Verisign's .net contract also currently bans the company from owning more than 15% of a registrar, so presumably that agreement would also need to be amended in order for Verisign to get into the registrar business. I say again that my math here is speculative; I'm a blogger, not a financial analyst. There may be some incorrect assumptions — I've not accounted for promotions at all, for example, and the 3.16% growth assumption might not be fair — and there are of course many variables that could move the needle. But the financial markets know a sweetheart deal when they see one, and Verisign's share price went up 17.2% following the news, reportedly reaching heights not seen since since the dwindling days of the dot-com bubble 18 years ago. The reason given for the lifting of the price freeze was, for want of a better word, bullshit. From the NTIA's amendment: