Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

How does a data analytics powerhouse like Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) become the silent engine driving the global insurance industry's most critical decisions? This company, with a market capitalization of over $31.1 billion as of late 2025, is far more than a simple data vendor; it's a strategic partner whose proprietary models and platforms are essential for underwriting and claims, projecting full-year 2025 revenue between $3.05 billion and $3.08 billion. You need to understand its core business-where subscription revenue grew 10.6% in Q1 2025 alone-because its deep integration into the risk ecosystem makes it a defintely unique investment thesis, especially with firms like BlackRock, Inc. and Vanguard owning significant stakes. So, what exactly does Verisk sell, and how does it turn complex risk data into that kind of consistent financial performance for its institutional owners?

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) History

Verisk Analytics, Inc. is not a traditional startup story; its origins are deeply embedded in the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry. It was created to solve a collective problem: standardizing data and risk assessment across a fragmented market. This foundational decision to pool data is why the company is now a powerhouse, projecting full-year 2025 revenue between $3.05 billion and $3.08 billion.

Honestly, the company's entire trajectory is a masterclass in turning an industry utility into a high-margin, public-market data leader.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

1971, as the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO).

Original location

Initial operations were centered in New York, reflecting its proximity to the major insurance hubs, before establishing its current headquarters in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Founding team members

It wasn't founded by individuals but was established as a non-profit consortium by the property and casualty insurance industry. This consolidation brought together various state, regional, and national rating bureaus into a single entity.

Initial capital/funding

Funded by the insurance companies it served, it operated as an industry-supported organization. It did not rely on venture capital or traditional startup funding in its early years.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The biggest transformation wasn't a product launch; it was the shift in business model. Moving from a non-profit, industry-owned utility to a publicly traded, for-profit data and analytics firm was a defintely game-changing move. That 2009 IPO provided the capital and mandate to aggressively pursue acquisitions and expand the data footprint globally.

The second major pivot was the strategic streamlining completed by 2023. You saw this clearly with the sale of Wood Mackenzie. That move was about focus, not just capital. It meant doubling down on the Insurance segment-Underwriting and Claims-which is its highest-margin, most defensible business.

• Monetizing Proprietary Data: The IPO allowed the company to fully monetize its decades of accumulated, proprietary insurance data, creating a high barrier to entry for competitors.
• Focus on Core Insurance: Post-2022 divestitures, the company's core Insurance segment is the primary driver, with strong Q1 2025 adjusted EBITDA of $417 million.
• Subscription Model Resilience: The Q3 2025 results showed total revenue of $768.3 million, but management noted that lower-than-expected severe weather temporarily impacted transactional revenue, highlighting the stability of subscription revenue, which accounts for over 80% of the total.

If you want to dig deeper into who is betting on this model, you should check out Exploring Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Here's the quick math: with full-year 2025 guidance for Adjusted EBITDA between $1.67 billion and $1.72 billion, the underlying profitability of their focused data model is incredibly strong, trending toward a margin over 55%.

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) Ownership Structure

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) is a publicly traded data analytics and technology provider, primarily governed by the dynamics of institutional investment, which holds a vast majority of its shares.

This structure means strategic direction and governance decisions are heavily influenced by the world's largest asset managers, not individual retail investors.

Verisk Analytics' Current Status

Verisk Analytics is a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (NasdaqGS) under the ticker symbol VRSK. This status requires it to adhere to stringent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, providing high transparency into its financials and operations.

As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization is approximately $31.1 billion, reflecting its position as a significant force in the insurance, energy, and specialized risk management sectors. The stock price on November 20, 2025, was $221.88 per share. If you want to dive deeper into the company's core principles, you can review its Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK).

Verisk Analytics' Ownership Breakdown

The company's ownership is overwhelmingly institutional, a common characteristic for mature, large-cap technology and data services firms. Institutional investors, which include mutual funds and pension funds like Vanguard Group Inc and BlackRock, Inc., own the lion's share, giving them considerable voting power.

Here's the quick math on the share distribution, which shows how little of the stock is actually held by insiders or average retail investors:

Verisk Analytics' Leadership

The company is steered by a seasoned leadership team, with an average management team tenure of 4.8 years, suggesting stability and deep industry knowledge. The executive compensation is heavily weighted toward performance-based bonuses, which aligns management's interests with shareholder returns.

The key leaders guiding Verisk Analytics' strategy as of November 2025 include:

• Lee Shavel: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President, who has been in the role since May 2022.
• Elizabeth Mann: Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), appointed in September 2022.
• Saurabh Khemka: President of Underwriting Solutions, a critical segment, appointed to the role in September 2025.
• Nicholas Daffan: Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO), overseeing the technology infrastructure that powers the company's data services.
• David J. Grover: Chief Accounting Officer and Controller, a long-tenured executive who joined in 2017.

The CEO's total yearly compensation is around $12.07 million, with only about 8.3% of that being base salary, defintely favoring stock-based incentives.

