What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2024-06-28 compared with 2023-06-28 · 171 added, 122 removed, 237 unchanged (55% of the section changed)

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Korn Ferry (referred to herein as the “Company” or in the first-person notations “we,” “our,” and “us”) is a leading global organizational consulting firm.

Korn Ferry has evolved from our executive search-focused roots into a company with a more diverse service and digital and other solution offering that is designed to align with our clients’ desire to synchronize their strategy, operations, and talent to drive superior performance.

We believe we are the premier organizational consultancy uniquely positioned to leverage our extensive intellectual property to help companies bring talent and strategy together, helping them have the right people in the right places and providing them with the right rewards.

We seek to bring their strategies to life by designing their organizational structure and helping them hire, motivate and retain the best people.

And we help professionals navigate and advance their career.

We work with our clients to design optimal organization structures, roles, and responsibilities.

We help them hire the right people, focus on the right skills, and advise them on how to reward, engage and motivate their workforce while developing professionals as they navigate and advance their careers.

The importance and strength of our brand

A strong brand fosters familiarity and loyalty, builds trust, cultivates relationships, and has a lasting impact on sales velocity and growth which is why one of our strategic pillars is to continue to elevate ours.

Originally known for our leading position in executive search, our brand recognition is growing and evolving to represent great workplaces and the people – the talent – behind them.

Collaboration across our sales, marketing, research, and business teams has significantly boosted Korn Ferry's market recognition and strengthened our client connections.

By curating our intellectual property, content, and data, and integrating them with our colleagues' expertise, we inspire and challenge conventional workplace viewpoints.

Career makers and business advisors, the impact we create spans entire organizations, but always starts with people.

The inspiration we put out into the world is to Be More Than .

Be More Than is about identifying and unleashing potential.

Bring the right opportunity, to the right person, at the right time and it will change their world.

Get people focused, aligned, believing and working together and it can change the world.

The principles behind Be More Than guide our thinking and behavior and represent our commitment to our clients and to each other.

We help unleash potential in people to enable thriving, high-performing teams that collectively power sustainable growth and transform businesses.

Underpinning our strategy with tech-enabled IP, data and content

Korn Ferry leads the industry with unique intellectual property, content, and data.

Powered by one of the world’s largest and most distinctive talent database and analytics engine, we deliver technology-enabled, data-informed solutions for people and workplaces that drive growth strategies.

With access to nearly 7 billion proprietary data points across 150 countries, we understand what excellence looks like and know how to achieve it.

Our consultants use this data to develop informed talent solutions that provide a competitive edge, while our suite of tech-enabled talent products ensures implementation at scale with speed.

We have shaped our way of working to align with the ways of work

Focused on solving our clients' most pressing organization and people challenges, today our services and products support and work across the entire human capital ecosystem - from assessment and hiring to strategy implementation, rewards, development, and succession.

We are the only firm that has this expanded portfolio that offers more ways for our consultants to engage with clients and make a lasting impact.

This approach is intentional, builds on the best of our past, and gives us a clear path to the future with focused initiatives to increase our client and commercial impact.

Whether restructuring to reduce costs, bringing in new leaders, merging or acquiring, or transforming to stay ahead, we help organizations lead through change and transform for growth.

Relevant solutions for a constant and rapidly changing world

Our vision is to be the premier organizational consulting firm and we believe that our well-known brand, intellectual property, content, data, and diversification strategy have positioned us well.

Our unique approach enables us to accelerate and positively impact the performance of thousands of organizations.

And we are poised for growth.

The constantly evolving business landscape presents numerous opportunities for Korn Ferry, making us more relevant than ever.

From the shift to remote work due to the pandemic and the talent challenges posed by the great resignation, to the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (Gen AI) on workforce needs, these changes highlight opportunities for Korn Ferry to demonstrate our cutting-edge, tech-enabled products, services, and solutions.

An added benefit, we leverage what we learn.

Less than two years post-launch, Gen AI is changing the way individuals and organizations work and innovate.

It has the fastest adoption rate of any technology in history, as well as the fastest pace of change and evolution.

At Korn Ferry, we are enabling our colleagues to use Gen AI to gain efficiency, improving delivery and focus on value added work to ensure that the insight we create at scale is actionable through our products, services, and solutions.

We are also leveraging the technology with our unique data and IP to differentiate our products and services, creating a moat around our business that protects from disruption.

Our go-to-market approach

As we drive our strategy, a focal point for us is our Marquee and Regional accounts program (M&R accounts) which is comprised of about 350 of our top clients that together generate slightly more than 37% of our year-to-date consolidated fee revenue.

