Who Owns Paychex?

Tom Golisano founded Paychex in 1971 in Rochester, New York, with about $3,000 and a simple premise: payroll processing was designed for big corporations, and small businesses had nobody serving them. He went door to door selling payroll services to businesses with under 50 employees, a segment every competitor ignored.

The company franchised regionally through the 1970s, consolidated under one corporate structure in 1979, and went public on NASDAQ in 1983. The 1980s and 1990s turned Paychex into the second force in U.S. payroll behind ADP: payroll processing expanded into 401(k) recordkeeping, workers' compensation administration, and health benefits, building the bundled model that defines the business today.

Technology migration defined the 2000s and 2010s: Paychex Flex, launched in 2013, moved the service model onto a proprietary SaaS platform, and SurePayroll, acquired in 2010, covered the self-service small-business segment. The company surpassed $4 billion in revenue in fiscal 2021.

The current era is the Paycor era. Announced in January 2025 and completed April 14, 2025, the $4.1 billion acquisition of Cincinnati-based Paycor gave Paychex a modern SaaS platform and presence upmarket among companies with 100-plus employees. Integration through fiscal 2026 exceeded synergy targets, contributing more than 50 basis points to revenue growth and over $100 million in cost synergies. Fiscal 2026 revenue reached $6.51 billion, up 17 percent, and the company returned $2.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.