What Management Said
Read the full Q2 2026 transcript ↗GAAP revenue for the second quarter was $310 million, up 1.2% year-over-year. We haven't finalized timing, pricing, or packaging, and we're being intentional to prioritize long-term customer health and the growth potential embedded in a hybrid consumption model. In the quarter, we closed our largest ACV deal ever, a multi-year renewal with a preeminent software customer that expanded their ZoomInfo implementation with both data and seats. Our ZoomInfo Operations business, which is primarily data and not tied to seats, continued to perform well, delivering 20% growth and underscoring the durability of that business.
We now have 1,891 customers with at least $100,000 in ACV, a year-over-year increase of nine customers. Our million-dollar customer count also grew year-over-year, with ACV from that cohort up 16% as our largest customers continue to expand with ZoomInfo. We execute against that transition, which we acknowledge creates near-term uncertainty, we will continue prioritizing profitability and a rigorous risk-adjusted approach to capital allocation. We are laser-focused on driving the maximum long-term free cash flow per share, the key output we can control.
Adjusted operating income was $110 million, up 5% year-over-year, with a margin of 35%. Unlevered free cash flow is $107 million, with $10 million in interest paid in cash during the quarter. Up-market mix of ACV is now 76%, and up-market ACV grew 3% year-over-year. Software is still challenged, in particular in the lowest end of up-market.
What went well
- ZoomInfo exceeded its Q2 guidance, with GAAP revenue of $310 million up 1.2% year-over-year and a 35% adjusted operating margin (up 130 basis points).
- Unlevered free cash flow was $107 million (up 7%, 98% conversion from adjusted operating income), supporting an opportunistic capital-return program.
- The company raised full-year 2026 guidance on Q2 overperformance, to $1.207-$1.217 billion of revenue and $446-$451 million of adjusted operating income (~37% margin).
- The ZoomInfo Operations (data, not seat-based) business grew 20% year-over-year, and the up-market cohort now represents 76% of ACV with million-dollar-customer ACV up 16%.
- ZoomInfo closed its largest-ever ACV deal (a multi-year renewal expanding both data and seats) and won up-market logos including Legora, Cohere, Bank of Montreal and Korn Ferry.
- Capital structure actions included repurchasing 6.3 million shares at $4.51 ($28 million) and, for the first time, retiring $58.5 million of senior notes for $48 million (an $11 million gain, ~$2.3 million annual interest savings), cutting net leverage to 2.3x.
What went wrong
- GAAP results reflected a $651 million non-cash goodwill impairment (driven by the market-cap decline after Q1) plus a $35 million restructuring charge, producing a large GAAP operating loss and negative GAAP EPS.
- Net revenue retention slipped to 89% from 90% in the prior three quarters, pressured by longer sales cycles and software-vertical softness.
- Down-market ACV declined 12% year-over-year as the company deliberately shrinks that segment and shifts to a product-led-growth motion with fewer resources.
- Software remains challenged, especially at the lower end of up-market, with more downsell than churn; up-market ACV growth decelerated to 3% (from 6% then 5% in prior quarters).
- Customers with $100k+ ACV rose nine year-over-year but fell nine sequentially, a decline concentrated in the software vertical.
- Headcount fell ~350 sequentially (down 15% year-over-year) with several hundred more reductions expected as the restructuring completes.
Guidance Changes
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Full-year 2026 GAAP revenue | FY2026 | $1.207B-$1.217B (raised; ~3% YoY decline at midpoint) |
| Full-year 2026 adjusted operating income | FY2026 | $446M-$451M (~37% margin, +130 bps YoY) |
| Full-year 2026 non-GAAP net income per share | FY2026 | $1.12-$1.13 (318M weighted diluted shares) |
| Full-year 2026 unlevered free cash flow | FY2026 | $403M-$423M |
| Q3 2026 GAAP revenue | Q3 2026 | $298M-$301M |
| Q3 2026 adjusted operating income | Q3 2026 | $113M-$115M |
| Q3 2026 non-GAAP EPS | Q3 2026 | $0.28-$0.29 |
| Adjusted levered free cash flow per share (run rate) | entering 2027 | at least $1.25 across a range of scenarios |
Performance Breakdown
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP revenue | $310M (+1.2%) | Up-market and ZoomInfo Operations strength offset by down-market decline and software softness. |
| Adjusted operating income / margin | $110M (+5%); 35% margin (+130 bps) | Cost discipline, restructuring and shift to profitability focus. |
| Unlevered free cash flow | $107M (+7%); 35% margin | 98% conversion from adjusted operating income. |
| ZoomInfo Operations ACV | +20% | Durable, data-centric (non-seat) business. |
| Up-market ACV growth | +3% (76% of ACV) | Software footprint in the lower half of up-market a headwind; non-software verticals healthy. |
| Down-market ACV | -12% | Deliberate reduction of resources and shift to PLG, partly cushioned by gross-retention gains. |
| Net revenue retention | 89% (down from 90%) | Longer sales cycles and software softness pressuring up-sells. |
| GAAP operating result | large loss | $651M non-cash goodwill impairment plus $35M restructuring charge (no impact on cash, taxes, covenants or non-GAAP results). |
| Net leverage | 2.3x (from 2.4x) | Debt repurchase and free-cash-flow generation. |
Earnings Call Themes & Trends
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| GTM.AI / headless context layer | Seat-based platform | Launched GTM.AI, a headless go-to-market context layer with API, MCP and CLI connectors embedding ZoomInfo data natively into Codex, Cursor, Claude, Gemini, Amazon Q, Copilot and dozens more; healthy consumption growth, but no upside baked into guidance. | — |
