What McKinsey & Company does

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 and headquartered in New York, operating as a privately held partnership with approximately 40,000 human employees and 25,000+ AI agents across 130+ offices in 65+ countries. The firm serves Fortune 500 enterprises, government agencies, and major institutions across 26+ industry verticals, including Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Public Sector. Its delivery model has shifted from purely hours-based consulting to a platform-plus-expertise approach built around the Lilli generative AI platform (deployed firmwide since July 2023), the QuantumBlack AI and advanced analytics division, and industry-specific solutions such as ACRE for agricultural commodities and McKinsey Center for Agricultural Transformation.

Revenue is generated through professional services fees, with an estimated 25% of total global fees now derived from outcome-based pricing arrangements tied to measurable client results rather than hours billed. Customer acquisition is largely reputation-driven, leveraging McKinsey Global Institute thought leadership, McKinsey Insights and the McKinsey Podcast, executive events, and direct C-suite relationships. Recent strategic moves include founding partnership in OpenAI's $150M Partner Network, board restructuring under chairman Andrew Pickersgill, scaling of agentic AI workflows, and the 2025 launch of its first global brand platform 'What's Your Next Brilliant Move?'. The firm continues to operate amid legacy legal headwinds, including a $650 million Purdue Pharma settlement with the US Department of Justice.

Name

McKinsey & Company

Legal name

McKinsey & Company, Inc.

Website

https://mckinsey.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1926

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

McKinsey & Company is a global privately held management consulting firm founded in 1926, serving Fortune 500 enterprises, governments, and institutions across 26+ industry verticals via approximately 40,000 employees and 25,000+ AI agents, with proprietary AI platforms Lilli and QuantumBlack.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting

NAICS

Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services (541611), Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Strategy & Corporate Development Consulting (BPAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Strategy Advisory (BPAHADAA), Data, Analytics & AI Consulting (BPAHAEAF)

Keywords

• Management consulting services
• Strategic advisory consulting
• Digital transformation consulting
• Enterprise AI consulting
• Corporate strategy advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Management Consulting Fees: Traditional hourly or fixed-fee billing for strategic consulting engagements with enterprise clients across industries. McKinsey derives revenue from advising C-suite executives on strategy, operations, digital transformation, and organizational change.
2. Outcome-Based Pricing: Performance or outcome-based fee arrangements for AI-related and transformation projects. Approximately 25% of McKinsey's total global fees now derive from outcomes-based deals, reflecting industry shift toward measurable results rather than hours logged.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that advises C-suite executives, boards, and senior leadership of large enterprises and government agencies on strategy, operations, digital and AI transformation, organizational change, and corporate finance. The firm delivers engagements through dedicated industry practices (Aerospace & Defense, Financial Services, Healthcare, Automotive, etc.) and supplements consulting expertise with proprietary AI tools such as Lilli and QuantumBlack, plus the Solutions platform combining software, data, and talent.

Product overview

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm offering strategic consulting services across 26 industry verticals including Aerospace & Defense, Agriculture, Automotive, Chemicals, Financial Services, Healthcare, Technology, and more. The firm operates as a platform-plus-expertise model combining consulting capabilities with proprietary technology solutions. Key products include Lilli (internal AI chatbot platform used by 70% of 45,000 employees for research and synthesis), QuantumBlack (AI/analytics division offering workflow automation and hybrid human-AI team design), Solutions (proprietary software, data, and talent offerings), and industry-specific platforms like ACRE for agricultural commodities and MCAT for agricultural transformation. McKinsey.org provides societal impact programs including Forward learning. The firm recently launched its first global brand platform 'What's Your Next Brilliant Move?' to rebrand as a transformation partner. McKinsey has deployed 25,000+ AI agents alongside human staff and operates across 100+ offices worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey: McKinsey's AI and advanced analytics center of excellence focused on applying AI and machine learning to business challenges.
• McKinsey Sustainability
• McKinsey Global Institute

Products and services

• Management Consulting Services Strategic advisory, operational improvement, digital and AI transformation, organizational change management, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance services delivered to C-suite executives, boards, and government leaders across 26+ industries.
• QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey AI and advanced analytics consulting division offering workflow automation, predictive analytics, agentic AI deployment, and hybrid human-AI team design for enterprise transformation.
• Solutions Proprietary software, data assets, and talent solutions that McKinsey combines with consulting expertise to deliver faster insights and measurable impact for clients.
• ACRE (Agricultural Commodity Risk Expertise) Agricultural commodity risk platform combining proprietary market outlooks, pricing data, and expert insights to help food companies, governments, and agricultural players make better pricing, crop selection, and sales decisions.
• McKinsey Center for Agricultural Transformation (MCAT) Center focused on reducing poverty, improving climate resilience, creating jobs, improving nutrition, and fostering economic growth through successful agricultural transformations in emerging markets.
• Enterprise AI Transformation Engagements (via OpenAI/Anthropic/AppliedAI partnerships) Co-delivered enterprise AI transformation programs combining McKinsey's consulting expertise with OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), and AppliedAI (Opus) technologies for deployments such as Brown & Brown's 23,000-employee Claude rollout and agentic AI back-office transformations achieving >99% manual effort reduction.
• Lilli AI Platform (internal/client-facing advisory enabler) Proprietary generative AI platform used in McKinsey's consulting delivery to perform search, synthesis, and first-draft slide creation from text prompts, reducing research and synthesis time by 30% and saving an estimated 1.5 million hours of human work annually.

