrictions that do not apply to other board nominees should be placed on these nominations or re-nominations.

Proxy access would “benefit both the markets and corporate boardrooms, with little cost or disruption,” raising US market capitalization by up to $140 billion according to a cost-benefit analysis by the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, Proxy Access in the United States: Revisiting the Proposed SEC Rule.

Please vote to enhance shareholder value:

Shareholder Proxy Access - Proposal 6

The Board recommends a vote “against” this proposal for the following reasons:

The Board is committed to sound corporate governance policies and practices, which allow stockholders to voice their opinions as well as drive stable, long-term value for stockholders. The Board has carefully reviewed this proposal and for the following reasons believes that this proposal is not necessary and recommends voting “AGAINST” this proposal.

As discussed above, the Board intends to take all necessary action so that the Company adopts a meaningful proxy access right in the near future. Specifically, the bylaws would state that a stockholder, or a group of no more than 20 stockholders, that has continuously owned at least 3% of the Company’s outstanding stock entitled to vote in the election of directors for at least three years, may nominate and include in the Company’s proxy materials up to the greater of two directors or 20% of the number of directors then in office, provided that the stockholder(s) and the nominee(s) satisfy the requirements specified in the bylaws (the “Proxy Access Bylaw”). The Board currently has eight members thus stockholders would be able to include two director nominees in the Company’s proxy materials if nominated using the Proxy Access Bylaw.

The Proxy Access Bylaw to be adopted by the Board would include the following features:


•	Allowing stockholders to count loaned shares toward the 3% ownership threshold as long as the stockholder has the power to recall the loaned shares within five business days;


•	Allowing certain groups of funds to count as a single stockholder;


•	Nominees must be independent under applicable listing standards, Securities and Exchange Commission rules, and standards used by the Board;


•	No requirement for stockholders to hold the Company’s stock beyond the date of the annual meeting;


•	No requirement for stockholders to state their intentions regarding whether they will continue to hold the Company’s stock;


•	No minimum vote requirement for nominees to be resubmitted by a stockholder for election at the following year’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders; and


•	Stockholders are not prohibited from submitting nominees for election at the following year’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders if their nominee(s) are elected to the Board.

The Board believes that this Proxy Access Bylaw, along with the Company’s other corporate governance features, would provide stockholders with robust and effective avenues to communicate with the Board and keep it accountable.

The Board also believes that this stockholder proposal, which requests that an unlimited number of stockholders be able to aggregate their shares to satisfy the 3% ownership threshold, does not appropriately balance the potential disruption and administrative difficulty that could be created by the complexities of nominations from a large number of stockholders (each potentially holding small numbers of shares) and the costs that would be associated with managing such an unwieldy process. Considering that the Company’s 20 largest stockholders collectively own more than 80% of the Company’s common stock, the Board believes that limiting the size of the nominating group to no more than 20 stockholders provides stockholders with an appropriate opportunity to include nominees in the proxy statement.

The Company’s corporate governance policies and practices have delivered strong returns for our stockholders. Since the completion of the Board-led divestiture strategy in the third quarter of 2010, the Company’s financial and operating performance has shown a consistent and improving track record. As noted in our financial results, revenue has grown sequentially for 21 straight quarters; annual operating income has grown sequentially for five straight years; annual cash flow from operating activities has grown sequentially for five straight years; and the Company has returned over $4.35 billion to stockholders in the form of share repurchases and special dividends (excluding payments to convert holders triggered by the special dividends). The Board believes that adopting the Proxy Access Bylaw, which is tailored to the Company’s facts and circumstances, will generate the most value for stockholders while delivering a robust and stockholder-friendly corporate governance structure and avoiding the unnecessary costs and distraction of the generic proxy access proposal.

The Board recommends a vote “AGAINST” this proposal for the reasons discussed above. Proxies solicited by the Board will be voted “AGAINST” this proposal unless a stockholder indicates otherwise in voting the proxy.

OTHER INFORMATION

Stockholder Proposals for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders

Proposals of stockholders intended to be presented at our 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and included in our proxy statement and form of proxy relating to the meeting, pursuant to Rule 14a-8 under the Exchange Act must be received by us at our principal executive offices no later than 120 calendar days before the one year anniversary of the date this Proxy Statement was first made available to stockholders, or December , 2016.

