Iron Mountain

In 1936 Herman Knaust bought a depleted iron ore mine and grew mushrooms there. In 1945 he sponsored Jewish immigrants who had lost their records in the Second World War, which the company cites as the origin of its mission.⁠[1]

Fearing that a Cold War could destroy information as the Second World War had, Knaust opened the first “vaults” in the mine on August 24, 1951, calling it “his Iron Mountain.” The new Iron Mountain Atomic Storage Corporation stored microfilmed bank ledgers and duplicate signature cards, for no more than 30 customers at first.⁠[2]

The mine, near Livingston in New York’s Hudson Valley, gave the company its name. Knaust marketed the site to New York City banks and corporations as secure underground storage.⁠[3]

In 1975 the company bought a former underground limestone mine across the Hudson River in Rosendale, and in 1978 it opened its first above-ground facility.⁠[1][3]

C. Richard Reese became CEO in December 1981.⁠[4]

Iron Mountain went public in February 1996. Its stock traded on the Nasdaq National Market until April 26, 1999, and then on the New York Stock Exchange as “IRM.” On February 1, 2000, it merged with Pierce Leahy in a stock-for-stock deal valued at $1.0 billion including debt; Pierce Leahy survived and took the name Iron Mountain Incorporated.⁠[5]

On December 29, 2008, S&P Index Services announced Iron Mountain’s addition to the S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry, and the stock was formally included after the market closed on January 5, 2009.⁠[6]

“It is a tremendous honor to join the prestigious S&P 500 Index,” said Bob Brennan, then president and CEO. The company then had more than 20,000 employees worldwide.⁠[7]

In April 2011 Iron Mountain announced a three-year strategic plan including $2.2 billion of stockholder payouts through 2013, and in June it raised the quarterly dividend to $0.25 per share. In October it sold its New Zealand operations for about $10.0 million.⁠[8]

In April 2011 Reese, executive chairman since June 2008, returned as CEO.⁠[4]

On June 3, 2011, the company completed the sale of its online backup and recovery, digital archiving and eDiscovery businesses to Autonomy Corporation plc for $380 million in cash, keeping its software escrow business.⁠[9]

On December 3, 2012, the company announced that Reese planned to retire and that William Meaney would become CEO, president and a director on January 7, 2013.⁠[4]

Reese served as executive chairman until March 15, 2013. Meaney had been CEO of The Zuellig Group, a private conglomerate, from August 2004 to March 2012.⁠[10]

On June 25, 2014, Iron Mountain announced favorable private letter rulings from the Internal Revenue Service, including one on whether its steel racking structures qualify as real estate; it operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) from the taxable year beginning January 1, 2014. “We are delighted to be moving forward with our conversion to a REIT,” Meaney said.⁠[11]

On January 20, 2015, the company completed a merger with its predecessor to impose ownership limitations customary for REITs, converting predecessor shares into an equal number of new common shares. Its principal executive offices were then at One Federal Street, Boston.⁠[12]

On December 19, 2014, Iron Mountain companies agreed to pay $44.5 million to settle allegations that they overcharged federal agencies for records storage under General Services Administration (GSA) contracts from 2001 to 2014, including by failing to pass on lower prices under the price reduction clause. There was no determination of liability.⁠[13]

On May 2, 2016 (Sydney time), Iron Mountain completed its acquisition of Recall Holdings Limited through an Australian scheme of arrangement, for a total purchase price of about US$2,182.0 million based on the April 29 closing price; it paid about US$330.0 million in cash and issued about 50.7 million shares at closing.⁠[14]

Certain operations were excluded and were to be divested under regulatory agreements in the United States, Canada and Australia, while the UK acquisition remained under regulatory review.⁠[15]

On January 10, 2018, Iron Mountain closed its $1.34 billion acquisition of IO Data Centers’ U.S. operations, including four owned data centers in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Edison and Columbus with 62 megawatts of existing capacity.⁠[16]

On March 16, 2021, CEO Bill Meaney unveiled a new logo and the tagline “Climb Higher,” replacing a single mountain with three mountain silhouettes to reflect businesses beyond document storage such as data centers. “The focus is on the customer, not the specific product,” Meaney said.⁠[17]

As of December 31, 2022, Iron Mountain operated in 60 countries and employed approximately 26,000 people; its principal executive offices were in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.⁠[18]

As of December 31, 2025, the company operated 31 data centers in 21 markets with 488 MW of existing capacity, and employed about 11,700 people in the United States and 17,700 elsewhere.⁠[19]

On February 12, 2026, Iron Mountain announced full-year 2025 revenue of $6.9 billion, up 12.2%, and net income attributable to the company of $144.6 million. “We are pleased to report another record performance in the fourth quarter above our expectations,” said Meaney, president and CEO.⁠[20]