Iron Mountain CEO William Meaney admits he’d been ‘praying’ for inflation

Nonetheless, a frank admission from one CEO not too long ago revealed that for some enterprise leaders, inflation is getting used as an excuse to jack up costs and bolster earnings.

William Meaney, CEO of data administration agency Iron Mountain, mentioned in candid feedback first reported by The Intercept, that approach earlier than inflation surged to its highest degree in a long time, he had been “doing [his] inflation dance” and “praying for inflation” as a result of it might profit the corporate’s backside line.

Whereas he considerably lamented this mind-set and mentioned he wished he “didn’t do such a great dance,” Meaney informed shareholders that Iron Mountain had certainly benefited from the present financial local weather.

“Should you return when it comes to what we’ve been doing when it comes to pricing and income administration, we’ve been getting north of 200 foundation factors of worth improve through the 0 inflationary interval,” he informed traders at an occasion on Sept. 20. “And naturally, now we’ve been capable of take that up fairly considerably.”

Describing Iron Mountain as “extra of a worth giver than a worth taker,” Meaney mentioned the agency was capable of worth forward of inflation and “nearly [didn’t] have any buyer pushback.”

Nonetheless, Meaney argued that Iron Mountain wasn’t profiting from its clients, saying the corporate had been asking customers to “pay extra of their fair proportion when it comes to the worth that we current.”

“Within the present surroundings, they perceive why now we have to extend our pricing, and we’re ready to do this in a approach that really is barely margin growth,” he mentioned.

A spokesperson for Iron Mountain was not obtainable for remark when contacted by Fortune.

Meaney’s feedback come as firms all around the world have handed rising prices onto customers, squeezing shopper spending energy and forcing People to rethink their primary expenditures.

Nonetheless, analysis printed earlier this 12 months revealed that firms have been profiting from the financial backdrop to “opportunistically” elevate their costs, additional fueling inflation.

“We’re charging [more from our] buyer, and loads of that does clearly cowl our elevated prices, however with a excessive gross margin enterprise, loads of that flows right down to the underside line,” Iron Mountain’s Meaney informed traders final week.

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