DOW JONES NEWSWIRES VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) swung to a second-quarter loss on debt-related charges as the Internet domain-name company also said Chief Executive Mark McLaughlin has resigned to take the same position at a private company. Founder and previous CEO Jim Bidzos will assume the role Monday. VeriSign has shed more than a dozen businesses in recent years, but the company's narrowed focus has made it more dependent on a mainstay Internet domain operation. In August, the company sold its identity-authentication business to Symantec Corp. (SYMC) for $1.3 billion. That business had revenue of $410 million last year, or about 40% for VeriSign's total. VeriSign reported a loss of $10.6 million, or six cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $35.2 million, or 19 cents a share. Excluding debt-related charges and other items, per-share earnings rose to 38 cents from 23 cents. Revenue climbed 13% to $189.8 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 35 cents a share on revenue of $191 million. Operating margin widened to 43.2% from 30.3%. VeriSign's domain-name business--which operates the registry for .com, .net and other domains--is based on a contract from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, overseen by the U.S. Commerce Department. Earlier this month, the company announced it would raise registry domain name fees for .com and .net, effective January 2012. Shares were up 0.6% at $32.22 in after-hours trading. The stock is down 14% over the past three months. -By Nathalie Tadena, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3287; nathalie.tadena@dowjones.com
