Vertiv

Who owns Vertiv?
Vertiv Holdings Co. is a publicly traded company listed on the NYSE under ticker VRT. The company is owned by institutional investors, mutual funds, index funds, and individual shareholders. Platinum Equity, the private equity firm that acquired the business from Emerson Electric in 2016, has substantially reduced its ownership stake since the 2020 IPO and is no longer a controlling shareholder.

Is Vertiv publicly traded?
Yes. Vertiv trades on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker VRT. The company went public in February 2020 through a SPAC merger with GS Acquisition Holdings Corp., a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Goldman Sachs. The transaction valued Vertiv at approximately $5 billion.

What does Vertiv do?
Vertiv designs, manufactures, and services critical digital infrastructure solutions including power management systems (UPS, PDUs, switchgear), thermal management systems (precision cooling, liquid cooling), IT infrastructure management tools (KVM, out-of-band management), and services for data centers and mission-critical facilities. The company's products are essential for keeping data centers running reliably.

What is Vertiv's revenue?
In FY2025, Vertiv reported net sales of approximately $9.7 billion, up 20 percent year-over-year. Adjusted operating profit was approximately $1.7 billion, with adjusted operating margin of approximately 17.5 percent. The company guided to FY2026 net sales growth of approximately 15 percent.

Why is Vertiv benefiting from AI?
AI workloads require significantly more power and cooling per server rack than traditional computing. AI servers from NVIDIA and other vendors can consume 30 to 100 kilowatts per rack, compared to 5 to 10 kilowatts for traditional servers. This drives demand for Vertiv's high-density power management and liquid cooling solutions. The company's CoolTera acquisition enhanced its liquid cooling capabilities for AI workloads.

When was Vertiv founded?
Vertiv traces its roots to 1965 when Eugene Liebert founded Liebert Corporation in Columbus, Ohio. The business was acquired by Emerson Electric in 2000, sold to Platinum Equity in 2016 and rebranded as Vertiv, and went public through a SPAC merger in February 2020.

Who is Vertiv's CEO?
Giordano Albertazzi serves as CEO, having been appointed in 2023. He succeeded Rob Johnson. Albertazzi previously served as Vertiv's President of the Americas. Under his leadership, Vertiv has focused on expanding manufacturing capacity, investing in liquid cooling technology, and growing its services business.

What brands does Vertiv own?
Vertiv owns eight major brands: Liebert (power and thermal management), Avocent (IT management and KVM), Geist (rack PDUs and monitoring), Energy Labs (industrial thermal solutions), NetSure (DC power for telecom), Alber (battery monitoring), E+I Engineering Group (electrical switchgear), and PowerBar (busbar trunking).

Vertiv's history traces back to 1965 when Eugene Liebert founded Liebert Corporation in Columbus, Ohio. Liebert was a pioneer in precision computer room air conditioning, developing specialized cooling systems for the emerging computer industry. As computers became more powerful and heat-generating, Liebert's thermal management expertise became increasingly valuable.

Liebert Corporation grew throughout the 1970s and 1980s, expanding its product portfolio to include uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and other power management products for data centers and mission-critical facilities.

In 2000, Emerson Electric acquired Liebert Corporation and integrated it into Emerson Network Power, a division focused on critical infrastructure for data centers and telecommunications. Under Emerson's ownership, Emerson Network Power expanded significantly through acquisitions, including Marconi's outside plant and power systems (2004), Knurr (2006, rack and enclosure systems), and Avocent (2009, IT management and KVM switches for $1.1 billion).

Emerson Network Power became one of the world's largest providers of critical digital infrastructure, with revenues of approximately $4 billion and operations in more than 150 countries.

In December 2016, private equity firm Platinum Equity acquired Emerson Network Power from Emerson Electric in a transaction valued at approximately $4 billion. The business was rebranded as Vertiv, and Rob Johnson was appointed as CEO.

Under Platinum Equity's ownership, Vertiv continued to expand through acquisitions, including Energy Labs (2018, commercial and industrial thermal solutions), Geist (2018, rack power distribution units), and E+I Engineering Group (2021, electrical switchgear and modular power).

In February 2020, Vertiv became a publicly traded company through a merger with GS Acquisition Holdings Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Goldman Sachs. The transaction valued Vertiv at approximately $5 billion. The SPAC merger provided Vertiv with capital to invest in manufacturing capacity and product development.

