BlackLine, Inc. provides cloud-based solutions to automate and streamline accounting and finance operations worldwide. It offers financial close management solutions, such as account reconciliations that provides a centralized workspace for users to collaborate on account reconciliations; transaction matching that analyzes and reconciles high volumes of individual transactions; and task management to create and manage processes and task lists. The company's financial close management solutions also include journal entry that allows users to generate, review, and post manual journal entries; variance analysis that monitors and identifies anomalous fluctuations in balance sheet and income statement account balances; consolidation integrity manager that manages the automated system-to-system tie-out process that occurs during the consolidation phase of the financial close; and compliance, an integrated solution that facilitates compliance-related initiatives, consolidates project management, and provides visibility over control self-assessments and testing. In addition, it offers accounts receivable automation solutions, which include cash application, credit and risk management, collections management, disputes and deductions, team and task management, and AR intelligence solutions. Further, the company provides intercompany workflow that stores permissions by entity and transaction type thereby ensuring both the initiator and the approver of the intercompany transaction are authorized to conduct business; intercompany processing, which records an organization's intercompany transactions; and netting and settlement that generates a real-time settlement matrix, which shows the balance of transactions. The company sells its solutions primarily through direct sales force to multinational corporations, large domestic enterprises, and mid-market companies across various industries. BlackLine, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Woodland Hills, California.
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- Salesforce for the finance close
- ServiceNow for financial operations
- Coupa for financial accounting automation
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- Financial Close Automation: Provides cloud-based software services designed to automate and streamline various aspects of the financial close process, including reconciliations, journal entries, and task management.
- Intercompany Financial Management: Offers cloud services that help companies manage, reconcile, and automate complex intercompany transactions and eliminations globally.
- Accounts Receivable Automation: Delivers cloud-based solutions to automate and optimize the order-to-cash process, encompassing cash application, credit management, and collections.
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BlackLine (BL) sells primarily to other companies (B2B). It provides cloud-based software solutions for finance and accounting departments, helping them to automate and streamline processes such as financial close, intercompany accounting, and account reconciliation.
Due to the nature of its business and client confidentiality, BlackLine does not publish an exhaustive list of all its "major" customers. However, through its public disclosures, investor presentations, and case studies, the following prominent public companies have been identified as customers:
- The Coca-Cola Company (Symbol: KO)
- Starbucks Corporation (Symbol: SBUX)
- Medtronic plc (Symbol: MDT)
- Netflix, Inc. (Symbol: NFLX)
BlackLine serves thousands of companies globally, ranging from mid-sized businesses to large enterprises across various industries, including manufacturing, retail, technology, healthcare, and financial services.
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Therese Tucker, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Therese Tucker founded BlackLine in 2001, designing its initial product offerings and leading its transition to the cloud in 2007. She also guided the company through its IPO in 2016. Prior to founding BlackLine, Tucker served as Chief Technology Officer for SunGard Treasury Systems. She stepped down as CEO in August 2020 but returned as Co-CEO in March 2023.
Owen Ryan, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
Owen Ryan has served as a member of BlackLine's Board since August 2018 and as Chair since January 2023. He became Co-Chief Executive Officer in 2023. From 2018 to 2022, Ryan worked for Geller & Company and Geller Advisors, holding roles such as Chief Executive Officer, Managing Principal, and Chief Strategy Officer. Earlier, in 2016 and 2017, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of AEGIS Insurance, a mutual insurance company. Ryan spent the majority of his career at Deloitte from 1985 to 2016, serving as the CEO and Managing Partner of Deloitte Advisory from 2008.
Patrick Villanova, Chief Financial Officer
Patrick Villanova joined BlackLine in November 2015, following an extensive career in public accounting. He served as Principal Accounting Officer during BlackLine's successful IPO in October 2016 and helped implement processes and systems for SOX 404(b) compliance in 2018. He also spearheaded two convertible note offerings totaling $1.5 billion in 2019 and 2021.
Stuart Van Houten, Chief Commercial Officer
Stuart Van Houten is a seasoned enterprise software executive with over 30 years of experience leading high-growth technology organizations. He has a proven track record in sales leadership, revenue acceleration, and operational execution, specializing in building and scaling go-to-market strategies. As Chief Commercial Officer, he leads BlackLine's global commercial strategy.
Jeremy Ung, Chief Technology Officer
Jeremy Ung has been BlackLine's Chief Technology Officer since 2024. Prior to joining BlackLine, he served as Chief Technology Officer at Apptio from 2022 to 2024. He also held roles as Chief Engineering Officer at Apptio from 2021 to 2022 and Vice President of Engineering from 2019 to 2021. Earlier in his career, he held senior program and software management roles at Microsoft and MDA.
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The key business risks for BlackLine (BL) are primarily centered around customer acquisition and retention, macroeconomic factors, and operational challenges.
- Dependence on Customer Acquisition and Retention, and Pricing Model Transition: BlackLine's sustained growth is highly dependent on its ability to attract new customers and ensure the renewal of existing subscription agreements. The company is currently undergoing a strategic shift to a platform-based pricing model, which has introduced "short-term friction," causing deal delays and a slowdown in user growth as existing clients evaluate the new structure. A slight decline in customer renewal rates has also been observed in recent quarters.
