DocuSign, Inc. (DOCU)

Docusign's newest results, filed on 3 September for the quarter ended 31 July, show revenue up 9 percent to $875.7 million 1. Operating income, profit from running the business, rose to $117.6 million from $65.2 million 1. Net income rose less, to $77.7 million from $63.0 million, because the tax charge climbed to $47.3 million from $13.5 million 1.

The company credits Intelligent Agreement Management, or IAM, its AI platform for creating, signing and managing agreements after signature 13. IAM rose to 15.1 percent of annual recurring revenue, the yearly value of active subscriptions, from 10.8 percent in January 19. Docusign raised its outlook for the year to $3,499 million to $3,507 million of revenue, from $3,490 million to $3,502 million in June 18.

The newest material event is a distribution deal: on 26 October Docusign said two of its IAM products are to be sold as SAP Solution Extensions, inside SAP's sales and HR software 4. Two weeks earlier it brought IAM natively into Salesforce, Agentforce and Slack, extending a partnership of more than 20 years 5. The open question is the third quarter, which closes on 31 October; a year ago Docusign reported it on 4 December 25.

Docusign was incorporated in Washington in April 2003, and HousingWire names Tom Gonser as its founder 318. Its business began with e-signature: documents travel in a digital Envelope and are signed on almost any device, replacing printing, faxing and scanning 3. Its fiscal year ends on 31 January, and its registration for the initial public offering took effect on 26 April 2018 311.

The listing deepened that year's loss, because stock awards that vested only on a listing were expensed at once, a $262.8 million charge 10. Revenue reached $701.0 million in the year to January 2019, against a net loss of $426.5 million 10. In September 2018 Docusign bought SpringCM, a maker of software for generating documents and managing contracts 10.

The pandemic was the turning point: subscription revenue rose 50 percent in the year to January 2021, which the annual report ties to a shift to remote, digital business that sped up digital agreements 10. Revenue rose to $1,453.0 million from $974.0 million, and Docusign bought Seal Software, a contract analytics maker, and Liveoak Technologies, an identity verification platform, in 2020 10.

Subscription revenue rose another 47 percent in the year to January 2022, mainly on sales to mid-market and enterprise customers, and revenue reached $2,107.2 million 11. Employees grew to 7,461 from 5,630 a year earlier 1110. The same report said the exceptional growth was followed by periods in which "the urgency of customer demand slowed" 11.

Chief executive Dan Springer resigned on 20 June 2022, and board chair Maggie Wilderotter became interim chief executive 15. Allan Thygesen, until then President, Americas and Global Partners at Google, was confirmed as chief executive and joined the board on 9 October 2022 16.

Cost cuts followed in rounds: about 9 percent of the workforce in September 2022 and about 10 percent in February 2023 12. Subscription growth slowed to 20 percent in the year to January 2023 and 10 percent the year after 1213. Docusign then earned $74.0 million, after losing $97.5 million the year before 13.

In February 2024 HousingWire, citing Reuters, reported that buyout talks with Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman had stalled over disagreements on the price 18. That week Docusign announced a third cut of about 6 percent, mostly in sales and marketing 17.

Docusign launched IAM at its Momentum conference in April 2024, and on 31 May 2024 it bought Lexion, an AI contract management platform, for $154.0 million in cash 3. Revenue rose to $2,976.7 million in the year to January 2025 14. Net income jumped to $1,067.9 million, mostly from releasing an $837.3 million valuation allowance, a reserve against tax savings it had not expected to use 14.

In the year to January 2026 revenue rose 8 percent to $3,219.5 million, and net income was $309.1 million 93. Subscriptions were 98 percent of revenue 3. IAM grew from 2.3 percent of annual recurring revenue to 10.8 percent over the year 9.

eSignature

eSignature lets people send and sign agreements securely on a wide variety of devices, from virtually anywhere 3. Docusign's pricing page lists Personal at $132 a year, Standard at $360 and Business Pro at $540 per user a year, on annual plans 23. In fiscal 2026, 76 percent of eSignature transactions were completed in under 24 hours and 40 percent within 15 minutes 3.

The company expects standalone eSignature to remain the majority of its revenue for the foreseeable future, given IAM's early growth phase 3. Its annual report names Adobe, with Adobe Acrobat Sign, as its primary global eSignature competitor 3. By the company's count the app carries over 775,000 Apple App Store ratings averaging 4.9 out of 5 3.

Intelligent Agreement Management

IAM covers how agreements are created, negotiated, signed and managed after signature, with eSignature at its core and Iris, Docusign's AI engine, underneath 3. Its parts include Navigator, an AI repository of agreements, Maestro, a no-code workflow builder, and Agreement Desk for contract requests 3. It comes in three editions, Core, Sales and CX, and is priced per user 3.

