On the desk today · Broadridge Financial Solutions
Every proxy. Every vote. Every trade confirmation. One company sends them all.
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The Back Office That
Became the Business
In 1962, a small team inside Automatic Data Processing started processing stock trades for one brokerage client. They ran 300 trades per night — after the markets closed, in a back room, while the rest of the company handled payroll. It was a side project. Nobody thought much about it.
Forty-five years later, that side project was processing millions of trades per day, sending billions of shareholder communications per year, and handling the proxy voting for over 90% of public companies in North America. It had become so large, so essential, and so different from the payroll business that ADP decided to let it go.
On March 30, 2007, ADP spun out its brokerage services division as an independent company. It was called Broadridge Financial Solutions. ADP shareholders received one Broadridge share for every four ADP shares they held. Revenue on day one was nearly $2 billion. Most people didn't notice. The company didn't make the front page. It made the plumbing.
I received a proxy statement in the mail last spring. A thick envelope — the kind you open, glance at, and throw away. I almost did. Then I flipped it over and read the fine print on the back. "Distributed by Broadridge Financial Solutions." I had received the same envelope from every stock I owned. Different companies. Different votes. Same distributor.
Most people think proxy statements come from the companies they invest in. They don't. The company doesn't know who most of its shareholders are — those records sit with the brokers. Broadridge sits between the company and the broker, identifies the shareholders, prints the materials, mails or emails the communications, collects the votes, and tallies the results. It does this for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds in North America. It manages shareholder voting in 90 countries. It sends more than 7 billion communications per year — reaching 75% of North American households.
That is just the governance business. The other half — Global Technology and Operations — processes trades. Broadridge's systems settle millions of equity and fixed-income transactions daily, involving more than $10 trillion in securities. Its platforms are used by seven of the top ten U.S. broker-dealers. When your broker confirms a trade, when your statement arrives, when your dividend gets allocated — there is a very good chance Broadridge's system handled it.
In fiscal 2026 — the year ended June 30 — Broadridge reported $7.48 billion in total revenue, up 9% from the year before. Recurring revenue reached $4.88 billion — 65% of the total — and grew 8%. Operating income hit $1.3 billion. Adjusted operating margin was 20.5%. The company has increased its dividend every year since the 2007 spinoff — 19 consecutive years. And 98% of its revenue comes back the next year.
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That 98% revenue retention rate is the number that defines the business. Once a broker-dealer or a bank integrates Broadridge's systems into its operations — proxy distribution, trade processing, regulatory reporting, client communications — ripping it out would mean rebuilding the infrastructure that handles every shareholder interaction and every trade settlement. Nobody volunteers for that. The switching cost isn't a fee. It's the operational risk of going dark on the one system that keeps the back office running.
The pricing power is quiet but persistent. Broadridge charges per communication sent, per trade processed, per position held. As the number of investor accounts grows — driven by the rise of retail investing and the proliferation of ETFs and mutual funds — the volume of proxy communications grows automatically. More shareholders means more envelopes. More envelopes means more fees. In fiscal 2026, equity investor position growth was 14%. Mutual fund and ETF position growth was 7%. Broadridge didn't need to sell anything new. It needed the investing population to keep growing. It did.
Tim Gokey — Broadridge's CEO — said it plainly in the fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter earnings release: "Broadridge's strong second quarter results highlight our ability to drive innovation at scale, delivering 8% Recurring revenue growth constant currency and Adjusted EPS of $1.59. Our results reflect strong organic growth of 7%, including strength in investor participation, and elevated levels of event-driven activity."
The flywheel runs on regulation and participation. SEC rules require public companies to distribute proxy materials to every shareholder. Public companies don't know who their shareholders are — the brokers hold that data. Broadridge is the bridge. It connects the company to its shareholders through the brokers, handles the communications, and counts the votes. As long as public companies exist, as long as shareholders vote, and as long as the SEC requires proxy disclosure, Broadridge collects a fee on every interaction. The company also earns event-driven revenue — when a merger, acquisition, or contested proxy fight triggers an extraordinary mailing, Broadridge processes it at a premium. Every corporate drama is a revenue event.
WHY THIS WORKS
90% of proxy voting is a monopoly in everything but name. Broadridge processes shareholder communications for nine out of ten public companies. No competitor operates at this scale. The regulatory requirement to distribute proxies creates guaranteed, recurring demand.
98% retention means the base compounds. Clients don't leave. Revenue grows by adding new positions (more investors) and new products (trade settlement, digital communications, data analytics) onto the same infrastructure.
Volume grows with the investing population. Every new brokerage account creates new shareholder positions. Every new position generates a proxy communication. Broadridge doesn't need more clients. It needs more investors. And the number only grows.
The spinoff from ADP was the unlock. As a division inside ADP, the brokerage services business was a footnote. As an independent company, it has grown revenue from $2 billion to $7.5 billion in 19 years — with 19 consecutive dividend increases.
In 1962, a team inside ADP processed 300 trades in a single night for one client. In fiscal 2026, Broadridge processed more than $10 trillion in securities daily, sent 7 billion communications, and managed shareholder voting across 90 countries. The side project that nobody paid attention to became the operating system of the financial industry. Every time you receive a proxy envelope — or ignore one — the company that sent it just collects a fee. The envelope may be boring. The business behind it is not.
