stockrowWhat it does
Iron Mountain is a real estate investment trust that provides information management, digital transformation, information security, data-center and asset lifecycle management services. It was founded in 1951, is headquartered in Boston, and is led by President and Chief Executive Officer William L. Meaney.
Its core records-management operation stores physical business records and also handles information services, vital records, courier work, and sensitive-document collection and disposal. Digital Solutions converts documents into digital formats, stores information and provides information-management tools across the lifecycle of a customer’s information. Its Global Data Center Business supplies enterprise data-center facilities and capacity designed for hyperscale customers, supporting customers’ IT infrastructure. Asset Lifecycle Management, or ALM, manages the retirement of IT equipment: secure logistics, data erasure, processing, recycling, remarketing and workplace-device services.
The company also provides secure shredding, media and archive services, consumer storage, and technical handling, installation and storage of fine art. Its customers include commercial, legal, financial, healthcare, technology, insurance, life-sciences, energy, business-services, entertainment and government organizations. It operates as a REIT and had more than 1,340 locations globally as of December 31, 2025.
How it makes money
Iron Mountain earns storage-rental revenue and service revenue. Storage rental is primarily recurring periodic charges for storing physical materials or data, generally priced per unit; it also includes data-center revenue. Service revenue comes from handling records, pickups and deliveries, secure shredding, IT asset decommissioning and disposition, recycling or sale of IT equipment, document scanning and conversion, consulting, and software-as-a-service offerings including DXP.
The Global RIM Business is its largest reported segment, with $5.3 billion of FY2025 revenue. It includes records management, data management, digital solutions, shredding, media and archive services, and consumer storage. Records management generated $4.4 billion in FY2025 revenue, while storage rental generated $4.1 billion. Records-management storage agreements generally run from one to five years. The company had stored more than 740 million cubic feet of physical volume at December 31, 2025.
The Global Data Center Business generated $803.4 million in FY2025 revenue. Data-center leases had a weighted average expiration of 10.3 years at December 31, 2025. Corporate and Other, which primarily comprises ALM and Fine Arts, generated $806.8 million in FY2025 revenue. ALM generates fees for handling the full lifecycle of IT hardware and can also generate proceeds from recycling or sale.
FY2025 revenue was approximately $6.9 billion; management said on the call that Q2 2026 revenue was $2.03 billion. Cost of sales is primarily labor, facility occupancy, data-center pass-through power, transportation, product costs, equipment and supplies, with labor and occupancy the largest components.
| Product or service | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Records management | $4.4 billion | 31.8% | 7.92% |
| Storage rental | $4.1 billion | 29.4% | 10.1% |
| Service | $2.8 billion | 20.6% | 15.5% |
| Information destruction | $1.2 billion | 8.77% | 27.0% |
| Data center lease-based intangible assets | $803.4 million | 5.82% | 29.6% |
| Data management | $504.7 million | 3.66% | −2.07% |
Customers and how it sells
Iron Mountain serves more than 240,000 customers in 61 countries, including approximately 95% of the Fortune 1000. No single customer accounted for more than approximately 3% of FY2025 revenue. It sells directly across a broad set of industries and uses its existing customer base to cross-sell records, digital, data-center and ALM services; approximately 5% of customers bought from more than one business unit at December 31, 2025.
The United States generated $4.6 billion, or 66.3%, of FY2025 revenue. Remaining Countries generated $1.6 billion, or 22.5%; the United Kingdom generated $472.6 million, or 6.85%; and Canada generated $302.4 million, or 4.38%. The Global RIM segment operates in all 61 countries, while data centers operated across 21 global markets and ALM operated 34 facilities across eight global markets as of December 31, 2025.
Management said on the call that a major global hyperscaler leased 51 megawatts in Mumbai under a 10-year contract, and that a long-standing business-services customer selected Iron Mountain for a multiyear global ALM program across North America, EMEA and APAC.
| Region | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $4.6 billion | 66.3% | 14.1% |
| Remaining Countries | $1.6 billion | 22.5% | 10.0% |
| United Kingdom | $472.6 million | 6.85% | 10.8% |
| Canada | $302.4 million | 4.38% | −0.25% |
Suppliers and costs
Iron Mountain’s cost base is service- and property-intensive rather than manufacturing-intensive. Its largest operating costs are labor and facility occupancy, including rent and utilities. Other material costs include data-center pass-through power, transportation such as vehicle leases and fuel, equipment, supplies and other product costs. Selling, general and administrative expense includes pay and benefits for management, administrative, IT, sales, account-management and marketing employees, as well as communications, travel, professional fees, bad debts, training and office costs.