These accounts have Global Account Leaders assigned who help to orchestrate the delivery of core and integrated

solutions and products that cut across multiple lines of business – effectively making more of the Firm’s resources available as our clients tackle their business and human capital issues.

Approximately 84% of these clients use three or more lines of business and 70% of this year’s top ten M&R accounts were also top ten clients in the previous two years.

The opportunity upon us

Despite near-term headwinds, we believe Korn Ferry is poised for continued, long-term growth.

We are capitalizing on the current and growing relevance of our solutions which, in combination with the strong connections amongst our service offerings and our acquisitive activities, drives top-line synergies that have resulted in double digit fee revenue growth rates (CAGR) over the past twenty years.

Our fiscal 2024 performance reflects the relevance of our strategy, the top-line synergies created by our end-to-end talent and leadership solutions, and the increasing reach and relevance of the Korn Ferry brand.

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Our clients include the world’s largest and most prestigious public and private companies, middle-market and emerging growth companies, and government and non-profit organizations.

We have built strong client loyalty, with nearly 80% of our engagements in fiscal 2023 completed on behalf of clients for whom we had conducted engagements in the previous three fiscal years.

We work with:

We have built strong client loyalty, with more than 85% of our engagements in fiscal 2024 completed on behalf of clients for whom we had conducted engagements in the previous three fiscal years.

We worked during fiscal 2024 with:

• 97% of the S&P 100, and 86% of the S&P 500

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• 80% of the S&P Latin America 40

In addition, we work with:

In addition, we worked during fiscal 2024 with:

• 3 in every 4 best companies to work for (Fortune Magazine)

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• 96% of the top 50 world's most admired companies (Fortune Magazine)

Our business and our people

We also continued to make significant investments across the breadth of our business and in our people.

This commitment includes strategic acquisitions and the innovation and development of our platforms, solutions and ways of working.

A testament to Korn Ferry’s forward-thinking approach is the acquisition of our third and fourth Interim hiring firms in the last 18 months.

This commitment includes strategic acquisitions and the innovation and development of our talent platform, solutions and ways of working.

A testament to Korn Ferry’s forward-thinking approach is the acquisition of our third and fourth Interim hiring firms in the last two fiscal years.

This strategic decision has not only boosted our standing, particularly in the Professional Search and Interim sectors, but we believe also enables us to capitalize on significant opportunities for growth while effectively responding to prevailing shifts in the workforce.

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These investments are intended to expand our offerings to help us further differentiate ourselves in the marketplace and reflect our continued focus on high-demand areas emerging in this environment.

A critical driver of our success has been the evolution and maturation of our go-to-market (“GTM”) activities.

Our "Marquee" and "Regional" accounts lead these activities with approximately 340 accounts or 2% of our total clients, representing more than 35% of our total fee revenue.

We continue to invest in Global Account Leaders (“GALs”), resulting in us exiting the year with more than 70 colleagues in this role.

Leveraging our acquisition of the Miller Heiman Group, we use our own sales effectiveness methodologies and discipline in our Marquee and Regional account programs to drive rates of top-line growth in excess of the rest of our portfolio.

We continue to capitalize on the top-line synergies created by our end-to-end solutions that are designed to address the many aspects of an employee’s engagement with their employer.

This manifests itself in our ability to continue generating additional fee revenues based on referrals from one line of business to another, generating more than 25% of total fee revenues for fiscal 2023.

In fact, by integrating the previously mentioned acquired companies into Korn Ferry, we were able to generate an incremental $50.0 million in fee revenues since November 1, 2021, (the date of acquisition of our first Interim business) through referrals between the acquired companies and our business prior the acquisitions.

With vision, innovation and focus as our guide, we believe we are now a company with a more durable business, with greater and expanding relevance, and with an increasingly sustainable level of business and profitability that is poised for further growth in the years to come.

This manifests itself in our ability to continue generating additional fee revenues based on referrals from one line of business to another, exiting fiscal 2024, generating more than 25% of consolidated fee revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 from referrals.

With vision, innovation and focus as our guide, we believe we are now a company with a more durable business and more resilient top-line, with greater and expanding relevance, and with an increasingly sustainable level of profitability that is poised for further growth in the years to come.

Fiscal 2024 Performance Highlights

Our results reflect the dedication and hard work of our more than 9,000 talented colleagues.

They focus on creating value for our stakeholders, our colleagues themselves, our clients, our shareholders, and the communities in which we operate.

They focus on creating value for our stakeholders, including our colleagues themselves, our clients, our shareholders, and the communities in which we operate.

Our strategic growth reflects a more balanced and sustainable organization.

