Understand any stock in simple English
Enter a ticker to learn what the company does and how it makes money.
FTI Consulting, Inc.
FTI Consulting is a professional services firm that helps companies, law firms, and governments solve complicated problems, especially when money, reputations, or legal disputes are on the line.
FTI Consulting is the calm expert you call when something big goes wrong or a lot of money is at stake. Companies hire it when they're tangled in litigation, facing a regulatory investigation, trying to fix a broken business, or navigating a political or reputational crisis. Law firms bring it in to untangle financial records and explain them to a jury; boards call when they need a turnaround specialist or a credible independent voice. The firm sells expertise and time, mostly from people with deep résumés in accounting, law, economics, and government. Clients pay for judgment they can't easily get anywhere else, and they stick around because switching horses mid-crisis is painful.
The business is split into a few major practices. Its corporate finance and restructuring arm helps companies fix their balance sheets, raise money, or wind things down cleanly. Its forensic and litigation consulting arm digs through records to reconstruct what happened and quantify damages. Its economic consulting group brings economists to bear on antitrust, mergers, and disputes. And its strategic communications business — known for years as FD — manages reputations, especially when clients face public scrutiny, activist investors, or political heat. There are also technology and data practices that help clients untangle messy information. What makes it sturdy is that a lot of its work is counter-cyclical. When the economy booms, companies fight over deals and lawsuits; when it sours, they call restructuring experts. That balance has helped it grow steadily, with revenues climbing past $3 billion in recent years. The industry is competitive — big accounting firms like Deloitte and investment banks crowd in — but FTI's edge is that it's independent and sells pure advice rather than audits or underwriting, which clients value when they need a clean, unbiased opinion. Founders and executives have often come from the worlds it serves: former regulators, bankers, and lawyers who know how the game is played. The company has grown largely by acquiring boutique firms and folding their experts into its brand, which lets it add specialties without building them from scratch. One thing to watch: this is a people business, so paying and keeping talented senior staff matters more than factories or patents. Its fortunes also swing with demand for restructuring and litigation support, which can be lumpy.
For shareholders, FTI mostly reinvests in itself and buys back stock modestly rather than paying a large dividend. That fits a business where the main asset walks out the door every evening. The plain truth is that FTI doesn't make anything you can touch — it sells brainpower and credibility to people in trouble, and it earns its keep by being reliable when the stakes are highest.
Saved answer · last researched 15 Nov 2026