For any proposal that is not submitted for inclusion in next year’s proxy statement, but is instead sought to be presented directly at the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, SEC rules permit management to vote proxies in its discretion if we: (1) receive notice of the proposal before the close of business on March , 2017 and advise stockholders in the 2017 Proxy Statement about the nature of the matter and how management intends to vote on such matter; or (2) do not receive notice of the proposal prior to the close of business on March , 2017. All notices of proposals by stockholders, whether or not included in our proxy materials, should be sent to the Secretary of Verisign at 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190.

Other Business

The Board does not presently intend to bring any other business before the Meeting, and, so far as is known to the Board, no matters are to be brought before the Meeting except as specified in the Notice of the Meeting. As to any business that may properly come before the Meeting, however, it is intended that proxies will be voted in respect thereof in accordance with the judgment of the persons voting such proxies.

Whether or not you expect to attend the Meeting, please complete the proxy electronically as described on the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials and under “Internet and Telephone Voting” in this Proxy Statement, or alternatively, if you have requested paper copies of the proxy soliciting materials, please complete, date, sign and promptly return the proxy in the enclosed postage paid envelope or cast your vote by phone so that your shares may be represented at the Meeting.

Communicating With Verisign

We have from time-to-time received calls from stockholders inquiring about the available means of communication with Verisign. We thought that it would be helpful to describe those arrangements that are available for your use.


•	If you would like to receive information about Verisign, you may use one of these convenient methods:


1.	To have information such as our latest Annual Report on Form 10-K or Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q mailed to you, please email our Investor Relations Department at ir@verisign.com, and specify your mailing address, or call our Investor Relations Department at 1-800-922-4917 (U.S.) or 1-703-948-3447 (international).


2.	To view our website on the Internet, use our Internet address: www.verisigninc.com. Our home page gives you access to product, marketing and financial data, and an on-line version of this Proxy Statement, our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC. The information available on, or accessible through, this website is not incorporated herein by reference.


•	If you would like to write to us, please send your correspondence to the following address:


	VeriSign, Inc.


	Attention: Investor Relations


	12061 Bluemont Way


	Reston, Virginia 20190


	or via email at ir@verisign.com.


•	If you would like to inquire about stock transfer requirements, lost certificates and change of stockholder address, please call our transfer agent, Computershare Inc. at 1-877-255-1918. Foreign stockholders please call 1-201-680-6578. You may also visit their website at http://www.computershare.com/investor for step-by-step transfer instructions.

WE WILL PROVIDE, WITHOUT CHARGE, ON THE WRITTEN REQUEST OF ANY STOCKHOLDER, A COPY OF OUR 2015ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K, INCLUDING THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES REQUIRED TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-1. STOCKHOLDERS SHOULD DIRECT SUCH REQUESTS TO THE INVESTOR RELATIONS AT 12061 BLUEMONT WAY, RESTON, VIRGINIA, OR BY EMAIL AT IR@VERISIGN.COM.

APPENDIX A

Amended and Restated VeriSign, Inc.

2006 Equity Incentive Plan

(amended and restated May 26, 2011___________, 2016)

1. PURPOSE. The purpose of this Plan is to provide incentives to attract, retain and motivate eligible persons whose present and potential contributions are important to the success of the Company, its Parent and Subsidiaries, by offering them an opportunity to participate in the Company’s future performance through the grant of Awards. Capitalized terms not defined in the text are defined in Section 27.

2. SHARES SUBJECT TO THE PLAN.

2.1 Number of Shares Available. Subject to Sections 2.2 and 21.2, the total number of Shares reserved and available for grant and issuance pursuant to this Plan as of May 26, 2006, is 27,000,000 Shares. Subject to Sections 2.2 and 21.2 hereof, Shares subject to Awards, and Shares issued upon exercise of Awards, will again be available for grant and issuance in connection with subsequent Awards under this Plan to the extent such Shares: (i) are subject to issuance upon exercise of an Option or SAR granted under this Plan but which cease to be subject to the Option or SAR for any reason other than exercise of the Option or SAR; (ii) are subject to Awards granted under this Plan that are forfeited or are repurchased by the Company at the original issue price; or (iii) are subject to Awards granted under this Plan that otherwise terminate without such Shares being issued. SARs to be settled in shares of the Company’s Common Stock shall be counted in full against the number of Shares available for award under this Plan, regardless of the number of Shares issued upon settlement of the SAR. At all times the Company shall reserve and keep available a sufficient number of Shares as shall be required to satisfy the requirements of all outstanding Options granted under this Plan and all other outstanding but unvested Options granted under this Plan.