• Our performance was solid during what can be described as times of macroeconomic and geopolitical turbulence and uncertainty, generating $2,835.4 million in fee revenue, up 8.0% compared to fiscal 2022.

• Our performance was solid during what can be described as an uncertain and challenging global economic environment, generating $2,762.7 million in fee revenue, down only 3% compared to fiscal 2023.

• Net Income Attributable to Korn Ferry was $169.2 million.

Operating income and Adjusted EBITDA* were $316.3 million (margin of 11.2%) and $457.3 million (margin of 16.1%), respectively.

• Operating income and Adjusted EBITDA* were $212.9 million with a margin of 7.7%, and $408.2 million with a margin* of 14.8%, respectively.

Adjusted EBITDA margin increased each consecutive quarter in fiscal 2024.

• Diluted Earnings Per Share was $3.23.

• Consulting and Digital showed resilient business operations:

◦ Consulting fee revenue grew 2.7% year-over-year with an 11% increase in average bill rate to $420 per hour.

◦ Digital fee revenue grew 3.4% year-over-year with a 9.4% increase in Subscription & License fee revenue growing to $131.0 million in fiscal 2024.

• During fiscal 2024, we continued with our balanced approach to capital allocation.

For the full year, the Company invested $254.8 million in acquisitions and $61.0 million in capital expenditures primarily related to the Digital business and corporate infrastructure.

We also spent $18.5 million on debt service costs, and returned $93.9 million and $33.0 million to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends, respectively.

* Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA margin are non-GAAP financial measure and have limitations as analytical tools.

For the full year, the Company invested $46.7 million in capital expenditures (excluding leasehold improvements and furniture & fixtures), $18.5 million on debt service costs, and returned $52.5 million and $54.4 million to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends, respectively.

* Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA margin are non-GAAP financial measures and have limitations as analytical tools.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for a discussion of why management believes the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding Korn Ferry’s performance.

The Korn Ferry Story

Our systematic approach to solving business challenges has us uniquely positioned to build the services and solutions that people, teams and organizations need so that business strategy is implemented and performance follows.

As described above, our systematic approach to solving business challenges has us uniquely positioned to build industry leading products, services and solutions that people, teams and organizations need so that business strategy is implemented, and performance follows.

Our approach is focused on the following strategic priorities to increase our client and commercial impact:

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Create the Top-of-Mind Brand in Organizational Consulting - Lead innovation through relevant market offerings and evolve our thought leadership around talent strategy.

Deliver Client Excellence and Innovation and diversify our offerings into fully integrated, scalable and sustainable client engagements.

Deliver Client Excellence and Innovation and diversify our offerings into fully integrated, scalable and sustainable client engagements, enriched and differentiated with our unique IP, content and data.

Advance Korn Ferry as a Premier Career Destination - Attract and retain top talent through continued investment in building a world-class organization through a capable, motivated, and agile workforce.

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We continue to integrate, replicate and scale our solutions and to lead innovation in the digitally enabled new world of work.

The depth and breadth of our offerings across the talent lifecycle—from attraction to assessment to recruitment to development, management, and reward—place us in a distinctive position.

The depth and breadth of our offerings across the talent lifecycle—from attraction to assessment to recruitment to development, management, engagement, and reward—place us in a unique position.

We offer end-to-end solutions—a view into an organization’s entire talent ecosystem—to create positive client outcomes.

Our five core capabilities include:

• Organization Strategy:

• Organizational Strategy:

We map talent strategy to business strategy, designing operating models and organization structures that help companies put strategic plans into action.

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• Leadership and Professional Development:

We help develop leaders along each stage of their career with a spectrum of intensive high-touch and scalable high-tech development experiences.

We map skills and competencies to business strategy and help develop leaders along each stage of their career with a spectrum of intensive high-touch and scalable high-tech development experiences.

• Total Rewards:

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Our Integrated Solutions

We also offer integrated solutions that bring together expertise from across our core capabilities to navigate broader business challenges around leading through change, transforming for growth and keeping top talent.

Our solutions are powered by the Korn Ferry Intelligence Cloud and are enabled by the combination of our rich and unique data and a suite of Digital Performance Management Tools that combine the expertise of Korn Ferry with the power of Open artificial intelligence ("AI").

Focused on business outcomes, the combination of Korn Ferry intellectual property ("IP") and advanced technology enables our experts to deliver actionable insights and personalized recommendations accurately and efficiently.

We also offer integrated solutions that bring together expertise from across our core capabilities to navigate broader business challenges.

