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Korn Ferry helps companies find, pay, and organize their people.
Korn Ferry is a consulting firm that makes its money from one big idea: companies are only as good as the people running them. It sells that idea in several ways. It hires executives for clients hunting for a new CEO. It tells companies how much to pay those executives. It helps them figure out which employees to keep, promote, or let go. And it sells online courses and assessment tools so workers can get better at their jobs. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, but its clients are everywhere — big banks, hospitals, tech firms, governments — basically anyone with a lot of employees and a lot of turnover at the top.
Think of it as the matchmaker, the referee, and the coach for corporate leadership, all in one shop. When a board needs a new chief financial officer, Korn Ferry finds candidates. When that CFO wants to know if she is paid fairly, Korn Ferry runs the numbers. When the company wants to know if its managers are any good, Korn Ferry tests them. Roughly half of revenue comes from consulting services like pay advice and talent strategy, while the rest comes from finding and placing executives. The business is cyclical: when the economy is hot and companies are hiring, Korn Ferry makes more money. When things slow down, clients cut back on expensive advice.
Recent years have brought a push into digital products — online assessments, virtual coaching, and data tools that clients can use without a consultant in the room. That is a bet on steadier, subscription-like revenue to balance out the up-and-down of executive searches. The company also does a lot of buying and returning cash to shareholders. It has spent hundreds of millions on acquisitions to expand into areas like interim staffing and leadership development, and it uses leftover cash to pay a dividend and buy back its own stock. On buybacks, the company has reduced its share count by roughly 10 to 15 percent over the past five years, though the exact pace shifts with the economy. The simple takeaway: Korn Ferry sells advice about people, and in a world where talent is expensive, that advice remains a surprisingly durable business.
Saved answer · last researched 11 Oct 2026