ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

When you look at the B2B intelligence space, do you really understand how ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) is maintaining its lead, especially with a 2025 revenue projection hitting up to $1.240 billion? They aren't just a contact database anymore; they've strategically repositioned as a full Go-To-Market (GTM) Intelligence Platform, a shift so defintely important they changed their ticker to 'GTM' in May 2025. This focus on AI-driven solutions and their 'Upmarket' segment-which accounts for 71% of their Annual Contract Value-is why they secured 138 No. 1 rankings in G2's Winter 2025 Reports, but the real question is whether that momentum justifies their current valuation. We'll break down the history, the mission behind the rebrand, and exactly how the platform makes money so you can make a clear, informed investment decision.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) History

You're looking at a company with a dual-track history. ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. as you know it today is the result of a 2019 merger, so its story is really about two distinct businesses-DiscoverOrg and the original Zoom Information, Inc.-coming together to create a go-to-market intelligence powerhouse. It's a classic case of a smaller, more aggressive player acquiring a key competitor for its brand and data assets.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The earliest roots trace back to 2000, when the company that would later become Zoom Information, Inc. was first established as Eliyon Technologies. The entity that executed the transformative acquisition, DiscoverOrg, was founded in 2007.

Original location

The original Zoom Information, Inc. started in Waltham, Massachusetts. The current corporate headquarters, following the DiscoverOrg acquisition and rebranding, is in Vancouver, Washington, U.S..

Founding team members

The current CEO, Henry Schuck, founded DiscoverOrg in 2007 with Kirk Brown. The original Zoom Information, Inc. (as Eliyon Technologies) was founded in 2000 by Yonatan Stern and Michel Decary.

Initial capital/funding

Specific initial seed capital for the 2000 founding is not publicly detailed. DiscoverOrg was started by Henry Schuck from his law school dorm in 2007. The company has since raised a total of $32 million in funding over two rounds, with the latest being a private equity round in 2014 for $25 million. What really changed the game was the 2017 acquisition of Zoom Information, Inc. by Great Hill Partners for $240 million in cash, which set the stage for the later merger.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The single most important moment was the 2019 merger; it was defintely more than just an acquisition. DiscoverOrg, a high-growth, process-driven company, bought its competitor, Zoom Information, Inc., to gain its brand recognition and a massive data asset, then took its name. This move instantly solidified its market leadership.

The second major shift was the 2020 IPO, which provided a significant capital injection and market visibility. Going public at an IPO price of $21.00 per share gave them the currency to continue their aggressive acquisition strategy.

Here's the quick math on their near-term financial trajectory, showing a focus on profitability and scale:

• The full-year 2025 GAAP Revenue is projected to hit between $1.237 billion and $1.240 billion.
• Q1 2025 showed strong operational cash flow, with Unlevered Free Cash Flow at $124.5 million.
• The focus on 'Upmarket' customers (those with $100,000+ in annual contract value) continues to grow, with 1,868 such customers as of March 31, 2025.

What this estimate hides is the ongoing challenge of data privacy regulations, but still, the company is doubling down on its Go-To-Market (GTM) platform strategy, hence the ticker change in May 2025. If you want to dig deeper into who is betting on this strategy, you should check out Exploring ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) Ownership Structure

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. is a publicly traded entity on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker ZI, meaning its ownership is distributed among a diverse group of institutional investors, company insiders, and the public. This structure is heavily skewed toward institutional control, which is typical for a mature, high-growth technology company.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Current Status

The company operates as a public corporation, having completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2020. This status requires rigorous financial transparency and adherence to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, which gives you, the investor, a clear view into its operations and financial health. The board of directors, which included 10 directors as of early 2025, is primarily composed of independent members, ensuring a degree of separation between management and oversight.