Korn Ferry IP and advanced technology enables our experts to deliver unique, actionable insights and personalized recommendations accurately and efficiently at scale.

These solutions include:

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Businesses need to prepare for the future by creating a culture of learning that helps them quickly adapt to new trends and demands.

Leveraging our Korn Ferry Advance platform, we combine our expertise in leadership development with technology to provide quality coaching and development at scale across organizations.

Leveraging our Korn Ferry Talent Platform, we combine our expertise in leadership development with technology to provide quality coaching and development at scale across organizations.

• M&A Solutions :

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From the assessment and selection of leaders to drive the go-forward strategy, to the future organization design and governance, we help shape the combined purpose, ensure you have the right people in the right roles and craft the integration and change management activities to maximize the investment.

We also help buyers achieve leadership and cultural accretive acquisitions which drive superior financial results.

• Environmental, Social & Governance ("ESG") and Sustainability :

We believe our people-focused approach to ESG practices contribute to long-term value creation.

By aligning strategy, people and business operations in this area, we help companies build resilience, foster innovation, and improve their reputation, positioning them for sustainable growth and success in both turbulent and prosperous times.

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion :

We believe diverse and inclusive organizations drive better business performance, attract and retain high-caliber talent, foster innovation for competitive advantage, and enhance brand reputation.

We also help buyers achieve leadership and culturally accretive acquisitions which drive superior financial results.

• Culture, Change and Communication:

We align organization culture to business strategy to enhance performance and employee engagement, providing comprehensive support for culture transformation, effective change management, and strategic communication to ensure meaningful and sustainable change.

• Career Transition and Outplacement:

We help parting colleagues make a fresh start faster.

Our career transition services cover personal assessments, coaching, upskilling courses, branding, interview preparation and even onboarding once they land their new job.

• Inclusion :

We believe inclusive organizations drive better business performance, attract and retain high-caliber talent, foster innovation for competitive advantage, and enhance brand reputation.

Our expertise in this area runs deep.

We help clients comply and create more inclusive, equitable, and successful organizations reflective of today's diverse and interconnected world.

• Sales Effectiveness powered by KF Sell :

We help clients create more inclusive organizations reflective of today's interconnected world.

• Sales Effectiveness :

Today's selling environment is more complex than ever, with sales teams challenged to deliver value.

Sellers need the right tools, training, and approach to be successful.

Korn Ferry leverages the KF Sell platform and award-winning Miller-Heiman sales methodology to help organizations achieve their top-line growth objectives.

• Career Mobility for Tech Talent powered by KF Career:

We retain, engage and develop tech talent to create a competitive advantage for our clients' organizations.

For example, using KF Career for Tech, clients can benchmark their teams, identify skill gaps, create career mobility for tech talent and deliver a progressive employee experience where the individuals, team and company move together in synergy.

Korn Ferry leverages the KF Sell product and award-winning Miller-Heiman sales methodology to help organizations achieve their top-line growth objectives.

Our Digital Technology-Enabled Products

Our consulting is supported and enabled by data and we have a robust suite of HR Digital technology products to transform organizations further and faster, at scale.

The insights drive actions.

In addition, our clients purchase these products directly from Korn Ferry via subscription licenses.

Digital technology products include:

• Korn Ferry Profile Manager:

Defines what good looks like in a given role using a combination of psychometric criteria and skills.

Our success profiles are the anchor point for our clients for talent acquisition and development.

• Korn Ferry Architect:

Provides organization structure and workforce/talent planning solutions for an agile, future-focused workforce where everyone has opportunities to develop to their full potential.

• Korn Ferry Assess:

Evaluates and provides insights into an individuals' competencies, traits, drivers, and experiences - essential for determining current and future leadership capabilities.

Tailored to specific business needs and linking skills to strategies, assessments can range from high-volume, tech-driven self-assessments to personalized evaluations and help organizations understand their talent landscape, identify skill gaps, and create development plans to ensure that the right people are in the right roles.

• Korn Ferry Engage:

A comprehensive feedback and survey solution designed to enhance the employee experience within organizations.

We link employee experience and business performance data and apply world-class benchmarks, best-practice advisory and AI-backed analytics to identify gaps and improve engagement and performance.

• Korn Ferry Pay:

Provides the global benchmarking data and insights needed to inform effective and competitive employee compensation programs.

• Korn Ferry Sell:

A native application within Salesforce and Microsoft that combines world-class Miller Heiman sales methodology with powerful analytics driven technology to drive seller actions and increase win rates.

Our Businesses

The Company has recently acquired companies that have added critical mass to our existing Professional Search & Interim business.

