Who Owns CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike is owned by public shareholders through CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., which trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker CRWD. Co-founder George Kurtz serves as CEO and remains a major shareholder, but no single investor controls the company. CrowdStrike was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Parent Company
Founded
2011
Status
Publicly Traded
Headquarters
GlobalOfficial Website
Who Owns CrowdStrike?
- Parent Company: CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.
- Ownership Type: Brand division
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock Ticker: NASDAQ: CRWD
| Brand | Parent Company | Ownership Type |
|---|---|---|
| CrowdStrike | CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. | Brand division |
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History of CrowdStrike
- Founded: 2011
- Founders: George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch, Gregg Marston
CrowdStrike was founded in 2011 by George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch, and Gregg Marston. Kurtz had sold his earlier security company, Foundstone, to McAfee in 2004 and served as McAfee's chief technology officer before leaving to build a cloud-native successor to legacy antivirus products. Alperovitch, a threat intelligence researcher, and Marston, Foundstone's former CFO, joined as co-founders, with early backing from Warburg Pincus.
The company's founding idea was to replace signature-based antivirus with a lightweight cloud agent analyzing behavior in real time. The Falcon platform launched commercially in 2013, and CrowdStrike gained early prominence through high-profile breach investigations, including its 2016 attribution work on the Democratic National Committee intrusion.
Growth accelerated through the late 2010s as enterprises shifted to cloud-delivered security. CrowdStrike raised $200 million in 2017 and went public on June 12, 2019, pricing at $34 per share and roughly doubling on debut. The IPO valued the company near $7 billion; its market capitalization has since exceeded $190 billion.
The defining crisis came on July 19, 2024, when a defective Falcon sensor content update crashed approximately 8.5 million Windows systems worldwide, grounding flights and disrupting hospitals, banks, and broadcasters in one of the largest IT outages in history. CrowdStrike spent the following year on customer remediation and process changes, yet retained nearly all customers. Fiscal 2026, ended January 31, 2026, delivered record results: $4.81 billion in revenue, $5.25 billion in ending ARR, and the first year exceeding $1 billion in net new ARR.
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About CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.
Is CrowdStrike publicly traded?
Yes. CrowdStrike Holdings trades on NASDAQ under ticker CRWD and joined the S&P 500 in June 2024.
Who founded CrowdStrike?
George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch, and Gregg Marston founded CrowdStrike in 2011 in Irvine, California. Kurtz remains CEO.
Where is CrowdStrike headquartered?
Austin, Texas, since 2021. The company was originally based in California and operates a remote-first model.
What happened in the July 2024 outage?
A defective Falcon sensor content update crashed roughly 8.5 million Windows systems worldwide on July 19, 2024, disrupting airlines, hospitals, and businesses. CrowdStrike remediated, faced congressional scrutiny, and rebuilt its deployment processes.
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What does CrowdStrike sell?
The Falcon cybersecurity platform: endpoint protection (EDR/XDR), identity security, cloud security, SIEM/log management, threat intelligence, and incident response services, sold as subscription modules.
What is CrowdStrike's revenue?
Approximately $4.7 billion in fiscal 2026 (year ended January 2026).
- Founded: 2011
- Headquarters: Austin, Texas, USA
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock: NASDAQ: CRWD
- Revenue: approximately $4.7B (FY2026, ended Jan 2026)
- Employees: approximately 10,000
Where Is CrowdStrike Made / Based?
- Headquarters: Austin, Texas, USA
CrowdStrike Categories & Tags
CrowdStrike Sustainability & Ethics
CrowdStrike publishes an annual sustainability report covering emissions, workforce, and governance, and has committed to science-based emissions reduction targets. As a cloud software company its direct footprint is limited to offices and data center contracts.
The more material ethics topic is the company's role in national cybersecurity and its handling of the July 2024 outage. CrowdStrike accepted responsibility publicly, commissioned root-cause analyses, and changed its content deployment process to staged rollouts. It also offers free security services to small organizations through its Foundation and supports election security initiatives.
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Awards & Recognition
- Gartner Magic Quadrant: Repeated Leader placement in endpoint protection platform evaluations.
- IDC MarketScape: Named a leader in worldwide endpoint security and managed detection and response assessments.
- CES and Industry Honors: Product recognition across the Falcon platform's cloud security and identity modules.
- S&P 500 Inclusion: Joined the index in June 2024, a marker of its arrival among the largest US companies.
CrowdStrike Recalls & Controversies
July 2024 Global Outage: On July 19, 2024, a defective channel file update to the Falcon sensor caused approximately 8.5 million Windows machines to crash into boot loops worldwide. Airlines canceled thousands of flights, hospitals postponed procedures, and the disruption was widely described as the largest IT outage in history. CrowdStrike issued fixes within hours, published detailed post-incident reviews, changed update processes to staged deployment, and settled or defended resulting litigation. Delta Air Lines sued for an estimated $500 million in losses; the parties settled in 2025 on undisclosed terms.
