Iron Mountain

Iron Mountain Incorporated, headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, stands as an S&P 500 company and the world's preeminent provider of information management services and data center solutions. With a remarkable 73-year history dating back to 1951 and 28,850 employees operating across 58 countries, Iron Mountain serves more than 220,000 customers globally, ranging from Fortune 1000 enterprises to small businesses, government agencies, and healthcare institutions. The company's annual revenue reached a record $6.15 billion in 2024, representing 12.2% growth, with adjusted EBITDA of $2.24 billion and a market capitalization of $37.4 billion. Operating as a real estate investment trust (REIT), Iron Mountain has transformed from its origins as a specialized underground storage facility into a diversified enterprise offering comprehensive solutions across physical and digital asset management.

The company's founding story is uniquely rooted in Cold War-era America. Herman Knaust, who had made his fortune growing and marketing mushrooms, purchased a depleted iron ore mine and 100 acres in Kingston, New York for $9,000 in 1936 to expand his mushroom cultivation operations. By 1950, as the mushroom market shifted, Knaust recognized an alternative use for his underground facility. In 1951, he established Iron Mountain Atomic Storage Corporation, capitalizing on the Cold War climate to offer bomb-resistant storage solutions 200+ feet below the earth's surface. The company's first customer was East River Savings Bank, which transported microfilm copies of deposit records in armored cars for secure underground storage. Opening its first sales office in the Empire State Building, Iron Mountain pioneered the concept of secure off-site storage for vital business records. By the mid-1980s, the company became the first records management provider to use UPC bar codes for tracking, and in 1996, upon reaching $100 million in annual revenue, Iron Mountain completed its initial public offering.

Today, Iron Mountain operates through multiple integrated business segments that leverage its extensive global infrastructure and deep customer relationships. The Records and Information Management (RIM) segment provides secure storage, retrieval, and destruction services for physical records and media, maintaining a 92.7% customer retention rate. The Digital Solutions segment offers document scanning, digital archiving, and cloud-based data management services that help customers transition from physical to digital formats. The Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) division, significantly strengthened by the January 2024 acquisition of Regency Technologies for $200 million, provides IT asset disposition (ITAD) services, processing over 50,000 metric tons of material annually and reselling more than 2 million units across eight U.S. locations. The fastest-growing segment is Iron Mountain Data Centers, which operates 30+ colocation facilities globally providing secure, sustainable, carrier and cloud-neutral infrastructure matched by 100% renewable energy. This division saw revenue climb 25% in 2024 to $620 million, with the company planning to lease 125 megawatts in 2025 as part of its ambitious 'Matterhorn growth strategy.'

Iron Mountain's competitive differentiation stems from several unique factors. The company operates the world's most extensive underground data centers, situated 200+ feet below the earth's surface and surrounded by natural limestone, providing unparalleled natural disaster protection. Its sustainability leadership is demonstrated through data centers matched by 100% renewable power and customers able to take credit for green energy through the Green Power Pass program. As a trusted partner to highly regulated industries, Iron Mountain maintains comprehensive compliance certifications including HIPAA, FISMA High, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, and SOC 2/3. The company's global logistics network and local presence in 58 countries enable seamless service delivery for multinational clients. Under the leadership of President and CEO William Meaney since 2013, Iron Mountain has successfully executed a transformation strategy that diversified revenue streams beyond traditional records storage into high-growth areas like data centers and digital services. Recent major investments include acquiring two Virginia data center development sites in November 2024 adding 350+ megawatts of planned capacity, and launching the InSight DXP platform in August 2024 integrating physical and digital data management. With record Q1 2025 revenue of $1.6 billion (up 7.8% year-over-year) and strong 2025 guidance projecting 8-11% revenue growth and 11-13% adjusted EBITDA growth, Iron Mountain continues to capitalize on secular trends including enterprise digital transformation, data center capacity constraints, cloud adoption, and regulatory compliance requirements.