debt_leverage_profile
0.01x Total Debt / Equity (Conservative)
High
SEC-XBRL
interest_rate_sensitivity
Moderate sensitivity; ~$400M long-term debt, 20bp rate rise adds ~$0.8M annual interest cost, manageable given $500M+ EBITDA
Inferred
Agent_Inference
geopolitical_supply_exposure
Medium intensity; US-China trade tariffs on metals and components disrupt supply chains.
Medium
GICS-commodity-overlay-v1
supply_chain_dependency
Not applicable; professional services firm with no physical supply chain chokepoints
Inferred
Agent_Inference
international_expansion_readiness
EUR (Europe ~25% revenue), GBP (UK ~10%), AUD/Asia-Pacific ~8%; EUR/USD and GBP/USD volatility poses meaningful translation risk
Inferred
Agent_Inference
geographic_footprint
Operations in 52+ countries; top currency exposures EUR, GBP, AUD; ~40% revenue outside North America subject to translation and transaction FX risk
Inferred
Agent_Inference
commodity_exposure_profile
Medium intensity; commodities: Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Crude Oil (fuel), Rare Earth Elements, Plastics/Resins; geopolitical: US-China trade tariffs on metals and components disrupt supply chains.
Medium
GICS-commodity-overlay-v1
vendor_lock_dependency_score
No single vendor exceeds 30% of input cost; LinkedIn/talent databases and Workday are important but substitutable; low lock-in risk
Inferred
Agent_Inference
business_model_type_primary
Minimal disruption; Korn Ferry is a human-capital consulting firm, not cloud-native; data migration within 30 days is operationally feasible
Inferred
Agent_Inference
business_model_type_secondary
Intellectual property (assessment tools, Korn Ferry Intelligence Cloud) could face temporary downtime but no existential threat; multi-vendor migration plausible
Inferred
Agent_Inference
switching_cost_profile
Low API coupling risk; proprietary KF Intelligence Cloud uses internal data assets; limited third-party API dependencies critical to revenue delivery
Inferred
Agent_Inference
howey_test_risk_index
Fails Howey Test; professional services and subscription consulting revenue derived from active service delivery, not passive investment returns; near-zero securities risk
Inferred
Agent_Inference
regulatory_burden_tier
Medium
Medium
GICS-regulatory-overlay-v1
data_sovereignty_risk
High exposure; stores candidate/employee psychometric and compensation data across 52 countries; GDPR fines and CCPA obligations material given data volume and sensitivity
Inferred
Agent_Inference
antitrust_exposure_flag
Low-moderate; competes with Big 4, Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles; no dominant market share triggering antitrust scrutiny in executive search
Inferred
Agent_Inference
regulatory_exposure_profile
Medium burden; regimes: FAA, DOT, OSHA, EPA, ITAR, FTC; Export controls and defense procurement rules create contract concentration risk.
Medium
GICS-regulatory-overlay-v1
revenue_model_type
~35-40% recurring (RPO, subscription-based digital/consulting retainers); ~60-65% transactional project/search fees; shifting toward recurring via Marquee and RPO contracts
Inferred
Agent_Inference
monetization_vector
Fee-for-service executive search, RPO (recruitment process outsourcing), consulting retainers, and digital subscription assessments (KF Intelligence Cloud)
Inferred
Agent_Inference
pricing_architecture
Fee-based: search fees typically 33% of first-year comp; consulting billed hourly/project; RPO per-hire or management fee; moderate pricing power tied to brand premium
Inferred
Agent_Inference
pricing_power_rating
6/10; strong brand commands premium in C-suite search but faces price pressure in mid-market and RPO from lower-cost competitors; recession causes fee compression
Inferred
Agent_Inference
target_gross_margin_bracket
Gross margin ~35-40%; EBITDA margin ~13-16%; constrained by high consultant compensation; digital segment margins meaningfully higher at ~60%+
Inferred
Agent_Inference
churn_vulnerability_index
No free-rider problem; services are paid engagements; repeat client rate ~70%+ but each engagement is discretionary, creating cyclical revenue vulnerability
Inferred
Agent_Inference
headcount_cost_structure
Revenue growth is moderately headcount-linear in executive search; RPO and digital assessment segments offer sublinear scaling; consultant productivity limits leverage
Inferred
Agent_Inference
marginal_cost_of_growth
Digital/IP segment has near-zero marginal cost at scale; search and consulting require proportional headcount; overall blended model is semi-linear, improving with digital mix shift
Inferred
Agent_Inference
franchise_compliance_risk
Not a franchise model; global offices are wholly owned or partnerships; compliance drift risk managed through centralized methodology and brand standards
Inferred
Agent_Inference
customer_acquisition_metric
At 10x scale, CAC efficiency improves via brand leverage; however, relationship-driven sales limits automation; LTV/CAC estimated 4-6x in enterprise segment
Inferred
Agent_Inference
network_effect_present
Weak direct network effects; proprietary compensation and assessment database grows with scale creating data moat, but client-side network effects are limited
Inferred
Agent_Inference
asset_efficiency_ratio
9.6% Return on Assets (Excellent)
High
SEC-XBRL
recession_resistance_tier
Tier 3 (cyclical); executive search revenue fell ~30% in 2009 and meaningfully in 2020; RPO and consulting provide partial buffer but overall highly macro-sensitive
Inferred
Agent_Inference
customer_segment_primary
Large-cap and mid-cap corporations (Fortune 500); C-suite and senior leadership hiring; no single client >3% of revenue, diversified but enterprise-dependent
Inferred
Agent_Inference
customer_segment_secondary
Private equity portfolio companies, government/public sector, and non-profits; PE segment growing; secondary segments provide modest diversification from corporate cycles
Inferred
Agent_Inference
characteristic_occupations
["11-0000 Management Occupations", "13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupations", "15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations", "17-0000 Architecture and Engineering Occupations", "23-0000 Legal Occupations", "33-0000 Protective Service Occupations", "37-0000 Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations", "41-0000 Sales and Related Occupations", "43-0000 Office and Administrative Support Occupations", "47-0000 Construction and Extraction Occupations", "49-0000 Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations", "51-0000 Production Occupations", "53-0000 Transportation and Material Moving Occupations"]
High
SOC-2018/GICS-overlay
agent_automatable_labor_share
0.3 (HIL — ~30% of characteristic roles agent-automatable)
Medium
SOC-2018 + agentic-exposure-v1
capital_expenditure_profile
3.1% CapEx / Revenue (Low-CapEx Asset-Light)
High
SEC-XBRL
sec_cik
0000056679
High
SEC-EDGAR
ticker
KFY
High
SEC-EDGAR