2.2 Adjustments. In the event that the number or type of outstanding shares of the Company’s Common Stock is changed by a stock dividend, recapitalization, stock split, reverse stock split, subdivision, combination, reclassification or similar change in the capital structure of the Company without consideration, or in the event of any extraordinary dividend, divestiture or other distribution (other than ordinary cash dividends) of assets to shareholders or any transaction similar to the foregoing, the Committee shall make such equitable substitutions or adjustments as it determines in its sole discretion to be necessary or appropriate, in respect of (a) the number and class of Shares reserved for issuance under this Plan, (b) the Exercise Prices of outstanding Options and SARs, (c) the number of Shares subject to outstanding Awards, and (d) the maximum number of Shares that may be granted pursuant to Section 3; provided, however, that (i) fractions of a Share will not be issued and (ii) any such substitution or adjustment shall be made in a manner that does not adversely affect the tax treatment in respect of the Award and/or the Plan for either the Company or the Participant under Section 162(m), Section 409A or Section 422 of the Code or otherwise violate any applicable law.

3. ELIGIBILITY. ISOs (as defined in Section 5 below) may be granted only to employees (including officers and directors who are also employees) of the Company or of a Parent or Subsidiary of the Company. All other Awards may be granted to employees, officers, directors, consultants, independent contractors and advisors of the Company or any Parent or Subsidiary of the Company; provided such consultants, independent contractors and advisors render bona fide services not in connection with the offer and sale of securities in a capital-raising transaction. No person will be eligible to receive more than one million five hundred thousand (1,500,000) Shares in any calendar year under this Plan pursuant to the grant of Awards hereunder, other than new employees of the Company or of a Parent or Subsidiary of the Company (including new employees who are also officers and directors of the Company or any Parent or Subsidiary of the Company), who are eligible to receive up to a maximum of three million (3,000,000) Shares in the calendar year in which they commence their employment. A person may be granted more than one Award under this Plan. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the aggregate dollar value of equity-based (based on the grant date fair value of equity-based Awards) and cash compensation granted under this Plan or otherwise during any calendar year to any Outside Director shall not exceed $600,000; provided, however, that in the calendar year in which an Outside Director first joins the Board of Directors or is first designated as Chairman of the Board of Directors or Lead Director, the maximum aggregate dollar value of equity-based and cash compensation granted to the Participant may be up to two hundred percent (200%) of the foregoing limit.

4. ADMINISTRATION.

4.1 Committee Authority. This Plan will be administered by the Committee or by the Board acting as the Committee. Subject to the general purposes, terms and conditions of this Plan, and to the direction of the Board, the Committee will have full power to implement and carry out this Plan. The Committee will have the authority to:

(a) construe and interpret this Plan, any Award Agreement and any other agreement or document executed pursuant to this Plan;

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(b) prescribe, amend and rescind rules and regulations relating to this Plan or any Award;

(d) determine the form and terms of Awards;

(e) determine the number of Shares or other consideration subject to Awards;

(f) determine whether Awards will be granted singly, in combination with, in tandem with, in replacement of, or as alternatives to, other Awards under this Plan or any other incentive or compensation plan of the Company or any Parent or Subsidiary of the Company;

(g) grant waivers of Plan or Award conditions;

(h) determine the vesting, exercisability and payment of Awards;

(i) correct any defect, supply any omission or reconcile any inconsistency in this Plan, any Award or any Award Agreement;

(j) determine whether an award has been earned; and

(k) make all other determinations necessary or advisable for the administration of this Plan.

4.2 Committee Discretion. Any determination made by the Committee with respect to any Award will be made in its sole discretion at the time of grant of the Award or, unless in contravention of any express term of this Plan or the Award, at any later time, and such determination will be final and binding on the Company and on all persons having an interest in any Award under this Plan. The Committee may delegate to one (1) or more officers or directors of the Company the authority to grant an Award under this Plan to Participants who are not Insiders of the Company. Notwithstanding any provision of the Plan to the contrary, administration of the Plan shall at all times be limited by the requirement that any administrative action or exercise of discretion shall be void (or suitably modified when possible) if necessary to avoid the application to any Participant of taxation under Section 409A of the Code.