Following its public listing, Vertiv initially faced challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted supply chains and manufacturing operations. However, the company benefited from strong demand for data center infrastructure driven by cloud computing, 5G telecommunications, and edge computing.

The emergence of generative AI in 2022 and 2023 created a step-change in demand. Vertiv became a major beneficiary of the AI-driven data center buildout, with its power and cooling products in high demand from hyperscale cloud providers and AI companies. The company's stock price increased more than fivefold from 2022 to 2025 as investors recognized Vertiv's positioning in the AI infrastructure market.

Giordano Albertazzi was appointed CEO in 2023, succeeding Rob Johnson. Albertazzi had previously served as Vertiv's President of the Americas.

In FY2024, Vertiv reported net revenues of approximately $8.1 billion, up approximately 20 percent year-over-year. In FY2025, net sales grew another 20 percent to approximately $9.7 billion, with adjusted operating profit of approximately $1.7 billion.

Vertiv has continued to make strategic acquisitions, including CoolTera Ltd (2023, liquid cooling technology), Great Lakes Data Racks and Cabinets (2025, data center racks and cabinets), and additional investments in liquid cooling capabilities to address the high-density cooling requirements of AI workloads.

Vertiv's products have an inherent sustainability dimension. Data centers are among the largest consumers of electricity globally, and efficient power and cooling systems reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint of data center operations. Vertiv's high-efficiency UPS systems and advanced cooling technologies help data center operators reduce their power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric, which measures the ratio of total facility energy to IT equipment energy.

The company has committed to reducing its own environmental footprint through operational efficiency, waste reduction, and responsible sourcing. Vertiv publishes an annual ESG report that covers environmental performance, social initiatives, and governance practices.

Vertiv's liquid cooling technology has a sustainability benefit. Liquid cooling is more energy-efficient than traditional air-based cooling for high-density workloads, reducing the energy required for data center cooling. As AI workloads drive higher rack densities, liquid cooling becomes both a performance necessity and an energy efficiency improvement.

On labor practices, Vertiv employs approximately 27,000 people globally, with significant manufacturing operations in China and India. The company's ESG report covers workforce safety, diversity, and training programs. Manufacturing operations in low-cost regions raise supply chain ethics questions that the company addresses through supplier code of conduct requirements and audit programs.

Vertiv and its brands have received recognition in the data center infrastructure industry.

• Liebert has been recognized as one of the most trusted brands in data center infrastructure, with decades of customer relationships
• Vertiv has been recognized by industry publications including Data Center Knowledge and Network Computing for product innovation in power and cooling
• Vertiv's stock performance has been recognized by financial media, with the stock being one of the best-performing industrial stocks from 2022 to 2025 due to its AI infrastructure positioning

Vertiv has faced limited controversy compared to larger industrial companies. The company operates in a specialized B2B market and does not have direct consumer-facing relationships that typically generate public controversy.

Supply Chain Constraints: The surge in demand for data center infrastructure has strained Vertiv's manufacturing capacity and supply chain. The company has invested in expanding manufacturing capacity, but lead times for certain products have extended. Some customers have raised concerns about delivery delays, though Vertiv has prioritized large hyperscale customers.

SPAC Listing and Stock Volatility: Vertiv's SPAC listing in February 2020 was followed by a period of stock price volatility. The stock initially declined as investors assessed the company's growth prospects during the COVID-19 pandemic. The stock subsequently increased more than fivefold from 2022 to 2025 as AI-driven demand accelerated. Some market commentators have questioned whether the valuation is sustainable, given the cyclical nature of data center capital spending.

AI Demand Sustainability: Vertiv's growth is heavily dependent on the AI-driven data center buildout. Some analysts have raised questions about whether demand will remain at elevated levels or moderate as hyperscalers complete initial AI infrastructure investments. Vertiv has argued that the transition to AI computing is a multi-year structural shift, but the pace of investment could fluctuate.

Environmental Impact of Data Centers: Vertiv's products enable data center operations, which are among the largest and fastest-growing consumers of electricity globally. Environmental advocates have raised concerns about the carbon footprint of data centers, particularly those powering AI workloads. Vertiv has responded by highlighting its energy-efficient products and liquid cooling technology, which reduce data center energy consumption.