This provided the Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM") with the opportunity to reassess how he managed and allocated resources to the prior RPO & Professional Search segment.

Therefore, beginning in fiscal 2023, the Company separated RPO & Professional Search into two segments to align with the CODM's strategy to make separate resource allocation decisions and assess performance separately between Professional Search & Interim and RPO.

The Company now has eight reportable segments that operate through the following five lines of business, supported by a corporate center.

The Company has eight reportable segments that operate through the following five lines of business, supported by a corporate center.

This structure allows us to bring our resources together to focus on our clients and partner with them to solve the challenges they face in their businesses.

While each line of business is strong on its own, as discussed above, the real strength is when our colleagues collaborate and our core solutions that sit in these lines of business are integrated.

Consulting aligns organizational structure, culture, performance, development, and people to drive sustainable growth by addressing four fundamental organizational and talent needs:

Organization Strategy, Assessment and Succession, Leadership and Professional Development, and Total Rewards.

We enable this work with a comprehensive set of Digital Performance Management Tools, based on our best-in-class IP and

The Consulting teams employ an integrated approach across our core capabilities and integrated solutions described above to help clients execute their strategy in a digitally enabled world.

The Consulting teams work across our core capabilities, architecting integrated solutions and technology products described above to help clients execute their strategy in a digitally enabled world.

Summary of financial fiscal 2024 highlights:

• Fee revenue was $677.0 million, an increase of 4.0% compared to fiscal 2022, representing 24% of total fee revenue.

• Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin were $108.5 million and 16.0%, respectively.

• Fee revenue was $695.0 million, an increase of 2.7% compared to fiscal 2023, representing 25.1% of consolidated fee revenue.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $114.3 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin was 16.4%.

• The number of consulting and execution staff at year-end was 1,678 with an increase in the average bill rate (fee revenue divided by the number of hours worked by consultants and execution staff) of $42 per hour or 11% compared to fiscal 2023.

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Competition —The people and organizational consulting market is fragmented, with different companies offering our core solutions.

Our competitors include consulting organizations affiliated with accounting, insurance, information systems, and strategy consulting firms such as McKinsey, Willis Towers Watson and Deloitte.

Our competitors include consulting organizations affiliated with accounting, insurance, information systems, and strategy consulting firms such as AON, Mercer, McKinsey, Willis Towers Watson and Deloitte.

We also compete with smaller boutique firms specializing in specific regional, industry, or functional leadership and human resources ("HR") consulting aspects.

Digital develops technology-enabled Performance Management Tools that empower our clients.

At the core of our offerings is the proprietary Korn Ferry Intelligence Cloud platform.

With access to six billion data points and fortified by our established success methodology, this platform drives a range of Digital Performance Management Tools.

Through these tools, our consultants can analyze business data, benchmark against industry best practices, and deliver personalized recommendations.

Additionally, our clients and their employees can independently utilize these digital tools to identify, implement, and maintain performance enhancements at scale.

Our Digital products include:

Puts the right people, with the right skills in place to deliver.

• KF Architect:

Streamlines the way jobs are designed, organized and evaluated.

Provides insight to understand and improve the employee experience.

Creates a consistent, repeatable sales strategy to maximize sales effectiveness.

Compares and develops the best pay structures to motivate people to perform at their best.

• KF Career for Tech:

Upskill, reskill, develop and deploy an optimized technology workforce.

Digital builds, sells and delivers our technology products.

Our Digital talent technology products enable our clients to make critical talent decisions in the flow of work across talent acquisition and talent development.

This talent suite encompasses integrated products that leverage Korn Ferry’s IP, talent science, and proprietary data into powerful offerings that anchor how organizations hire and develop talent.

Our clients access these products via subscription licenses.

In addition, our talent products enable our consultants to surface actionable insights and provide customized recommendations as part of their consulting engagements.

Summary of financial fiscal 2024 highlights:

• Fee revenue was $354.7 million, an increase of 2.0% compared to fiscal 2022, representing 13% of total fee revenue.

• Fee revenue was $366.7 million, an increase of 3.4% compared to fiscal 2023, representing 13.3% of consolidated fee revenue.

• Subscription and License fee revenue was $131.0 million, an increase of 9.4% compared to fiscal 2023.

• Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin were $97.5 million and 27.5%, respectively.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $108.7 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin was 29.6%.

Client Base —During fiscal 2024, the Digital segment partnered with over 8,000 clients across the globe, and 33% of Digital’s fiscal 2024 fee revenue was referred from Korn Ferry’s other lines of business, primarily Consulting.

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Competition —Again, competition is fragmented in this sector.