When you look at the total shares outstanding, which was approximately 338.42 million as of late 2024, the vast majority of the equity is held by large funds. This concentration means major investment firms like Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock, Inc. have significant influence on strategic decisions. You can dive deeper into the major players by Exploring ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Ownership Breakdown

As a seasoned analyst, I look at who controls the voting power. As of the 2025 fiscal year data, institutional and fund ownership is dominant, holding over 90% of the total equity. This level of institutional control means the stock price is defintely sensitive to the buying and selling activity of a few dozen major funds. Here's the quick math on the breakdown of shares outstanding:

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Leadership

The company's strategy is steered by an experienced leadership team, with an average tenure that suggests stability. The management team has an average age of 42 years and an average tenure of 2.1 years, combining youthful energy with focused experience. The founder, Henry Schuck, remains firmly in control as the CEO, which provides continuity but also centralizes decision-making.

• Henry Schuck: Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He's been with the company for over six years.
• Graham O'Brien: Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He stepped into this critical role in September 2024, with the company actively searching for a permanent successor.
• Filip Popovic: Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
• Tal Raz: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
• Simon McDougall: Chief Compliance Officer (CCO).
• David Justice: Chief Growth Officer (CGO).

What this estimate hides is the potential risk around the interim CFO role; a permanent appointment will be a key signal for the market on the company's financial direction.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) Mission and Values

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s mission is fundamentally about accelerating your revenue engine by providing indispensable, AI-ready intelligence, moving the company far beyond simple data provision to a full Go-To-Market (GTM) platform. Their core values center on high performance, innovation, and a relentless focus on customer success, which is the cultural DNA driving their shift to the higher-value enterprise market.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Core Purpose

The company's purpose is to unlock actionable business information and insights to make organizations more successful, which directly translates into faster growth for their clients. This focus is what justifies the shift in their business model, moving from a data-centric provider to a full intelligence platform.

Official Mission Statement

The formal mission is to equip organizations with indispensable intelligence about their customers, prospects, and markets so they can grow faster. This mission is what drives their product development, like the launch of Go-To-Market Studio in 2025, which unifies data to orchestrate GTM plays.

Here's the quick math on that mission: helping customers grow faster is what drove the company to raise its full-year 2025 GAAP revenue guidance to a range of $1.215 billion to $1.225 billion, representing positive growth at the midpoint.

Vision Statement

ZoomInfo's vision is to be the category-defining Go-To-Market Intelligence Platform that empowers every business to grow its revenue with AI-ready insights, trusted data, and advanced automation. It's a vision focused on being the essential operating system for your entire revenue team, not just a sales tool.

• Empower customers to seize every go-to-market opportunity.
• Prioritize AI-first solutions to drive tangible results.
• Supercharge your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with a living view of who is in-market.

To be fair, this vision requires tough decisions, like the Q2 2025 workforce reduction of approximately 6% of employees, intended to support their broader, more profitable move upmarket. You have to be intentional about where you put resources.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. Slogan/Tagline

The most prominent and current tagline that encapsulates their entire value proposition is simple and direct.

• The Go-To-Market Intelligence Platform.

This is defintely reinforced by their strategic decision in May 2025 to change their Nasdaq trading symbol from 'ZI' to 'GTM,' signaling a complete alignment of their market identity with their core mission. The whole company is now focused on GTM.

Core Values and Cultural DNA

The company's culture is built on five core values that emphasize a high-velocity, high-accountability environment. These values are the blueprint for how they execute on their mission to deliver Go-To-Market Intelligence.

• One Team, One Dream: Collaborative and inclusive, focusing on unity and competence over internal politics.
• Define New Possibles: A commitment to innovation and looking beyond what others say is possible.
• Get Stuff Done: Aiming high, testing, executing, and making database decisions quickly.
• Difference Makers: Pushing to be the best, striving to be 1% better every single day.
• Our Bar is High: Driving results through passion and determination to deliver unforgettable customer experiences.