| Hybrid consumption pricing | Per-seat model | Testing pre-bought consumption-based pricing/packaging with select cohorts (rolling out to new business late Q3, existing customers opportunistically into 2027); explicitly aimed at driving consumption, with near-term uncertainty acknowledged and no significant Q3 revenue impact assumed. | — |
| Up-market shift / customer quality | Broad customer base | 76% of ACV now up-market with a healthier, more resilient base (9 of Fortune 10, ~70% of Fortune 50); largest enterprises' net retention improving year-over-year while the lower end of up-market (software) drags. | — |
| Software-vertical weakness | Emerged in Q1 | Persisting (longer sales cycles, more downsell than churn) but not spreading; non-software verticals show consistent-to-improving gross retention, informing a deliberately conservative back-half posture. | — |
| Products (GTM Studio, Workspace, Agent Teams) | GTM Studio GA in February | Increasing velocity each quarter; customers build unique audiences with unique data attributes (300+ integrations) in Studio and action them in Workspace with governance/auditability; many ambitious releases lined up for the second half to let customers build custom workflows without long IT projects. | — |
| Capital allocation / capital structure | Buybacks | Opportunistic across the capital structure: $28M of buybacks at $4.51 plus a first-ever debt repurchase ($58.5M notes for $48M, $11M gain); comfortable maturity profile (revolver 2028, notes 2029, term loan 2030); TRA payments expected to stay modest for several years. | — |
| Restructuring / cost discipline | May restructuring program | Headcount down ~350 sequentially (15% YoY) with several hundred more to come; adjusted expenses plus SBC improved ~270 bps as a percent of revenue; the year-end cost base is the run-rate into 2027 with G&A/S&M/R&D growing slower than revenue. | — |
| Durable data-asset moat / AI-first demand | — | Management argues you 'cannot token your way' to its data asset, with 27 of the 27 B2B CNBC Disruptor 50 companies and numerous AI-native firms running on ZoomInfo; go-to-market work is increasing and shifting to new interfaces (LLMs, homegrown apps), which ZoomInfo aims to serve at lower prices than competitors given it owns the data. | — |
Q&A Summary
Jaden Patel (JPMorgan) asked what drove the smaller-than-expected second-half deceleration and the guidance raise, plus up-market software ACV.
O'Brien said the raise reflects Q2 overperformance rolled forward with consistent down-market and software assumptions and room around the new pricing rollout; he said software (largely the lower half of up-market) is the headwind while non-software up-market verticals grow at healthy levels.
Allan Verkhovski (BTIG) asked about GTM.AI customer feedback and the Q3 consumption-conversion assumptions.
Schuck said customers are plugging GTM.AI into key workflows (internal apps and LLMs) with healthy consumption growth and no upside baked into guidance; O'Brien said little Q3 impact is assumed as the new pricing rolls out to new business at end of Q3 and to existing customers opportunistically later.
Billy Fitzsimmons (Piper Sandler) asked whether tech-vertical weakness is spreading and about capturing similar pricing under consumption.
O'Brien said non-software verticals show consistent-to-improving performance and gross retention, that software is assumed not to improve near term (informing conservatism), and that the new pricing/product design targets growth across all verticals but it is too early to take credit.
Jacob Gideon (Bank of America) asked about new AI/MCP use cases as leading indicators of demand.
Schuck said the top <1% of companies build their own interfaces combining their data and ZoomInfo's, while downstream customers use programmatic enrichment (daily TAM enrichment, new signals), and that back-half releases will let customers build custom workflows/interfaces without long IT projects.
Nate Ruoss (KeyBanc) asked what signals Workspace adoption and what behaviors the hybrid pricing model is meant to drive.
Schuck said customers get the most from centralizing first-party and ZoomInfo data to build unique audiences in GTM Studio and action them in Workspace with governance and reporting, and that the hybrid pricing model is simply about driving consumption.
Johnathan McCary (Raymond James) asked about win-backs, competitive changes, and up/down-market NDR.
Schuck said win-back trends are consistent (customers returning from lower-price, lower-quality competitors after failed go-to-market strategies) with limited up-market churn but more downsell in software; O'Brien said down-market NDR held on gross-retention gains, while up-market splits between a dragging software lower-end and improving net retention at the largest enterprises.
Patrick Walravens (Citizens) asked about the competitive environment (including Clay) and the debt maturities/TRA.
Schuck called the environment noisy but expressed confidence in GTM Studio and Agent Teams (300+ integrations, unique audiences on a trusted data foundation) with game-changing back-half releases; O'Brien detailed the maturities (revolver 2028, notes 2029, term loan 2030), confidence in cash generation, and that TRA payments should stay modest and are a financing use of cash.
Surinder Thind (Jefferies) asked about the multi-year vision for customer sales forces and whether the year-end cost base is the 2027 run rate.
Schuck said finding and engaging customers is not going away and ZoomInfo's owned data asset is durable (all 27 B2B CNBC Disruptors run on it), with go-to-market work increasing and shifting to new interfaces that ZoomInfo serves flexibly and at lower prices; O'Brien confirmed the year-end cost base is the 2027 run rate, with cost of service possibly growing with/slightly faster than revenue but G&A/S&M/R&D slower.
More on ZoomInfo Technologies Inc.
Reported 2026-08-05 · figures from the ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. Q2 2026 earnings call.
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