VeriSign (VRSN) Stock Buybacks: 64.5% of Shares Retired Since 2004

Name: VeriSign (VRSN) shares outstanding since 2001, split adjusted
Creator: Buyback Radar
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Shares outstanding, 2001 to todaysplit adjusted, from SEC filings

2001, 236,009,5292026-07-17, 90,300,000

A share bought in 2001

2.6× more of VeriSign today, without buying another share. It was one of 236,009,529 shares then. It is one of 90,300,000 now.

Every filing we read25 fiscal years, split adjusted

Fiscal year	Date	Shares outstanding	Filing
2001	2002-02-28	236,009,529	10-K	cover page
2002	2003-02-28	238,384,643	10-K	cover page
2003	2004-02-27	243,888,949	10-K	cover page
2004	2005-02-28	254,409,722	10-K	cover page
2005	2006-02-28	244,573,978	10-K	cover page
2006	2007-06-29	243,838,287	10-K	cover page
2007	2008-01-31	213,389,263	10-K	cover page
2008	2008-12-31	191,547,795	10-K
2009	2010-02-17	183,448,405	10-K
2010	2011-02-18	173,450,710	10-K
2011	2012-02-17	159,518,978	10-K
2012	2013-02-22	152,561,275	10-K
2013	2014-02-14	133,662,937	10-K
2014	2015-02-06	116,884,257	10-K
2015	2016-02-12	109,468,547	10-K
2016	2017-02-10	102,328,550	10-K
2017	2018-02-09	97,120,531	10-K
2018	2019-02-08	119,714,949	10-K
2019	2020-02-07	116,417,738	10-K
2020	2021-02-12	113,094,561	10-K
2021	2022-02-11	110,167,438	10-K
2022	2023-02-10	104,879,307	10-K
2023	2024-02-09	100,900,000	10-K
2024	2025-02-07	94,600,000	10-K
2025	2026-01-30	91,700,000	10-K

Source: all 10-K filings of VeriSign on EDGAR. Download this series as CSV. Licence CC BY 4.0, credit Buyback Radar.

VeriSign buybacks, answered

Is VeriSign buying back its stock?

Yes. VeriSign has 2.6% fewer shares outstanding than twelve months ago, 90,300,000 as of July 17, 2026. Over five years the share count is down 18.7%.

How many shares has VeriSign bought back?

Net of every new share it issued, VeriSign has 164.1 million fewer shares than at its 2004 peak. That is 64.5% of the company. Since fiscal 2007 alone it bought back about 151.1 million shares, while the count fell by 123.1 million. The difference went to employees and other new shares.

How many shares does VeriSign have outstanding?

90,300,000 shares, as of July 17, 2026, from the cover page of its latest 10-Q. At the 2004 peak it had 254,409,722.

What do VeriSign's buybacks mean for a shareholder?

Each share is a bigger slice of the company. Someone who held VeriSign stock in 2004 owns 2.8 times as much of the business today without buying another share. Whether that was a good use of cash depends on the price paid.

How does VeriSign compare with other cannibal stocks?

VeriSign ranks No. 17 of 251 companies on Buyback Radar by share of the company retired since its peak. Close to it on the list: Loews (65.7%), Ameriprise (65.4%), Kroger (64.5%), Sallie Mae (64.3%).

Every answer is computed from VeriSign's own SEC filings and rebuilt every Monday. Latest count: 10-Q on EDGAR.

Insider buying, last 12 months

Armstrong Courtney DDirector2026-08-27, 19 shares at $293.68 $6K total

Armstrong Courtney DDirector2026-05-27, 16 shares at $305.81 $5K total

Armstrong Courtney DDirector2026-02-27, 22 shares at $222.94 $5K total

Armstrong Courtney DDirector2025-11-25, 16 shares at $250.17 $4K total

The story

The numbers say what happened. The story says whether it can continue. We cover companies like VeriSign in depth on Cannibal Stocks.

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