We compete with specialist suppliers, and boutique and large consulting companies in each solution area such as AON, Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, SHL, Fuel 50, SkillSoft, Criteria, Predictive Index, Prevue Hire and Textlio.

We compete with specialist HR technology providers, and boutique and large consulting companies in each solution area such as AON, Eightfold, Hogan, KPMG, Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, SHL, and other boutique HR technology firms.

One of our advantages is linking our data, IP and our technology platform across our solutions.

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Our approach to placing talent brings together our research-based IP, proprietary assessments and behavioral interviewing with our practical experience to determine the ideal organizational fit.

Salary benchmarking then helps us build appropriate frameworks for compensation and attraction.

Salary benchmarking then helps us build appropriate frameworks for

compensation and attraction.

This business is managed and reported on a geographic basis and represents four of the Company’s reportable segments (Executive Search North America, Executive Search Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"), Executive Search Asia Pacific ("APAC") and Executive Search Latin America).

Summary of financial fiscal 2024 highlights:

• Fee revenue was $875.8 million, a decrease of 6% compared to fiscal 2022, representing 31% of total fee revenue.

• Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin were $205.8 million and 23.5%, respectively.*

• Fee revenue was $806.2 million, a decrease of 7.9% compared to fiscal 2023, representing 29.2% of consolidated fee revenue.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $171.1 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin was 21.2%.*

• In fiscal 2024, we opened more than 6,000 new engagements with an average of 572 consultants.

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We also believe our long-term incentive compensation arrangements and other executive benefits distinguish us from most of our competitors and are essential in attracting and retaining our top consultants.

Professional Search & Interim delivers enterprise talent acquisition solutions for professional level middle and upper management.

Professional Search & Interim delivers enterprise talent acquisition solutions for permanent placements at the professional level middle and upper management, and, for Interim, those same levels plus senior executives.

The Company helps clients source high-quality candidates at speed and scale globally, covering single-hire to multi-hire permanent placements and interim contractors (that are focused on senior executive, information technology ("IT"), Finance & Accounting and HR roles).

During fiscal 2023, we acquired Infinity Consulting Solutions, a provider of IT interim talent.

We also acquired Salo LLC, a provider of finance, accounting and HR interim talent.

Summary of financial fiscal 2024 highlights:

• Fee revenue was $503.4 million, an increase of 69% compared to fiscal 2022, representing 18% of total fee revenue.

• Average bill rates increased by 26% to $115 per hour in the last quarter of fiscal 2023 from $91 per hour as of January 31, 2022, which was the quarter we acquired our first interim business.

• Fee revenue was $540.6 million, an increase of 7.4% compared to fiscal 2023, representing 19.6% of consolidated fee revenue.

• Average bill rates increased by 10% to $126 per hour in fiscal 2024 from $115 per hour in fiscal 2023.

Average bill rates represent fee revenue from interim services divided by the number of hours worked by consultants providing those services.

• Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin were $110.9 million and 22.0%, respectively.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $101.9 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin was 18.8%.

Client Base —During fiscal 2024, the Professional Search & Interim segment partnered with more than 3,600 clients across the globe, and 21% of Professional Search & Interim’s fiscal 2024 fee revenue was referred from Korn Ferry’s other lines of business.

Competition —We primarily compete for Professional Search & Interim business with regional contingency and large national retained recruitment firms such as Robert Half, Michael Page, Harvey Nash, Robert Walters and BTG.

We believe our competitive advantage is distinct.

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We also work under the One Korn Ferry umbrella to help clients plan for their broader talent acquisition needs as part of their business strategy planning.

RPO offers scalable recruitment outsourcing solutions leveraging customized technology and talent insights.

The Company's scalable solutions, built on science and powered by best-in-class technology and consulting expertise, enable the Company to act as a strategic partner in clients’ quest for superior recruitment outcomes and better candidate fit.

RPO offers scalable recruitment outsourcing and projects solutions leveraging a customized technology enabled service delivery platform and talent insights.

The Company's scalable solutions, built on our IP, science, and data and powered by best-in-class technology and consulting expertise, enable the Company to act as a strategic partner in clients’ quest for superior recruitment outcomes and better candidate fit.

Summary of financial fiscal 2024 highlights:

• Fee revenue was $424.6 million, an increase of 8% compared to fiscal 2022, representing 15% of total fee revenue.

• Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin were $52.6 million and 12.4%, respectively.

• Fee revenue was $354.1 million, a decrease of 16.6% compared to fiscal 2023, representing 12.8% of consolidated fee revenue.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $40.4 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin was 11.4%.