This high-bar culture is evident in their Upmarket momentum, where customers with $100,000 or greater in Annual Contract Value (ACV) grew by 108 year-over-year as of Q1 2025, with Upmarket now representing 72% of total ACV by Q2 2025. If you're interested in the players driving this growth, you should check out Exploring ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) How It Works

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. operates as a Go-To-Market (GTM) Intelligence Platform, fundamentally changing how businesses find, acquire, and grow customers by providing a massive, highly accurate database of company and professional information. This platform connects data, automation, and execution in one system, essentially acting as the central nervous system for your entire revenue engine.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Operational Framework

The company's operational strength stems from its subscription-based, cloud-native platform and a deliberate shift toward larger, more profitable customers, which is a defintely smart move.

You can see this focus in the numbers: as of the third quarter of 2025, the upmarket segment-customers with higher Annual Contract Value (ACV)-now represents 73% of total ACV, a clear indicator of the strategy's success.

The platform itself is built on a three-layer architecture that drives value creation:

• Intelligence Layer: Processes billions of data points using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to ensure data accuracy and breadth.
• Orchestration Layer: Connects the data to customer workflows, enabling automated data enrichment and lead scoring.
• Engagement Layer: Delivers the insights and automation directly to sales, marketing, and operations professionals for immediate action.

This model generates high-quality, recurring revenue, which is why the full-year 2025 GAAP revenue is projected to be between $1.237 billion and $1.240 billion, representing positive 2% annual growth at the midpoint.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

The core advantage for ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. lies in its proprietary data and the compounding effect of its AI-driven platform. Honestly, the data quality is their moat.

• Data Depth and Accuracy: They maintain a comprehensive data universe, including firmographics, technographics, and verified contact information, which shortens sales cycles and increases win rates for customers.
• AI-Powered Innovation: The rapid development of AI-first solutions, like ZoomInfo Copilot, ensures the platform remains a 'command center' for revenue teams, driving tangible results like a reported 18% higher win rate for sales.
• Financial Resilience: The subscription model is highly profitable, demonstrated by a high gross margin of approximately 84.2% in Q4 2024, and a strong projected Adjusted Operating Income for 2025 of between $440 million and $443 million.
• Market Leadership: Strong customer satisfaction translates to market dominance, evidenced by the company securing 138 No. 1 rankings in G2's Winter 2025 Reports.

If you want to dig deeper into the company's financial stability and cash generation, you should read Breaking Down ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. The projected Unlevered Free Cash Flow for 2025, expected to be between $424 million and $444 million, gives them significant capital for share repurchases and strategic investments.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) How It Makes Money

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. makes money primarily through subscription fees for its Go-To-Market (GTM) Intelligence Platform, providing sales, marketing, and recruiting professionals with a vast, proprietary database of business-to-business (B2B) contact and company data. This is a classic Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, where revenue is predictable and driven by annual contracts for access to data, specialized features, and consumption-based credits.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Revenue Breakdown

While ZoomInfo does not break out revenue by specific product like SalesOS or MarketingOS, the most critical segmentation is by customer size, reflecting its strategic 'upmarket' shift. This segmentation by Annual Contract Value (ACV) gives you the clearest picture of where the revenue is coming from and where the growth is happening.

The company is defintely focused on the Upmarket segment-customers with over $100,000 in Annual Contract Value-which now represents the vast majority of its business. As of Q3 2025, ZoomInfo had 1,887 customers in this high-value cohort. The Downmarket, while still a piece of the pie, is strategically shrinking as the company shifts resources to higher-margin enterprise deals. That's a clear signal on management's priorities.

Business Economics

ZoomInfo's financial engine is built on high-margin, recurring revenue, which is the hallmark of a healthy SaaS business. Their pricing model is complex but profitable, relying on a combination of seat-based licenses and a credit-consumption system.