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) Mission and Values

Verisk Analytics, Inc. stands for transforming risk into opportunities through data and analytical insights, guiding the global insurance and energy sectors to make better decisions. Their cultural DNA is built on a foundation of integrity and a commitment to innovation that directly impacts how companies manage billions in exposure.

Given Company's Core Purpose

You're looking for what Verisk stands for beyond the quarterly earnings, and honestly, it's about being the defintely most trusted source of predictive data in a world full of unknowns. Their purpose is to reduce the cost of risk for everyone, from the largest insurer to the smallest energy producer.

Official mission statement

The core mission is simple: to be the essential strategic partner to the global insurance, energy, and financial services industries. It's not just about selling data; it's about delivering clarity and foresight in complex, high-stakes environments.

• Provide predictive analytics and decision-support solutions.
• Enable customers to manage risk and improve operating performance.
• Drive economic growth and societal resilience.

Vision statement

Verisk's vision is to create a safer, stronger, and more sustainable world by converting vast amounts of information into actionable intelligence. They aim to be the indispensable platform for understanding and quantifying risk globally. Here's the quick math on their impact: with an expected 2025 revenue of approximately $3.024 billion, their data underpins a significant portion of the global insurance market's underwriting decisions.

• Be the global standard for risk assessment.
• Innovate continuously to stay ahead of emerging threats.
• Expand the ecosystem of data-driven decision-making.

Given Company slogan/tagline

While taglines change, the consistent message is about the power of data to solve hard problems. The most recent focus is on their role as the 'Essential Source of Insight.' It's short, and it tells you exactly what they aim to be for their clients.

What this estimate hides is the sheer volume of data they process, which directly correlates to their projected 2025 net income of around $1.15 billion-a testament to the high value their proprietary data models command. You can read more about their ethos here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK).

Anyway, their core values drive the business, not just the balance sheet.

• Integrity: Uphold the highest ethical standards.
• Innovation: Continuously challenge the status quo.
• Customer-Focus: Prioritize client success through partnership.
• Excellence: Deliver superior quality in all products.

Finance: Review the impact of the latest regulatory changes on the Insurance segment's 2026 forecast by next Tuesday.

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) How It Works

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) operates as a critical strategic data analytics and technology partner, primarily for the global insurance industry, by collecting massive proprietary datasets and applying advanced analytics to quantify risk and improve operational efficiency.

The company essentially sells information and technology to help insurers make better, faster decisions across the entire policy lifecycle, from pricing a policy (underwriting) to paying a claim (claims solutions), which drove its Q3 2025 revenue to $768 million.

Verisk Analytics, Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

Verisk Analytics, Inc.'s Operational Framework

Verisk's operational framework is built on a high-margin, subscription-based model that provides predictable, recurring revenue. The core value creation process involves a continuous loop of data collection, standardization, analysis, and integration.

• Data Aggregation: Collect vast, proprietary datasets-often unique to the insurance industry-from thousands of clients, including historical claims, policy, and loss information.
• Proprietary Analytics: Apply deep domain expertise and advanced analytical methods, including machine learning (AI) and cloud technology, to transform raw data into predictive models and decision-support tools.
• Subscription-Driven Revenue: Monetize the resulting insights through hosted subscriptions, which accounted for approximately 84% of total revenue in Q3 2025, providing a stable cash flow base.
• Ecosystem Integration: Integrate solutions like the ISO rating data directly into client systems, such as the new Earnix pricing engine integration, to ensure seamless workflow and regulatory compliance.
• Strategic Growth: Drive expansion through strategic acquisitions, like SuranceBay and Simplitium in 2025, which extend reach into new markets like Europe and the life and annuity ecosystem.

Here's the quick math: that 84% subscription rate means revenue is defintely less volatile than a pure transactional model. You can read more about what's driving this stability in Exploring Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Verisk Analytics, Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

The company's success is rooted in a few structural advantages that are difficult for competitors to replicate, maintaining its market leadership in a niche but essential industry.

• Data Moat and Network Effect: The sheer volume and quality of proprietary industry data, collected over decades, create a significant barrier to entry. Every new client who contributes data strengthens the models for all existing clients.
• High Client Retention: The solutions are deeply embedded in client workflows (e.g., underwriting and claims systems), making them mission-critical and difficult to switch out. Client retention is high, with figures around 92% cited in the context of core product initiatives like Core Lines Reimagine.
• Regulatory Standard Bearer: Verisk's Insurance Services Office (ISO) unit sets the industry standard for policy forms, rules, and loss costs in the U.S. P&C market. This near-monopolistic position in regulatory compliance is a powerful competitive edge.
• Operational Leverage: The subscription model and the ability to serve thousands of clients with a single, scalable data platform allow for strong operating efficiency. This translated to an Adjusted EBITDA of $429 million in Q3 2025, up 7.2% year-over-year.

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) How It Makes Money

Verisk Analytics, Inc. makes money by selling proprietary, data-driven analytics and technology solutions, primarily to the global insurance industry. The core of their revenue comes from long-term subscription contracts for their vast data sets, predictive models, and software platforms that help insurers assess risk, price policies, and manage claims more efficiently.