Client Base —During fiscal 2024, the RPO segment partnered with more than 200 clients across the globe, and 53% of RPO fiscal 2024 fee revenue was referred from Korn Ferry’s other lines of business.

Competition —We primarily compete for RPO business with other global RPO providers such as Cielo, Alexander Mann Solutions, IBM, Allegis, Kelly Services and Randstad.

Competition —We primarily compete for RPO business with other global RPO providers such as Cielo, Alexander Mann Solutions, IBM, Allegis, WilsonHCG and Randstad.

Finally, our corporate center manages finance, legal, technology/IT, HR, marketing, and our research arm, the Korn Ferry Institute.

We help clients in four geographic markets:

North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC.

North America, EMEA, APAC and Latin America.

Our geographic markets bring together capabilities from across the organization—infusing industry and functional expertise and skills—to deliver value to our partners.

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We work to understand the relevant macro trends impacting society and the future of work.

After the reopening that followed the global pandemic, it is evident that the world of work has permanently changed and with the emergence of technologies like artificial intelligence ("AI"), the evolution continues.

After the reopening that followed the global pandemic, it is evident that the world of work has permanently changed and with the emergence of technologies like AI, the evolution continues.

We support our clients amid a time of enormous transition and change, with these specific business challenges:

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• Solving leadership challenges arising from the new landscape of hybrid and remote working.

• Delivering for people, planet, and profit, and assisting with ESG and other corporate strategic initiatives.

• Delivering for people, planet, and profit, and assisting with relevant corporate strategic initiatives.

• Finding the right talent in a dynamic and dislocated labor market.

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Our Proprietary Data

We manage and leverage more than six billion data points, including:

We manage and leverage nearly seven billion data points via our Digital technology products and platform, including:

• Over 100 million assessments.

• Engagement data on approximately 36 million employees.

• Rewards data on more than 30 million people covering some 30,000 organizations.

• Rewards data on more than 28 million peopl e covering some 30,000 organizations.

• More than 10,500 individual success profiles covering over 30,000 job titles.

• Organizational benchmark data on more than 12,000 entities.

• Organizational benchmark data on almost 12,000 entities .

• Culture surveys on approximately 600 entities and 7.2 million respondents.

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The Korn Ferry Institute is our research and analytics arm.

The Korn Ferry Institute develops robust research, innovative IP, and advanced analytics to enable Korn Ferry employees to partner with people and organizations to activate their potential and succeed.

The Korn Ferry Institute develops robust research, innovative IP, and advanced analytics which is embedded in our talent products and leveraged by our consultants to enable Korn Ferry employees to partner with people and organizations to activate and exceed their potential.

We have built the Korn Ferry Institute on three core pillars:

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Some project examples from fiscal 2024 include research around:

• Neuroscience

• CEO Outcomes

• Inclusive Boards

• Change-Ready Leader

• Menopause at Work

• AI in the Workplace

• Evolution of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• Leading for Impact

Differentiated IP development supported by leading-edge science and enablement :

We develop and measure what is required for success at work in the new economy.

We develop IP that drives success for our clients.

Our work includes research-based frameworks, assessments, talent development insights, and organization & reward measurement systems that power solutions for people, teams, and organizations.

Examples from fiscal 2024 include IP around:

• Inclusive Language and Leadership

• Learning Agility

• Career Mobility

• Assessments and Interactive Feedback

• Enterprise Success Framework

• Skills-Based Hiring

• Strategic Workforce Planning

• AI-Powered Success Profiles Creation and Improvement

Client Advanced Analytics and Data Management to generate insights:

We integrate and build upon our datasets and external data using advanced modeling and AI.

This allows us to produce predictive insights and deliver demonstrable client impact.

We leverage data to generate insight-driven results.

We continue to strive to prove the value of our IP, products, and data through demonstrable outcomes and the impact our work has on our clients.

During fiscal 2024, we supported the following:

• On-demand Assessment Analytics

• Demographics and Job Factors

• Psychometrics

• Talent Analytics

• Future-Ready Leadership

• Talent Benchmarking & Talent Prediction

• Generative AI-Assisted Text Analytics

• KFI Knowledge Chatbot

In the fiscal year ahead, we intend to continue innovating to drive even greater business and societal impact to:

• Provide research and modeling on the future of work, our solution areas, and industries to support growth and help our science, research and IP remain innovative and relevant.

• Innovate and refine knowledge to strengthen IP, educate colleagues, expand analytics capabilities, and maximize impact across solutions and markets.

• Develop research centers of excellence, expand our partnerships, and further leverage data and insights to drive the impact, completeness and reach of our thought leadership.

• Extend, refine, and integrate our IP for seamless go-to-market and delivery across products and solutions.

