Co-Founder Halligan Returns to 'Refound' HubSpot as It Replaces Its CEO and CFO

HubSpot put its co-founder back in charge of a company worth less than a third of the $31 billion it was valued at the end of 2021, the year the co-founder stepped aside as CEO.

On November 12, HubSpot said in a filing that Brian Halligan would return as CEO, replacing Yamini Rangan, who also left the board. CFO Kate Bueker will retire in February, and Karen Burgess, who runs finance for Adobe's Creativity & Productivity unit, will succeed Bueker. Halligan wrote on X that HubSpot is now "the Customer Harness Company" and called the plan a refounding with co-founder Dharmesh Shah.

The change comes five weeks after HubSpot said it was cutting nearly 660 jobs, about 7% of its workforce. In an October 6 memo, Rangan reorganized product teams around customer outcomes instead of Hubs and wrote that the cuts were "not driven by AI-related efficiencies." HubSpot expects $65 million to $75 million in charges, mostly in the fourth quarter.

Investors bought the return. HubSpot shares rose about 7% on November 12, per CompaniesMarketCap. "I don't want to see HubSpot swallowed up by a private equity firm or shrink," Halligan told Bloomberg, according to Quartz. "I want to rebuild it and reimagine it."

HubSpot lost about $26 billion in value in under two years

HubSpot's market value peaked at $36.06 billion at the end of 2024, three years into Rangan's tenure. It fell to $21.09 billion by the end of 2025 and to $9.90 billion at the close on November 11, the day before the change.

The worst day came on August 6. Shares fell 19% after HubSpot beat its second-quarter numbers but cut its outlook, the largest single-day drop in its 12 years on the NYSE, the Boston Business Journal reported.

The business kept growing while the value fell. Under Rangan, HubSpot went from 135,000 customers to more than 311,000, and from $1.3 billion in revenue in 2021 to an expected $3.7 billion in 2026, the company said. At the end of 2021 the market valued HubSpot at about 24 times that year's revenue. On November 11 it valued HubSpot at under 3 times this year's expected revenue.

Third-quarter revenue grew 17% to $947.6 million, according to HubSpot's Q3 earnings call. The outlook was weaker:

• Fourth-quarter revenue guided to $945 million to $947 million, about 12% growth
• Net revenue retention at 101%
• 5,300 net new customers in the quarter
• Net new ARR expected to decline for 2026

Bueker said on the call that "these increased headwinds will persist throughout the remainder of the year and into 2027." Our November 5 piece covered the guidance.

Halligan says the refounding starts with product

Halligan told Bloomberg that "the numbers aren't great," according to Quartz, and suggested HubSpot may have put near-term financial goals ahead of developing its products. HubSpot's release tells the company's history in chapters, from the inbound marketing category to the CRM. "Chapter three is building the customer relationship harness that will enable millions to grow better," Halligan said in the release.

Board chair Lorrie Norrington said the board "is united in its support of his refounding of the company." Burgess pledged "a disciplined approach to capital allocation" and to "create lasting value for stockholders." HubSpot is paying Burgess a $500,000 signing bonus and $11 million in restricted stock over two grants, according to the 8-K. Halligan's pay hasn't been set, and HubSpot will disclose it in an amended filing.

HubSpot reaffirmed its fourth-quarter guidance on the day of the change. Burgess joins on November 30 and becomes CFO on February 11, 2027. The fourth-quarter report will be the first set of results under Halligan, from a company the market valued at $9.9 billion the day before the announcement.

I want to rebuild it and reimagine it

The first results under Halligan arrive with HubSpot's fourth-quarter report, measured against guidance of $945 million to $947 million.

By Business of GTM