Verisk Analytics, Inc.'s Revenue Breakdown

You need to look past the old segment structure. The company has focused its business model almost entirely on its core Insurance segment, and the most critical split for financial stability is between recurring and non-recurring revenue. As of the third quarter of 2025, the business is overwhelmingly subscription-driven.

Business Economics

The financial engine here is built on a high-margin, sticky subscription model, which is exactly what you want to see. The company's massive, proprietary data sets-like the ISO forms, rules, and loss cost services for underwriting-create a deep moat (economic barrier to entry) that makes client churn low. Honestly, an insurer can't easily switch providers when their entire pricing and policy structure is built on Verisk's data.

Here's the quick math on the model:

• Subscription Stability: The 84% subscription mix provides predictable, high-quality revenue, which is why the stock trades at a premium.
• Growth Driver: Subscription revenue grew at 8.7% on an organic constant currency (OCC) basis in Q3 2025, driven by expanding contracts with existing clients and double-digit growth in Extreme Event Solutions.
• Transactional Volatility: The 16% transactional revenue, which includes things like claims assignments through the Xactware system, is more volatile. For example, it declined 8.8% in Q3 2025 due to an exceptionally low level of severe weather events. This is a clear near-term risk to watch, but it doesn't break the model.
• Pricing Power: The company achieves strong price realization, particularly in its anti-fraud business, by continually enhancing the solutions with new features and data. They are defintely a strategic partner, not just a vendor.

The strategic move to convert more transactional contracts into recurring, committed subscriptions is a key long-term growth lever that boosts stability. You can get a deeper look at who is betting on this model by Exploring Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Verisk Analytics, Inc.'s Financial Performance

The 2025 financial picture shows a company focused on profitability and cash generation, even with some top-line headwinds. The full-year 2025 revenue guidance is between $3.05 billion and $3.08 billion, which is a solid base.

• Adjusted EBITDA Margin: The Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA margin was 55.8%, up from the prior year, demonstrating excellent operating leverage and cost discipline. The full-year guidance for Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $1.69 billion to $1.72 billion.
• Net Income: Net income for Q3 2025 was $226 million, a modest 2.5% increase, partially offset by higher net interest expense.
• Earnings Per Share (EPS): Diluted adjusted EPS for Q3 2025 was $1.72, up 3.0% YoY, reflecting the benefit of revenue growth, margin expansion, and a lower average share count.
• Cash Flow Strength: Free Cash Flow (FCF) surged by 39.6% to $336 million in Q3 2025, a clear sign of the business model's strong cash generation capabilities. This FCF strength is what funds their share repurchases and dividends.

What this estimate hides is the impact of the delayed AccuLynx acquisition, which management removed from the 2025 guidance, meaning the core business is performing exactly as expected without the benefit of that new revenue. The company is delivering on its long-term growth targets, but the market is watching that transactional revenue line closely.

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) Market Position & Future Outlook

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) is positioned as the indispensable data backbone for the global property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry, a position solidified by its proprietary data and deep integration into underwriting workflows. The company projects a strong financial trajectory for 2025, with total revenue guidance set between $3.05 billion and $3.08 billion, driven largely by its resilient subscription model and increasing demand for catastrophe modeling solutions.

You should see Verisk as a high-margin data utility, not just a software vendor, but its future growth is defintely tied to how well it can translate its legacy data into modern, AI-powered predictive tools.

Competitive Landscape

In the specialized world of insurance data and analytics, competition is less about sheer size and more about the depth and regulatory acceptance of proprietary data sets. Verisk's core strength lies in its ISO (Insurance Services Office) business, which provides the industry-standard policy forms and statistical loss costs used by nearly all U.S. P&C insurers, effectively making it a quasi-regulator of industry data.

Opportunities & Challenges

The near-term for Verisk is a clear-cut case of capitalizing on climate risk and AI adoption, but they must also manage the inherent volatility of their claims business. Here's the quick math: the global Insurance Analytics Market is valued at approximately $13.8 billion in 2025 and is growing fast, so Verisk has a massive runway if it executes its strategy.

Industry Position

Verisk Analytics, Inc. holds a unique, entrenched position in the U.S. P&C insurance ecosystem, acting as a foundational layer for the industry's operations. Its competitive moat isn't just technology; it's the network effect of its proprietary data and its role in standardizing risk.

• The company's data is embedded in the workflow of virtually every major P&C insurer, with its data used as the basis for reports that account for roughly 97% of all business written by U.S. P&C insurers.
• The high client retention rate, at approximately 92%, underscores the mission-critical nature of its solutions. [cite: 8 in step 1]
• Verisk's 2025 guidance for Adjusted EBITDA is strong, ranging from $1.67 billion to $1.72 billion, translating to an impressive margin of over 55%, which is a clear sign of pricing power and operational leverage.
• The strategic focus is clear: use the cash flow from its dominant Underwriting segment (70% of Q1 2025 revenue) to fund innovation in its faster-growing Claims segment.

For a deeper dive into the numbers that support this market position, you should read Breaking Down Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.