• Leverage and monetize the value of our data in providing next-level insight to clients as "One Korn Ferry";

providing data availability, quality, and scalability.

Global Delivery Capability

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Korn Ferry operates in a rapidly changing global marketplace with a diverse range of organizations that offer services and solutions like those we offer.

However, we believe no other company provides the same full range of services, uniquely positioning us for success in this highly fragmented, talent management landscape.

However, we believe no other company provides the same full range of services, enabled by technology and data, uniquely positioning us for success in this highly fragmented, talent management landscape.

Our Market and Approach

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• Leader level Carbon Disclosure Project ("CDP") Rating for 2023 response to climate change questionnaire

• Gold Medal for Sustainability rating from EcoVadis 2022

• Silver Medal for Sustainability rating from EcoVadis 2023

• Gold HIRE Vets Medallion Award 2023, US Department of Labor

• Recognized by Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media) in the best Companies for Parents list 2022, in the Best Companies for Dads list 2022, and as a Top Company in the Executive Women list 2022

• Recognized by Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media) in the best Companies for Parents list 2023, and in the Top 75 Companies for Executive Women list 2023

• Top Global RPO Provider, RPO Baker's Dozen List 2023, HRO Today

• Recognized as a Leader in Recruitment Process Outsourcing in Everest Group's PEAK Matrix Assessment 2022

Our Go-To-Market Approach

• Recognized as a Star Performer & Leader in Recruitment Process Outsourcing in Everest Group's PEAK Matrix Assessment 2023

• Named Number One HR Consulting Firm in Europe, Middle East and Africa, 2023 Statista

• Gold Rating, UK’s Leading Recruiters, 2024 Financial Times

• Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality, 2024 Human Rights Campaign Foundation

Our Go-To-Market Appro ach

Our go-to-market strategy brings together Korn Ferry’s core solutions to drive more integrated, scalable client relationships.

Our goal is to drive topline synergies by increasing growth in the crossline of business referrals.

This has been successful as during fiscal 2023, approximately 80% of revenue came from clients using multiple lines of our business, consistent with fiscal 2022.

This has been successful as during fiscal 2024, more than 75% of fee revenue came from clients using multiple lines of our business.

We intend to continue evolving integrated solutions along industry lines to drive cross-geography and cross-solution referrals.

Our Marquee and Regional Accounts program is a pillar of our growth strategy, which now comprises more than one-third of our revenue, yet only 2% of our clients.

Our Marquee and Regional Accounts program is a pillar of our growth strategy, which now comprises more than one-third of our fee revenue, yet only 2% of our clients.

Its success has been realized by using our own IP and by following a disciplined approach to account planning and management with the addition of Global Account Leaders, resulting in more enduring relationships with clients.

We believe building long-term client relationships of scale delivers less cyclical, more resilient revenue and new business through structured, programmatic account planning and strategic investments in account management talent.

Elevating our Brand

Collaboration between sales, marketing, research and business teams has enabled wider recognition for Korn Ferry in the market and a deeper connection with our customers through our thought leadership and the sharing of timely, news-driven content designed to inspire and challenge conventional points of view around workplace topics.

The provocation we put out into the world is to Be More Than .

Be More Than is about identifying and unleashing potential.

Bring the right opportunity, to the right person, at the right time and it will change their world.

Get people focused, aligned, believing and working together and it can change the world.

The principles behind Be More Than guide our thinking and behavior and represent our commitment to our clients and to each other.

We help unleash potential in people to enable thriving, high-performing teams that collectively power sustainable growth and transform businesses.

Culture and Workforce

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Our global talent promotion process recognizes colleagues for exceptional dedication and service to clients.

We run promotion cycles twice a year to allow us to appreciate the contribution of colleagues more frequently.

In fiscal 2023, we promoted over 1,200 people in our five lines of business and Corporate.

Most years we run promotion cycles twice a year to allow us to appreciate the contribution of colleagues more frequently.

In fiscal 2024, we promoted over 840 people i n our five lines of business and Corporate.

We offer competitive benefits across the globe customized to each country we operate in based on market prevalence and cultural relevance.

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Our progressive benefit offerings in the U.S.

helped us earn top recognitions by Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media) as the best company for Parents 2022, Top Company for Dads 2022, Top Company for Female Professionals 2022, and as one of the Human Rights Campaign’s Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality 2022.

helped us earn top recognitions by Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media) as the best company for Parents 2023, Top Company for Female Professionals 2023, and as one of the Human Rights Campaign’s Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality 2024.

We believe in teaching and mentoring to support our colleagues’ career growth and success.

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business