Gartner

Operations

Gartner is a research and advisory firm with three business segments: research, conferences, and consulting. As of December 2024, Gartner has over 21,000 employees globally and operates in 90 countries and territories. It is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Gene A. Hall is the chief executive officer.

Gartner is a publicly traded company listed on the S&P 500.

History

1980s

Gideon Gartner and David Stein founded Gartner, Inc. in 1979 to provide IT industry research and analysis to businesses buying and selling computer hardware. Gideon Gartner had previously worked at IBM, and his new firm specialized in information about IBM and its products.{{Cite book |last1=Pollock |first1=Neil |last2=Williams |first2=Robin |date=December 31, 2015 |title= How Industry Analysts Shape the Digital Future |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJBPCwAAQBAJ&dq=Gideon+Gartner+had+previously+worked+at+IBM,+and+Gartner+specialized+in+information+about+IBM+and+its+products.&pg=PA268 |access-date=January 16, 2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=9780191014963 |page=268 |quote=A key historical element of the formation of Gartner was the dominance of IBM in the growing market for IT applications software. Gideon Gartner had initially been working for IBM. As well as holding insider knowledge of IBM products, he explained that his job gave him insights into how these products related to those of IBM's competitors[.]}}

Gartner's reports were often delivered as a one-pager containing only high-level insights.{{cite news |last=Gagner |first=Ken |title=14 tech luminaries we lost in 2021 How Industry Analysts Shape the Digital Future |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QZNPCwAAQBAJ&dq=when+did+gartner+introduce+the+Magic+Quadrant&pg=PA169 |access-date=January 16, 2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=9780191014963 |page=169 |quote=From our own discussions with Gideon Gartner and Gartner employees, we know it was first discussed within Gartner around the mid-1980s[.]}} and began to integrate the methodology into their presentations and later reports.{{Cite book |last1=Pollock |first1=Neil |last2=Williams |first2=Robin |date=December 31, 2015 |title= How Industry Analysts Shape the Digital Future |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QZNPCwAAQBAJ&dq=when+did+gartner+introduce+the+Magic+Quadrant&pg=PA169 |access-date=January 16, 2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=9780191014963 |page=169 |quote=We looked through our Scenario conference binders from 1985 to 1987—did not find any Magic Quadrants in the 1985 binder, one in 1986 and 1987. [...] Given our rigid discipline back in the 1980s of limiting Research Notes to two pages, we suspect that the Magic Quadrant appearance in presentations most likely predates their appearance in a Research Note[.]}} By 1983, the firm employed 80 research analysts and generated $8 million in revenue.

In 1985, Gartner's brokerage and investment division separated from the firm to become a wholly owned subsidiary called Gartner Securities. Two years later, the name was changed to SoundView Financial Group, which eventually operated as SoundView Technology Group.{{cite news |title=SoundView Gets Sold: To Wit

In July 1986, Gartner rebranded as Gartner Group and became a publicly traded company. In January 1987, Gartner Group acquired another technology research firm, the Cupertino-based Infocorp. That same year Gartner reported $25 million in sales and $1.9 million in earnings.

The U.K.-based Saatchi & Saatchi acquired Gartner Group in 1988.

1990s

In 1990, Gartner Group was taken private by Gideon Gartner and other executives in an acquisition deal backed by funding from Bain Capital and Dun & Bradstreet, then a Bain client. Under Bain ownership, Gartner refocused on IT industry pricing data and expanded its profit margins from 10 percent to 30 percent. Dun & Bradstreet acquired a majority share in Gartner in 1993.{{cite news |title=Gartner sold again

Gartner went public again in October 1993, with Dun & Bradstreet maintaining a 50 percent stake.

Over the next eight years, Gartner acquired or made substantial investments in 30 companies, including the market research firm Dataquest and the online news outlet TechRepublic. The deals were part of a diversification strategy that coincided with the dot-com bubble, and Gartner acknowledged that it struggled to integrate these new companies into its operations. Gartner sold TechRepublic to CNET only a year after acquiring the company.

In 1995, Gartner introduced its hype cycle framework, which purported to show how emerging technology is applied and adopted over a typical life cycle.{{Cite book |last1=Pollock |first1=Neil |last2=Williams |first2=Robin |date=December 31, 2015 |title= How Industry Analysts Shape the Digital Future |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QZNPCwAAQBAJ&dq=Gartner+introduced+the+%22Hype+Cycle%22+in+1995&pg=PA45 |access-date=January 16, 2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=9780191014963 |page=45 |quote=To address these challenge, Gartner introduced in 1995 another instrument: the Hype-Cycle [.] This simplified 'signature graphic' offers a graphic representation of the dynamics of emerging technology fields. It shows characteristic changes over time in expectations about a promising technology[.]}}

2000s–present

In August 2004, Gene A. Hall became Gartner's new CEO, replacing Michael D. Fleisher. Hall previously worked with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company before managing a division at Automatic Data Processing.{{cite news |last=Soule |first=Alexander |title=Gartner beats own forecast

In 2008, Gartner reached $1.3 billion in revenues and achieved 40 percent of the IT research market.

In 2009, Gartner acquired AMR Research, a Boston-based research and advisory firm focused on supply chain management. The acquisition of AMR and direct competitors like META Group and the Burton Group allowed Gartner to expand its global operations and product and service offerings.

In March 2014, Gartner announced that it had acquired the privately held company Software Advice for an undisclosed amount. Also in 2014, Gartner coined the term "Digital BizOps" and further developed the early philosophy for digital business operations. In July 2015, Gartner acquired Nubera, the business app discovery network that owns properties like GetApp (a peer review site), AppStorm, AppAppeal, and CloudWork. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. In September 2015, it acquired the privately held peer review site (PRS) Capterra.

In June 2016, Gartner announced that it had acquired the privately held company SCM World, headquartered in London. In 2017, Gartner acquired CEB, an Arlington-based talent management and operations consulting firm, for $2.6 billion. The deal included $700 million in CEB debt. Two months later, Gartner further expanded its marketing offerings with the acquisition of Scott Galloway's digital benchmarking firm L2.

On May 26, 2023 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled charges against Gartner for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The SEC asserted that from approximately December 2014 through August 2015 Gartner had a corrupt relationship with a South African company with close ties to the South African government, which Gartner knew would result in official bribery. In the settlement, the SEC ordered Gartner to stop violating the FCPA and Gartner agreed to pay $2,456,764. The SEC made note that Gartner was open and cooperative.

Stock price declined 49% in 2025.

References

References

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52. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2025/08/06/gartner-stock-down-49-learn-why-what-ceo-can-do-and-and-whether-to-buy-it/ Gartner Stock Down 49%. Learn Why, What CEO Can Do, And Whether To Buy $IT]