Quantifiable outcome

• 70% of employees actively using Lilli AI platform approximately 17 times per week
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, regional and minor.

• AnthropiccoreTechnology or Integration · 23 July 2026Brown & Brown partnered with Anthropic (alongside McKinsey and Accenture) to deploy Claude AI platform across 23,000 employees. McKinsey provides transformation advisory while Anthropic provides AI technology. Pilot results showed productivity gains of 2x to 8x.
• Thryve.EarthcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 July 2026McKinsey joined Google and Tencent in purchasing carbon removal credits from Thryve.Earth's Sulawesi, Indonesia agroforestry project. McKinsey committed to purchasing over 75,000 tonnes of CO2 removal over 10 years through forward purchase agreements providing Thryve.Earth with funding certainty for restoration work.
• Frontier (Carbon Removal Coalition)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 June 2026McKinsey joined Frontier coalition including Google, Anthropic, Salesforce, Stripe, and others in committing $915 million Growth Advanced Market Commitment for future carbon removal, bringing total Frontier investments to $1.8 billion. McKinsey Sustainability participates as founding member.
• Uzbekistan Agency for Industrial CooperationregionalStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 June 2026Uzbekistan's Agency for Industrial Cooperation and Public Procurement held working meeting with McKinsey representatives to discuss strategic cooperation for developing the country's mining sector. Talks focused on preparing industry development strategy, adopting international best practices, and implementing Supplier Development Program.
• OpenAIcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 June 2026McKinsey is a founding partner in OpenAI's Partner Network backed by $150 million investment to train and certify 300,000 consultants by end of 2026. The program enables McKinsey to build, sell, and deliver enterprise AI solutions using OpenAI technologies.
• AppliedAIcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 May 2026AppliedAI and McKinsey collaborated to help regulated enterprises transform mid and back-office operations using agentic AI. The partnership combined McKinsey's transformation expertise with AppliedAI's Opus platform, achieving over 99% reduction in manual processing effort in joint deployments.
• Team Visma | Lease a BikeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional cycling team uses advanced analytics tools developed in partnership with McKinsey & Company to process data on training, nutrition, race simulations, and athlete recovery. The system integrates previously scattered information into a unified platform supporting sports decision-making.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Boston Consulting Group (BCG): Closest direct competitor to McKinsey as a top-tier global strategy consulting firm serving Fortune 500 CEOs on strategy, transformation, and digital. BCG's BCG X, GAMMA, and Center for Customer Insight mirror McKinsey's QuantumBlack and Global Institute capabilities.
• Bain & Company: The third member of the MBB trio, Bain competes head-to-head with McKinsey on strategy, operations, and private equity advisory engagements. Bain's Vector and Advanced Analytics groups are analogous to McKinsey's QuantumBlack in AI/analytics delivery.
• Oliver Wyman: Strategy consulting firm (part of Marsh McLennan) competing with McKinsey across financial services, healthcare, automotive, and energy — verticals where McKinsey has dedicated practices (e.g., A&D, chemicals, banking). Comparable boutique-style senior partner engagement model.
• Kearney: Global strategy and management consulting firm with overlapping operations, procurement, and transformation practices. Kearney's comparable size and C-suite engagement model make it a peer, particularly in industrials, consumer goods, and operations consulting.
• Roland Berger: European-headquartered strategy consultancy competing with McKinsey globally, with strong practice overlap in automotive, industrials, and energy — sectors where McKinsey has dedicated senior partners (Stuttgart, São Paulo, New York offices).
• Booz Allen Hamilton: Strategy and technology consulting firm with deep federal/defense overlap with McKinsey's Aerospace & Defense practice (which serves 18 of top 20 defense companies). Strong competitor for government AI transformation and national security advisory mandates.
• Arthur D. Little (ADL): Global management consulting firm competing with McKinsey in strategy, innovation, and operations across energy, chemicals, automotive, and telecom — verticals where McKinsey's senior partner network is concentrated (Stockdale, Ferreira, Lavandier).

Broad incumbents

• Accenture: Larger, publicly-traded professional services incumbent competing with McKinsey on enterprise transformation, technology implementation, and now AI services. Accenture's $450M+ generative AI bookings make it a direct rival for AI-led transformation mandates McKinsey targets.
• Deloitte: Big Four advisory firm competing with McKinsey on strategy, human capital, and operations consulting. Deloitte's Monitor Deloitte and Omnia AI platform overlap directly with McKinsey's strategy practice and QuantumBlack offerings.

Emerging players

• Palantir Technologies: Data analytics and AI platform company increasingly competing with McKinsey/QuantumBlack on enterprise AI deployment. Palantir's Foundry/AIP and government/defense contracts put it in direct competition for the same transformation mandates McKinsey pursues via AppliedAI and Anthropic partnerships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/McKinsey
• Facebookfacebook.com/mckinsey
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mckinsey

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A27 records

Investments17 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about McKinsey & Company