5. OPTIONS. The Committee may grant Options to eligible persons and will determine whether such Options will be Incentive Stock Options within the meaning of the Code (“ISOs”) or Nonqualified Stock Options (“NQSOs”), the number of Shares subject to the Option, the Exercise Price of the Option, the period during which the Option may be exercised, and all other terms and conditions of the Option, subject to the following:

5.1 Form of Option Grant. Each Option granted under this Plan will be evidenced by an Option Agreement or other evidence of grant which will expressly identify the Option as an ISO or an NQSO (“Stock Option Agreement”), and will be in such form and contain such provisions (which need not be the same for each Participant) as the Committee may from time to time approve, and which will comply with and be subject to the terms and conditions of this Plan.

5.2 Date of Grant. The date of grant of an Option will be the date on which the Committee makes the determination to grant such Option, unless otherwise specified by the Committee. The Stock Option Agreement and a copy of this Plan will be delivered or otherwise made available to the Participant within a reasonable time after the granting of the Option. The Stock Option Agreement, Plan and other documents may be delivered in any manner (including electronic distribution or posting) that meets applicable legal requirements.

5.3 Exercise Period. Options may be exercisable within the times or upon the conditions or events determined by the Committee as set forth in the Stock Option Agreement governing such Option (including, without limitation, upon the attainment during a Performance Period of performance goals based on Performance Measures); provided, however, that no Option will be exercisable after the expiration of ten (10) years from the date the Option is granted. The Committee also may provide for Options to become exercisable at one time or from time to time, periodically or otherwise, in such number of Shares or percentage of Shares as the Committee determines.

5.4 Exercise Price. The Exercise Price of an Option will be determined by the Committee when the Option is granted; provided that: (i) the Exercise Price of an ISO will be not less than 100% of the Fair Market Value of the Shares on the date of grant; (ii) the Exercise Price of any ISO granted to a Ten Percent Shareholder will not be less than 110% of the Fair Market Value of the Shares on the date of grant; and (iii) the Exercise Price of an NQSO will not be less than 100% of the Fair Market Value of the Shares on the date of grant. Payment for the Shares purchased may be made in accordance with Section 12.

5.5 Method of Exercise. Options may be exercised only by delivery to the Company of a stock option exercise notice or agreement (the “Exercise Agreement”) in a form approved by the Committee (which need not be the same for each Participant), stating the number of Shares being purchased, the restrictions imposed on the Shares purchased under such Exercise Agreement, if any, and such representations and agreements regarding the Participant’s investment intent and access to information and other matters, if any, as may be required by or desirable to the Company to comply with applicable securities laws, together with payment in

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full of the Exercise Price for the number of Shares being purchased. The Exercise Agreement may be delivered in any manner (including electronic distribution or posting) that meets applicable legal requirements.

5.6 Termination. Notwithstanding the exercise periods set forth in the Stock Option Agreement, the exercise of an Option will always be subject to the following:

(a) If the Participant is Terminated for any reason except the Participant’s death or Disability, then the Participant may exercise such Participant’s Options only to the extent that such Options would have been exercisable by the Participant on the Termination Date no later than three (3) months after the Termination Date (or such shorter time period not less than thirty (30) days or longer time period not exceeding five (5) years as may be determined by the Committee, with any exercise beyond three (3) months after the Termination Date deemed to be an NQSO), but in any event no later than the expiration date of the Options.

(b) If the Participant is Terminated because of Participant’s death (or the Participant dies within three (3) months after a Termination other than for Cause or because of the Participant’s Disability), then the Participant’s Options may be exercised only to the extent that such Options would have been exercisable by the Participant on the Termination Date and must be exercised by the Participant’s legal representative or authorized assignee no later than twelve (12) months after the Termination Date (or such shorter time period not less than six (6) months or longer time period not exceeding five (5) years as may be determined by the Committee, with any exercise beyond (a) three (3) months after the Termination Date when the Termination is for any reason other than the Participant’s death, or (b) twelve (12) months after the Termination Date when the Termination is for the Participant’s death, deemed to be an NQSO), but in any event no later than the expiration date of the Options.

(c) If the Participant is Terminated because of Participant’s Disability, then the Participant’s Options may be exercised only to the extent that such Options would have been exercisable by the Participant on the Termination Date and must be exercised by the Participant (or the Participant’s legal representative or authorized assignee) no later than twelve (12) months after the Termination Date, with any exercise beyond (a) three (3) months after the Termination Date when the Termination is for any reason other than the Participant’s Disability, or (b) twelve (12) months after the Termination Date when the