Five9 2Q25 Earnings: Unpacking the results and leadership changes
There’s plenty of news to discuss from Five9’s 2Q 2025 earnings call last week.
The company delivered a solid performance with quarterly revenue growing 12% YoY, driven by 16% subscription growth, while telecom resell and professional services continued to decline, now representing 12% and 7% of total revenue, respectively.
The subscription growth is fueled by two engines: AI, which surged 42% in the enterprise segment, and CCaaS, which grew 12%. This aligns with broader trends of tapering CCaaS growth and AI taking over as the primary growth driver for the industry.
However, it was the leadership changes that grabbed headlines.
CEO Mike Burkland announced he is stepping down. He joined Five9 in 2008, when revenue was just over $10M, and leaves behind a $1B company—an impressive, nearly entirely organic growth trajectory. The Board has initiated a search for a replacement.
Following the retirements of Dan Burkland (Sales) last year and Barry Zwarenstein (Finance) earlier this year, the company has continued to make executive changes and consolidate roles. As a result, the company promoted three internal leaders: Bryan Lee, an 11-year Five9 veteran, is now CFO; Matthew Tuckness, with 13 years at the company, becomes CRO with expanded responsibility, including marketing; and Tiffany Meriweather, Chief Legal Officer, now also oversees HR. The product leadership remains unchanged with Ajay Awatramani as CPO, Panos Kozanian as EVP of Engineering, and Jonathan Rosenberg as CTO. Andy Dignan continues as President.
Activist investors have clearly intensified pressure on the company to streamline operations and accelerate progress toward stronger EBITDA. As the broader CCaaS market slows, gross margins—already thin across the sector—are facing additional strain from AI. In 2Q25, GAAP gross margin reached 54.9%, up nearly two points from 2Q24 (53%) but flat quarter-over-quarter (55%).
Like many in the space, Five9 faces the tough balancing act of improving margins while ramping up AI investment. In this context, reaching 10% of enterprise subscription revenue—especially with enterprise accounting for 90% of its business—is an important milestone.