The company owned or operated more than 98 million square feet of real estate worldwide, including an owned footprint of more than 24 million square feet, at December 31, 2025. Its depreciation primarily reflects storage systems, buildings, improvements, data-center infrastructure, racking and computer hardware and software. Its amortization includes customer and supplier relationship intangibles, contract costs and data-center lease-based intangibles. The company does not identify a sole-source supplier in the provided information.
Inflation can affect costs, while facility-occupancy costs vary with the number of facilities, owned-versus-leased mix, per-square-foot costs, utilization and data-center power costs.
- Revenue$6.9B
- Cost of revenue−$3.1B
- Selling, general and administrative−$1.4B
- Other operating costs−$1.3B
- Operating income$1.2B
Competitive position
Iron Mountain competes globally with storage and information-management providers and with organizations that manage these functions internally. Competition in records and information management is based on pricing, reputation and reliability, storage quality and security, and technology scope and scale. In data centers, it competes with developers, owners and operators in some of the same metropolitan areas; relevant factors include power availability, security, location, connectivity and rental rates. In ALM, it competes with hyperscalers, corporate customers conducting their own asset recycling and disposition, and external competitors.
No individual competitor is named in the provided company information. Iron Mountain says that many rivals operate in only one market or region, while its offering is global. It also identifies security, chain of custody, longstanding customer relationships, its global footprint, operational scale, comprehensive offerings and cross-selling as differentiating characteristics. The company had 31 data centers across 21 markets and had leased approximately 97% of its existing 488 MW of data-center capacity at December 31, 2025.
Our reading: The global physical-records network, relationships and recurring storage arrangements form a meaningful moat because they link customer trust, logistics and stored physical volume across 61 countries. [item1]
Our reading: Data-center competition remains material because customers compare power, location, connectivity, security and rental rates, despite Iron Mountain’s existing global footprint and compliance program. [item1]
Growth opportunities
Iron Mountain’s growth plan spans physical records, digital solutions, data centers and ALM. In records management, it is pursuing volume growth, revenue-management opportunities, integrated services and expansion in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The company expects near-term organic storage-rental growth to be driven by revenue management in Global RIM and lease commencements in Global Data Centers.
Digital Solutions is intended to support customers’ digital transformation and access to data. Management said on the call that Digital Solutions achieved record quarterly revenue and that its recurring revenue was more than 45% of digital-business revenue. Management also said it expects its IRS digital-business contract to generate more than $100 million of revenue in 2027 and continue for years thereafter.
Data-center expansion rests on leasing capacity and bringing previously contracted projects into service. Management said on the call that approximately 325 megawatts of leasable capacity is expected to energize over the next 24 months; it also cited 100 megawatts of future development capacity in India. The company had 852 MW under construction or held for development at December 31, 2025.
For ALM, the company is expanding through cross-selling, new capabilities and tuck-in acquisitions. Management said on the call that the company sizes the ALM market at $35.0 billion and said hyperscale data-center decommissioning is expected to grow from $3.0 billion to about $6.0 billion over four or five years.
- $4.5BFY2021
- $5.1BFY2022
- $5.5BFY2023
- $6.1BFY2024
- $6.9BFY2025
- $1.0BFY2026 guidance
Structural risks
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The company’s strategic growth plan depends on maintaining customer and supplier relationships, adding digital technologies to its offerings, executing investments and acquisitions, controlling inflation-related costs, and recruiting and retaining skilled employees, particularly in newer businesses.
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Customers’ evolving approaches to record storage could affect storage revenue. The company also faces the risk that demand for physical storage declines, leaving real estate underused and creating costs to vacate or consolidate facilities.
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Data-center expansion requires significant capital. Data-center competition is based partly on power availability, and real-estate costs, property taxes, rent, utilities and power costs can affect operating costs and margins.
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Operations across 61 countries expose the company to currency movements, changing laws and regulations, sanctions and anti-corruption requirements, cross-border operating complexity, political uncertainty, trade restrictions, supply-chain challenges and local hiring difficulties.
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Joint ventures and co-investments can limit Iron Mountain’s decision-making authority, require unplanned capital if partners do not fund contributions, and create conflicts or disputes with partners.
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Data privacy, cybersecurity and environmental obligations can create compliance, remediation, litigation, fine and reputational risks. The development and use of AI in its business and operations also presents risks and challenges.
Bottom line
Our reading
Our reading: Iron Mountain combines a large recurring physical-storage operation with service businesses and an expanding data-center and ALM platform. Its operating model depends on secure custody, logistics, real estate and customer relationships, while data-center construction and ALM expansion add capital, execution and market-demand exposure. [item1, item1a, item7]
Our reading: The largest reported segment remains Global RIM, while data centers and ALM are central to the company’s stated growth plans; the business also operates across many countries and regulatory regimes. [item1, call_prepared]