nyse kfy industry professional services founded los angeles california 1969 headquarters los angeles california usa key people founders lester korn richard ferry ceo gary burnison revenue us 1.346 billion q4 fy16 1 net income us 30.913 million q4 fy16 2 number of employees 7 000 2016 website www.kornferry.com korn ferry headquartered in los angeles is an organizational and people advisory firm and the world s largest provider of executive search . 3 4 contents 1 history 2 expansion and acquisitions 3 company overview 4 references 5 external links history edit the firm was founded in 1943 by lester korn and richard ferry . 5 the two first met in 1962 when they worked for the same los angeles accounting firm peat marwick mitchell . before leaving to form korn ferry the two made partner at the firm . according to douglas cowherd the firm brought the practices and standards of professional service firms into the search business . cowherd wrote further that korn ferry innovated in three domains those being creat ing specialty practice groups that focused on recruiting in particular industries computerizing the industry and establishing a global network of offices with its first foreign offices opening in 1972 . by 1987 fifteen years later it had 37 offices in fifteen countries servicing around 1250 client corporations and organizations . by the mid 1980s the company was the largest executive search firm in the world with lester korn serving as chairman and ceo . 6 in 1989 the firm s revenues exceeded 100 million for the first time . 7 expansion and acquisitions edit in asia the company opened its first office during 1973 in tokyo japan . in 1975 korn ferry opened an office in singapore in 1978 they opened offices in malaysia and hong kong in 1987 they opened an office in bangkok thailand in 1994 they opened their first office in india in 1995 they opened their first office in china in 1996 they opened their first office in indonesia in 1998 they opened their first office in south korea and in 2005 they moved their regional head office to shanghai china . 8 korn ferry began acquiring small to medium sized enterprises in the 1970s . in 1977 they acquired the mexico city firm hazzard & associados and in 1979 they acquired australian based guy pease associates . in 1978 the company acquired the uk firm john stork . in 1993 they acquired carre orban . in 1999 they acquired the german firm hofman herbold . in 2000 they acquired australian firm amrop international and pa consulting group . in 2001 they purchased levy kerson helstrom turner westgate group and pearson caldwell and farnworth . as of 2005 korn ferry had 73 offices in forty countries . then in 2007 korn ferry acquired lominger ltd and leader source and in 2008 korn ferry acquired lore international institute . in june 2009 korn ferry acquired the london based executive search firm whitehead mann . in 2010 it acquired sensa solutions . in 2013 korn ferry completed its acquisition of minneapolis based pdi ninth house a leading globally recognized provider of leadership solutions . in 2015 korn ferry also acquired pivot leadership . in 2015 it acquired privately held hr consultancy hay group for 452 million usd . . 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 company overview edit korn ferry assists organizations in attracting engaging developing and retaining their people . services range from executive recruitment to leadership development programs enterprise learning succession planning and recruitment outsourcing . since the firm s inception it has conducted over 100 000 senior level searches 16 and placed about seventy thousand managers . 7 gary burnison a former partner of kpmg serves as the current ceo . 17 korn ferry is known for its headhunting technology . 18 during the 1990s korn ferry began using the internet to help advance its platform . in 1998 korn ferry then partnered with the wall street journal to start futurestep.com which was utilized to help candidates at the middle management level specifically find positions to advance their career . 14 19 in addition to its search services korn ferry publishes surveys of its clients and other employers regarding trends in hiring . 20 21 references edit kfi revenues . nasdaq . korn ferry net incoming . yahoo finance . korn ferry profit doubles . los angeles times . 2005 03 09 . pp . c 2 . retrieved 2009 02 09 . huslin anita 2009 02 09 . search firms feel chill of recession . washington post . retrieved 2009 02 09 . hot growth special report 2006 . business week . 2006 . retrieved 2009 02 09 . stewart d. friedman january 1987 . leadership succession . transaction publishers . pp. 146 . isbn 978 0 88738 162 1 . a b https books.google.ca books id ofgy9sylpgec & pg pa93 https books.google.ca books id epuqbaaaqbaj & pg pa78 https books.google.ca books id epuqbaaaqbaj & pg pa243 https books.google.ca books id epuqbaaaqbaj & pg pa79 https books.google.ca books id epuqbaaaqbaj & pg pa51 https books.google.ca books id epuqbaaaqbaj & pg pa80 http www.telegraph.co.uk finance newsbysector supportservices 5518021 recruitment firm kornferry acquires british headhunter whitehead mann.html a b https books.google.ca books id r3xrlsjrmhqc & pg pr15 https books.google.ca books id y8pe5db jq8c & pg pr11 reese john 2008 01 31 . kfy is a good fit . thestreet.com . retrieved 2009 02 09 . https hbr.org 2013 12 kornferrys ceo on transforming the company in mid crisis https books.google.ca books id epuqbaaaqbaj & pg pa189 https books.google.ca books id ofgy9sylpgec & pg pa92 https books.google.ca books id djjiougug2kc & pg pa184 https books.google.ca books id ldq 25a j1ac & pg pa379 external links edit los angeles portal companies portal korn ferry home retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title korn ferry & oldid 743512513 categories executive search firmscompanies based in los angelescompanies established in 19691969 establishments in californiacompanies listed on the new york stock exchange navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschfran ais edit links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 00 30 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view