A.T. Kearney
Global management consulting firm specializing in operations, procurement, and supply-chain strategy.
On the record
Checkpoint: Next headcount and job-posting reading, showing if 2025 decline continues or reverses
The call
Kearney keeps its clients and its name, but the analyst pipeline that funds its partnership model is thinning under AI and rival pressure.
A.T. Kearney is a consulting company that helps large corporations with operations, buying, and supply chain work. It has long-term relationships with Fortune 500 companies and makes money, but bigger firms like McKinsey, Deloitte, and PwC do the same work and have more resources to compete. AI is now doing the entry-level analysis and report-writing that junior consultants used to do, which is shrinking the number of new hires the firm needs, threatening the career path that makes partnership attractive to ambitious young people. The key question is whether this 2025 job decline is temporary or signals a real shift in how consulting gets done.
Why
01
AI pressure: Generative and agentic AI tools (ChatGPT enterprise, Copilot, in-house LLM agents). AI does the benchmarking, market sizing, and first-draft decks that junior analysts used to bill, cutting the base of the pyramid. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG. Bigger firms with more capital and AI budgets compete directly for Kearney's ops, procurement, and supply-chain accounts. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Long-standing Fortune 500 relationships in procurement and supply chain, plus partner-owned governance that avoids outside shareholder pressure.
What would change this call
Kearney reports headcount growth or a formal layoff announcement within 6 months. Shows whether the 2025 hiring decline is reversing or hardening into sustained contraction.
Beroe partnership becomes an owned data/IP product versus staying a co-marketing arrangement. Indicates whether Kearney is building new high-margin revenue or just relabeling existing services.
Senior partners in procurement or supply-chain practices depart for MBB, Big Four, or boutiques. Would signal erosion of the specialty expertise that differentiates Kearney from larger rivals.
Beroe partnership becomes an owned data/IP product versus staying a co-marketing arrangement. Indicates whether Kearney is building new high-margin revenue or just relabeling existing services.
Senior partners in procurement or supply-chain practices depart for MBB, Big Four, or boutiques. Would signal erosion of the specialty expertise that differentiates Kearney from larger rivals.
Key numbers
- ~$2B revenue in 2025
- ~4% operating margin (EBIT $79.3M on $2.0B)
- Job postings down ~35% in 2025
Named risks
- Junior analyst layer that funds partnership pyramid is exposed to AI automation of benchmarking and data synthesis.
- Job postings fell 35.4% in 2025, signaling hiring slowdown that could compress talent pipeline.
- Unverified anonymous reports of a 2024 brutal layoff cycle remain unconfirmed by mainstream press.
- No structural barrier stops MBB or Big Four from taking Kearney's ops, procurement and digital work.
- Inconsistent revenue figures across sources ($1.2B to $2.0B) suggest limited financial transparency.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| McKinsey, BCG, Bain (MBB) | losing to | Kearney classified Tier 2 below MBB in consulting market guide, July 2026 |
| Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG (Big Four) | contesting | Big Four expanding into Kearney's core operations and procurement work as of 2026 |
| AlixPartners, Oliver Wyman, L.E.K., Strategy& | contesting | Cited as closest Tier 2 peers competing for same client segment, July 2026 |
Questions people ask
- Is Kearney profitable in 2025?
- Yes, per Craft.co estimates for FY2024 Kearney reported about 2.0 billion dollars in revenue, 45.2 million dollars net income and 79.3 million dollars EBIT, giving roughly a low single digit margin typical of partner owned consulting firms as of October 2023 data.
- Is Kearney doing layoffs?
- No formal layoff announcement has been confirmed by mainstream press, but Revelio Labs data shows Kearney Holdings headcount fell from 6,705 in 2024 to 6,321 in 2025, and active job postings dropped 35.4 percent in 2025 to 121, as of June 2026.
- Could AI replace Kearney consultants?
- AI is compressing junior analyst work like benchmarking and first draft decks, the layer that funds Kearney's partnership pyramid, but senior partner relationships and proprietary indices remain harder to automate; Kearney launched its own Velocity AI tool and a March 2026 Beroe partnership to adapt.
- Who is Kearney's biggest competitor?
- Kearney sits in Tier 2 consulting, below McKinsey, BCG and Bain (MBB) and squeezed by Big Four firms Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG expanding into its core operations and procurement work, per a July 2026 consulting market guide.
- Who owns Kearney?
- Kearney is privately held and partner owned under one partner one vote governance among 300 plus partners as of June 2026; it was an EDS subsidiary from 1995 to 2006 before partners completed a management buyout to regain independence.
- What is Kearney's revenue?
- Estimates vary: Wikipedia and Wikiwand cite 2.0 billion dollars for 2025, Craft.co lists FY2024 revenue at 2.0 billion dollars, while Management Consulted estimates about 1.6 billion dollars as of March 2026, reflecting inconsistent aggregator methodology.
Timeline
- 2026-03-19Kearney and Beroe unveil strategic partnership for agentic AI procurement solutions
- 2026-03-03Kearney publishes AI Trends Report 2026
- 2025-02Kearney acquires IMTEK Inc for supply chain planning and systems integration
- 2025-01Kearney acquires Germany based Project Partners for SAP transformation
- 2024-05-08Bob Willen elected tenth managing partner and chairman, succeeding Alex Liu
- 2020-01Firm rebrands from A.T. Kearney to Kearney
- 2006Partners complete management buyout, firm returns to independent ownership
- 1995A.T. Kearney acquired by Electronic Data Systems in 50/50 cash and stock deal
- 1929Andrew Thomas Kearney becomes first partner of predecessor firm
- 1926Kearney's predecessor firm founded, marking the firm's centenary
Revision history
23 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Kearney (consulting firm) (2026-06-15)
- Kearney - Headcount, Funding & Open Jobs (2026-07-05)
- Our story
- Kearney elects Bob Willen as managing partner and chairman (2024-05-08)
- Kearney (consulting firm)
- A.T. Kearney Holdings Company Profile (2023-10-09)
- Kearney Case Interviews & Culture (2026-03-29)
- Management and Employees List
- Working at Kearney (2026-07-02)
- Kearney Holdings Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- Kearney announces strategic acquisition of IMTEK Inc.
- Kearney and Beroe unveil strategic partnership (2026-03-19)