ServiceNow, Inc.
Company History
ServiceNow History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 2003 in San Diego, California, United States
When was ServiceNow founded?
ServiceNow was founded in 2003 in San Diego, California, United States by Fred Luddy, making it 23 years old.
- Founded
- 2003
- Founding place
- San Diego, California, United States
- Founders
- Fred Luddy
- Headquarters today
- Santa Clara, California, United States
- Milestones documented
- 12 (2003–2026)
- Current CEO
- Bill McDermott
- Acquisitions
- 5
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2003 | ServiceNow founded |
| 2011 | Frank Slootman becomes CEO |
| 2012 | Initial public offering |
| 2017 | John Donahoe Becomes CEO |
| 2019 | Bill McDermott becomes CEO |
| 2020 | Element AI Acquired |
| 2021 | Acquired Lightstep |
| 2025 | Revenue reaches $13.278B |
| 2025 | 5-for-1 stock split |
| 2025 | Moveworks acquisition closes |
| 2026 | Armis acquisition closes |
| 2026 | Q2 2026 results |
- Where was ServiceNow founded?
- ServiceNow was founded in San Diego, California, United States in 2003.
- Who founded ServiceNow?
- ServiceNow was founded by Fred Luddy.
- When did ServiceNow start?
- ServiceNow was founded in 2003.
- How old is ServiceNow?
- ServiceNow is 23 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
Fred Luddy started the company as Glidesoft in San Diego in 2003, after serving as CTO of Peregrine Systems. He built a browser-based platform for building workflow applications. Early customers mostly used it to replace on-premise IT help-desk software, so the company renamed itself Service-now.com in 2006 and focused on cloud IT service management. Venture investors including JMI Equity and Sequoia Capital backed the growth that led to the June 2012 NYSE IPO.
Founders
Fred Luddy
Fred Luddy is an American software engineer who founded ServiceNow in 2003 under the name Glidesoft. He had previously served as chief technology officer of Peregrine Systems, a San Diego IT management software vendor. Luddy wrote the first version of the platform as a browser-based tool for building forms and approval workflows, and early customers pushed it toward cloud IT service management. He served as CEO until 2011, then as chief product officer and later chairman of the board. Fred Luddy was born in 1954.
Key Milestones
ServiceNow founded
Fred Luddy founded the company that became ServiceNow with a cloud-native IT service management vision.
Source: servicenow.comFrank Slootman becomes CEO
Frank Slootman became CEO of ServiceNow in 2011. Took ServiceNow public on the NYSE in 2012.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgInitial public offering
ServiceNow went public on the New York Stock Exchange under NOW.
Source: servicenow.comJohn Donahoe Becomes CEO
John Donahoe, the former eBay chief executive, became chief executive of ServiceNow in 2017.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgElement AI Acquired
ServiceNow agreed in November 2020 to buy the Canadian company Element AI.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRevenue reaches $13.278B
ServiceNow reported $13.278 billion in total revenue and $12.883 billion in subscription revenue.
Source: newsroom.servicenow.com5-for-1 stock split
A 5-for-1 common stock split became effective on December 17, 2025.
Source: newsroom.servicenow.comMoveworks acquisition closes
ServiceNow completed its roughly $2.85 billion acquisition of Moveworks on December 15, 2025.
Source: newsroom.servicenow.comArmis acquisition closes
ServiceNow completed its $7.75 billion cash acquisition of Armis in April 2026, after closing Veza in March.
Source: newsroom.servicenow.comQ2 2026 results
Q2 revenue rose 24% to $3.987 billion, and ServiceNow AI passed $1 billion in annual contract value.
Source: newsroom.servicenow.comMajor Acquisitions
Armis
2026Cyber exposure management and asset visibility across IT, OT and medical devices.
Veza
2026AI-native identity security and access intelligence.
Moveworks
2025Conversational AI assistant and enterprise search for employees.
Lightstep
2021Observability and distributed tracing for cloud applications.
Element AI
2021AI research talent and technology from the Montreal-based lab; announced in November 2020 and closed in early 2021.
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ServiceNow Company History FAQ
When and where was ServiceNow originally founded?
ServiceNow was founded in 2003 in San Diego, California, under the original name Glidesoft by software engineer Fred Luddy, before officially rebranding to ServiceNow in 2006 and relocating headquarters to Santa Clara, California.
What inspired Fred Luddy to start ServiceNow at age 49?
Fred Luddy had served as Chief Technology Officer of software company Peregrine Systems, which went bankrupt during the dot-com crash, wiping out his entire personal net worth. At age 49, Luddy set out to build an accessible, browser-based cloud platform that allowed non-programmers to automate office workflows.
What was the foundational technical concept behind the Now Platform?
Unlike legacy on-premise competitors whose software required clunky desktop installations and separate databases, Luddy built a pure web-native application running on a single code base with a unified Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and multi-instance cloud architecture.
How did Frank Slootman transform ServiceNow after becoming CEO in 2011?
Frank Slootman was brought in as CEO in 2011 to build a high-performance enterprise sales force, expand beyond IT helpdesks into enterprise IT operations, and prepare the company for public markets, scaling revenue from ~$100M to over $1.5 billion.
When did ServiceNow go public and how did its IPO perform?
ServiceNow completed its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol "NOW" on June 29, 2012, pricing at $18 per share and raising $210 million, with shares surging nearly 30% on its first trading day.
How did ServiceNow expand beyond IT into Human Resources and Customer Service?
Between 2014 and 2018, ServiceNow applied its core workflow engine to adjacent corporate departments, launching HR Service Delivery (HRSD) to automate employee onboarding and Customer Service Management (CSM) to resolve complex B2B customer issues.
What was John Donahoe's tenure as CEO from 2017 to 2019?
Former eBay CEO John Donahoe served as CEO from 2017 to 2019. He focused on scaling enterprise culture, strengthening relationships with Global 2000 CIOs, and institutionalizing design-thinking before departing to become CEO of Nike.
When did Bill McDermott become CEO and what was his strategic vision?
Bill McDermott, former CEO of global ERP titan SAP, joined as CEO in November 2019. He repositioned ServiceNow as "the platform of platforms" that orchestrates disparate enterprise systems, setting an audacious goal to surpass $15 billion to $20 billion in organic revenue.
How did ServiceNow integrate Generative AI with Now Assist in 2023-2024?
ServiceNow launched Now Assist, embedding domain-specific generative AI models and workflow copilots directly into the Now Platform in partnership with Nvidia and Microsoft, automating code generation, case summarization, and self-service resolutions.
What is the "single architecture" advantage of ServiceNow?
While rivals like Salesforce and Oracle expanded by stitching together dozens of acquired companies with conflicting databases, ServiceNow built or re-architected all core products onto a single platform, eliminating data fragmentation for enterprise IT.
When was ServiceNow added to the S&P 500 index?
ServiceNow was added to the prestigious S&P 500 index in November 2019, reflecting its status as one of the fastest-growing and most valuable cloud enterprise software giants in the world.
Where are ServiceNow's global headquarters located today?
ServiceNow is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with major regional research and engineering campuses in San Diego, Kirkland (Washington), Hyderabad (India), and London (UK).
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