DOJ and SEC Review of the Outage: US authorities examined the outage's circumstances, and the company faced shareholder suits alleging inadequate disclosure of update-testing risks. CrowdStrike moved to dismiss the claims, arguing the outage was an unforeseeable defect; proceedings continued through 2025.
Workforce Reductions (2025): The company cut approximately 5 percent of its workforce in May 2025 as part of a restructuring, alongside leadership changes that elevated Michael Sentonas to president.
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CrowdStrike Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Public ownership with no controlling shareholder gives the company access to deep equity markets and liquidity for acquisitions
- +Founder leadership with Kurtz as CEO since 2011 provides strategic continuity rare among scaled software companies
- +Subscription ARR of $5.25 billion with 80 percent-plus non-GAAP gross margins generates substantial cash for R&D and M&A
- +The platform's single-agent architecture creates genuine switching costs once deployed across an enterprise
Considerations
- -The July 2024 outage demonstrated concentrated operational risk: a single bad update disrupted customers globally
- -A valuation above $190 billion prices in sustained 20 percent-plus growth that is hard to maintain at scale
- -Microsoft's bundling of Defender into enterprise agreements pressures standalone endpoint vendors on price
- -Persistent GAAP losses contrast with the non-GAAP profitability the company emphasizes in investor materials
Frequently Asked Questions About CrowdStrike
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Sources & Further Reading
Competitors to CrowdStrike
These competing brands operate in the same categories and provide similar products or services. Compare key attributes to understand market positioning and competitive landscape.
| Brand | Parent Company | Country | Founded | Market Position | Primary Market | Gender Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitdefender | Romania | 2001 | Premium | Global | All Genders | |
| Jamf Holding | USA | 2002 | Mass market | Global | All Genders | |
| Knowbe4 | USA | 2010 | Mass market | Global | All Genders | |
| Varonis | USA | 2005 | Premium | Global | All Genders |
Learn More About Competitors
Technology SoftwareBitdefender
Owned by Bitdefender S.R.L.
Romanian cybersecurity software brand offering antivirus, endpoint security, and threat intelligence products to consumers and businesses in 170+ countries.
cybersecurityantivirusendpoint-security
Technology SoftwareJamf
Owned by Jamf Holding Corp.
Apple device management and security software brand of Jamf Holding Corp., taken private by Francisco Partners in a $2.2 billion deal in January 2026.
appledevice-managementmdm
Technology SoftwareKnowBe4
Owned by KnowBe4, Inc.
Security awareness training and human risk management platform owned by Vista Equity Partners since its $4.6 billion take-private in 2023.
security-awarenessphishingcybersecurity
Technology SoftwareVaronis
Owned by Varonis Systems, Inc.
Data security platform that maps sensitive data, controls access, and detects insider threats, being acquired by Proofpoint for $6.3 billion.
cybersecuritydata-securityenterprise-software
Competitive Analysis
Market Positioning: CrowdStrike competes with 4 brands in the same categories, ranging from mass market to luxury positioning.
Geographic Distribution: Competitors are headquartered across multiple regions, indicating global competition in this market segment.
Brand Heritage: Competitor brands range from established heritage brands to newer market entrants, with founding years spanning several decades.
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Independent Alternatives to CrowdStrike
Looking for brands with different ownership structures? These similar brands are not owned by CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., giving you alternative choices that support different corporate structures.
Technology SoftwareBitdefender
Owned by Bitdefender S.R.L.
Romanian cybersecurity software brand offering antivirus, endpoint security, and threat intelligence products to consumers and businesses in 170+ countries.
cybersecurityantivirusendpoint-security
Privately Owned
Bitdefender is privately owned, unlike CrowdStrike which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareJamf
Owned by Jamf Holding Corp.
Apple device management and security software brand of Jamf Holding Corp., taken private by Francisco Partners in a $2.2 billion deal in January 2026.
appledevice-managementmdm
Privately Owned
Jamf is privately owned, unlike CrowdStrike which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareKnowBe4
Owned by KnowBe4, Inc.
Security awareness training and human risk management platform owned by Vista Equity Partners since its $4.6 billion take-private in 2023.
security-awarenessphishingcybersecurity
Privately Owned
KnowBe4 is privately owned, unlike CrowdStrike which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareAura
Owned by Aura
Consumer digital safety app combining identity theft protection, credit monitoring, and family security tools, run by the private company founded by Hari Ravichandran.
identity-theftcybersecuritycredit-monitoring
Privately Owned
Aura is privately owned, unlike CrowdStrike which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareCalendly
Owned by Calendly, Inc.
Scheduling automation software platform that eliminates back-and-forth emails when booking meetings.
schedulingcalendarproductivity
Privately Owned
Calendly is privately owned, unlike CrowdStrike which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Technology SoftwareCulture Amp
Owned by Culture Amp Pty Ltd
Employee experience software brand of Culture Amp Pty Ltd, the Melbourne-based venture-backed company used by more than 6,000 organizations.
hr-techemployee-engagementsaas
Privately Owned
Culture Amp is privately owned, unlike CrowdStrike which is under a publicly traded parent company.
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. Stock Information
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