More than 25,000 customers were on IAM in January, and Thygesen said 40,000 customers were investing in it in the first quarter 38. In the second quarter Docusign added AI agents and an Agent Studio where customers build their own 1. On 4 September it said its MCP server, a connector for AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, would open to every agent on 30 September 7.

The annual report warns that IAM may increasingly compete with makers of large language models, data platforms and customers' own homegrown tools 3.

Contract lifecycle management, add-ons and PDF Editor

CLM, contract lifecycle management, automates generating, negotiating and storing complex contracts, with AI analytics to find risks 3. Add-ons include Payments, identity verification, remote online Notary, Web Forms and Monitor analytics 3. The pricing page lists SMS delivery from $0.36 a delivery and ID verification from $2.40 an attempt 23.

PDF Editor, announced on 8 October, is a desktop application to edit, combine, redact and convert PDFs and send them straight to signature 6.

Revenue, customers and channels

Docusign reports one segment, and subscriptions were 98 percent of revenue in the latest quarter, the rest mostly setup services 2. Customers with more than $300,000 of annualized contract value rose to 1,296 from 1,137, about 14 percent more (computed) 2. It had over 1.9 million customers, about 289,000 of them served directly 2.

Customers outside the U.S. brought 31 percent of revenue in the quarter, up from 29 percent 2. Digital self-service sales were 15 percent of revenue in fiscal 2026 3. Partners include Salesforce, Microsoft, SAP, Google, ServiceNow and Workday 3.

Offices, data centers and people

Docusign leases all its facilities, including a 141,000 square foot San Francisco headquarters under leases to July 2035 3. It runs co-location data centers and is moving production services to Microsoft Azure 3. It had 7,044 employees at the end of January, about 60 percent in the U.S. 3.

Allan Thygesen, 63, has led the company since October 2022 19. Blake Grayson, finance chief since June 2023, came from The Trade Desk, and Paula Hansen is President and Chief Revenue Officer 195. James Beer has chaired the board since 1 February 2026, and it added Brian Roberts in March and Redis chief executive Rowan Trollope in May 192622.

Problems on record

A securities class action over pandemic-era statements, the Weston case, was dismissed on 26 January 2026, and the plaintiffs did not appeal 2. The eight related shareholder suits have been or are being voluntarily dismissed 2. In June, Beer was re-elected with about 72 percent of the votes cast for or against him (computed) 24.

The quarterly report lists cyberattacks and fraudsters exploiting the Docusign brand among its risks 2.

The umbrella, in words

Docusign is the one brand, covering eSignature, IAM, CLM and the add-ons 3. Its subsidiaries exhibit lists 21 companies, among them DocuSign France SAS and DocuSmart, Inc., which does business as Lexion 20. Docusign France is a qualified trust service provider for EU signatures, and Docusign owns all of Lexion, bought in May 2024 3.

The company owns no real property; every office is leased 3. One class of common stock is listed on Nasdaq 22. The proxy lists BlackRock at 12.21 percent and Vanguard at 10.92 percent from their Schedule 13G filings 19.

JPMorgan Chase reported a 6.4 percent stake at the end of 2025 in its own Schedule 13G 21. Directors and executive officers together held under 1 percent in March 2026, and directors serve staggered three-year terms 19.

For the quarter ending 31 October, Docusign expects revenue of $886 million to $890 million and a non-GAAP operating margin of 31.3 to 31.7 percent 1. Non-GAAP figures leave out stock pay, payroll tax on stock awards and amortization of acquired intangibles 1.

For the year ending 31 January 2027 it expects revenue of $3,499 million to $3,507 million, about 9 percent above the year before 1. It expects annual recurring revenue to grow 8.5 to 9.0 percent, with IAM at about 18 to 19 percent of the total at year end 1. It guides a non-GAAP operating margin of 31.0 to 31.5 percent 1.

The company names two priorities: making IAM an end-to-end platform and making it the AI orchestration layer for agreements 2. It expects IAM to be offered increasingly through direct sales, partners and digital self-service 2. Under the SAP deal, IAM is also to integrate with SAP's Joule Work, the company said 4.

Docusign says it plans to keep investing for long-term growth, and it expects to keep developing strategic partnerships in key international markets, with a focus on IAM 2. International revenue rose 17 percent in the first half, faster than the whole 2.

In March the board added $2.0 billion to the repurchase program, for $4.5 billion in all, with up to $2.1 billion left at 31 July 2. The program has no minimum and no end date, and it may be suspended at any time 2.

The board anticipates asking shareholders in 2027 to declassify it, so that all directors stand for election every year by the 2030 annual meeting 19. Trollope's seat comes up at the 2027 annual meeting 22. An office lease signed in August replaces an expiring one and runs to fiscal 2037, at about $20.0 million of minimum rent 2.