• High Gross Margin: The company consistently reports a very high gross margin, which was around 84.2% in Q4 2024, indicating that the cost of delivering the core service (data and platform access) is low relative to the revenue it generates.
• Subscription-Based: All revenue is essentially subscription-based with customers signing non-cancellable, annual contracts, providing strong revenue visibility and predictability.
• Credit System: Pricing is quote-based, not public, and centers on the number of user licenses (seats) plus a credit allowance. You pay more if you need to export more data, access advanced features like Intent data or technographics, or add more users mid-contract.
• Net Revenue Retention (NRR): This metric measures recurring revenue growth from existing customers. ZoomInfo's NRR improved sequentially to 90% in Q3 2025, meaning existing customers, on average, spent 90 cents for every dollar they spent last year. The Upmarket segment's NRR, however, is reported to be above 100%, showing that larger customers are expanding their spend by purchasing more seats and add-on products like ZoomInfo Copilot.
• Product Expansion: New, AI-driven products like ZoomInfo Copilot and the GTM Workspace are designed to drive expansion revenue, or upsells, by integrating deeper into a customer's workflow, making the platform stickier. This is how they grow that NRR number. For a deeper dive into the company's long-term strategy, you can review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI).

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.'s Financial Performance

The company's performance in 2025 reflects a strategic pivot toward profitability and larger enterprise deals, even as the overall revenue growth rate has moderated from its hyper-growth past. This is a common shift for maturing SaaS companies.

• Full-Year 2025 Revenue: The latest full-year 2025 GAAP revenue guidance was raised to a range of $1.237 billion to $1.240 billion. Here's the quick math: taking the high end of the guidance, that's about $3.4 million in revenue generated every single day.
• Profitability: For Q3 2025, the company delivered an Adjusted Operating Income of $117.7 million, achieving a strong 37% margin. This focus on margin is a key indicator of operational efficiency.
• Cash Flow Strength: Unlevered Free Cash Flow (UFCF) was robust at $95.3 million in Q3 2025. This cash generation power is what allows them to manage debt and execute share repurchase programs, like the $86.6 million worth of shares they bought back in Q3 2025.
• The Rule of 40: In Q3 2025, the company exceeded the 'Rule of 40' (a SaaS health metric where revenue growth rate plus adjusted EBITDA margin should exceed 40%), which is a solid sign of balancing growth and profitability.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) Market Position & Future Outlook

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. is solidifying its position as the premier Go-To-Market (GTM) Intelligence Platform for enterprise customers, driven by a strategic shift to the upmarket segment and aggressive integration of AI-first solutions like Copilot. The company projects full-year 2025 GAAP revenue to be between $1.237 billion and $1.240 billion, demonstrating a path back to durable growth despite macroeconomic headwinds.

This pivot is crucial; Upmarket customers (those with an Annual Contract Value of $100,000 or greater) now represent 72% of the company's ACV, with net revenue retention improving to 90% as of Q3 2025.

Competitive Landscape

The B2B sales intelligence market is a fierce battleground, but ZoomInfo holds the enterprise segment due to its data depth and integrations. The competition is fragmented, with rivals specializing to carve out their own niches. Here's the quick math on how the major players stack up in terms of market dominance and core advantage in the B2B data/intelligence segment.

Opportunities & Challenges

As a seasoned analyst, I see ZoomInfo's future hinging on its ability to convert its vast data moat into a unified, AI-driven workflow that becomes indispensable for the entire revenue organization. Honestly, they need to execute on the 'GTM' promise of their new ticker symbol.

Industry Position

ZoomInfo is not just a data provider anymore; it is the incumbent leader in the B2B sales intelligence category, positioning itself as a core software platform for go-to-market teams. Its strength is its sheer scale and the quality of its firmographic and technographic data, which is essential for complex Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies in the enterprise space.

• Dominates the enterprise segment, with a focus on customers who pay $100,000 or more annually.
• High gross margin of 84.2% (Q4 2024 data) underscores the efficiency and value of its proprietary data moat.
• The launch of the Go-To-Market Studio unifies first- and third-party data, aiming to eliminate data silos and automate manual tasks for revenue teams.
• Its net revenue retention rate of 90% in Q3 2025 indicates strong customer satisfaction and successful cross-selling of new products within its large customer base.

The company's biggest challenge is defending its premium position against the 'good enough' data offered by lower-priced, all-in-one engagement platforms. You can get a deeper look at the institutional view of the company by Exploring ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?