- Macroeconomic Uncertainties and Intense Competition: Economic uncertainties pose a significant risk, as fluctuations can impact potential customers' budgets, leading to reduced spending on financial software solutions. BlackLine operates within a highly competitive financial software landscape, facing established players such as Oracle, SAP, and Workiva, as well as new entrants that are constantly innovating. This competitive pressure, combined with rapid technological changes and a volatile customer IT spending environment, could threaten BlackLine's market position.
- Challenges in Managing Growth, Operational Execution, and Technology Integration: The company faces risks associated with effectively managing its growth amidst organizational changes and ensuring robust operational execution. Furthermore, risks include the reliance on a limited number of software solutions, third-party SaaS applications, and the successful integration of advanced technologies like AI/ML. Maintaining the security and performance of its cloud-based software solutions is critical, as data security risks and potential breaches could adversely affect customer trust and overall business performance.
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Major enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors (such as SAP, Oracle, and Workday) are increasingly enhancing and integrating advanced financial close, reconciliation, and intercompany accounting capabilities directly into their core platforms. This trend threatens BlackLine by offering customers a single-vendor, tightly integrated solution that could diminish the need for a best-of-breed product like BlackLine, particularly for companies already deeply invested in these ERP ecosystems.
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BlackLine (BL) estimates its total addressable market (TAM) to be $45 billion. This global market is comprised of $34 billion for Record-to-Report processes and $11 billion for Invoice-to-Cash processes. BlackLine indicates that this market is "large, underpenetrated, and strategic," and includes over 160,000 potential customer companies across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
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Here are 3-5 expected drivers of future revenue growth for BlackLine (BL) over the next 2-3 years:
- Platform Pricing Strategies: BlackLine is shifting to a platform-based pricing model designed to decouple its growth from a simple seat count and align revenue directly with the value delivered. This strategy, along with multi-year renewals, is expected to accelerate revenue growth, with platform pricing adoption already accounting for nearly three-quarters of new customer bookings. The company anticipates this transition will accelerate revenue growth in 2027.
- AI Innovations: The launch of AI-powered solutions like Vera (conversational AI) and Verity AI agents is a significant driver. These innovations aim to enhance BlackLine's core solutions with intelligence, master high-volume and complex processes, accelerate financial reporting, and deploy a "digital workforce" to autonomously manage workflows. This strategic focus on AI and digital finance transformation is highlighted as a key element of the company's growth strategy.
- New Customer Acquisition and Larger Deals: BlackLine is demonstrating strong new customer acquisition, with bookings up 45% and the average new deal size more than doubling by 111%. The company is strategically targeting complex global enterprises and seeing robust opportunities across global enterprise and mid-market segments. This includes securing its largest-ever total contract value deals.
- Expansion within Existing Customers: While not explicitly detailed as a separate driver, the emphasis on a "compelling land and expand model" and increasing adoption of full record-to-report capabilities among existing customers suggests growth through deeper penetration and cross-selling of additional solutions. The company has achieved a dollar-based net revenue retention rate of 103%.
- Geographical and Sector Expansion: BlackLine is making measured investments into strategic growth initiatives in new markets, such as Saudi Arabia and the public sector, which are expected to further accelerate growth in 2026 and beyond. The company also highlighted its expansion into the federal government market during a recent earnings call.
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Share Repurchases
- In September 2025, BlackLine increased its stock buyback program by $200 million, bringing the total authorization to repurchase up to $400 million of its common stock. The expiration date of the program was also eliminated.
- As of September 30, 2025, BlackLine had repurchased approximately 2.1 million shares of common stock for $113.0 million under its share repurchase program, with approximately $198.2 million of buyback capacity remaining.
- As of September 4, 2025, the company had repurchased 3,448,206 shares, or $179 million, under the stock buyback program.
Share Issuance
- The number of outstanding common stock shares was 61,520,108 as of February 15, 2024, and 62,814,333 as of February 14, 2025.
- As of October 31, 2025, the number of shares of common stock outstanding was 59,486,668.
- No specific information is available regarding large-scale share issuances for capital raising purposes within the past 3-5 years.
Inbound Investments
- BlackLine has raised a total of $200 million in funding from investors including Silver Lake and Iconiq Capital.
- The latest identified funding round was post-IPO on March 21, 2021.
- In early 2025, SAP SE reportedly made an offer to acquire BlackLine, which the company's Board of Directors rejected.
Outbound Investments
- On October 2, 2020, BlackLine completed the acquisition of Rimilia, an AI-powered cloud-based platform for accounts receivable automation, for $150 million in cash. This acquisition aimed to expand BlackLine's capabilities into accounts receivable automation.
Capital Expenditures
- BlackLine's capital expenditures were $17 million in 2020, $23 million in 2021, $30 million in 2022, $28 million in 2023, and $27 million in 2024.
- Projected capital expenditures for 2025 are $37 million.
- The primary focus of capital expenditures includes investing in innovation, technology, and partnerships, with a particular emphasis on AI and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) migration to enhance operational efficiency and expand platform offerings.