No matter how much profit and revenue growth ServiceNow generates, Wall Street has been too worried about the threat of AI to notice or care.
Bill McDermott has had enough. The ServiceNow CEO is so sure AI won’t eat software that he’s betting more on his own stock and committing to stay on as the company’s leader through 2030.
McDermott also said he recently redid his executive compensation to tie his future pay more closely to ServiceNow’s stock performance over the next three years. These packages usually involve big equity awards, so the CEO is effectively putting more of his money where his mouth is.
“We’re building a trillion-dollar company here,” McDermott told Business Insider in an interview on Wednesday. The company, which sells software to businesses, once again reported quarterly revenue and profit that beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday. It also announced a new partnership with AI startup Anthropic.
“Through my own compensation, I’m betting on the stock,” McDermott said.
As a sign of confidence, ServiceNow approved a $5 billion share repurchase program on Wednesday. McDermott said the company will put a big chunk of this to work quickly by buying about $2 billion worth of its own stock in the coming weeks.
The executive said he also recently committed to staying on as CEO through the end of 2030.
In the past year, this type of good news hasn’t landed well with investors. ServiceNow stock is down about 40% since early 2025 on concern generative AI could replace some types of corporate software.
McDermott told Business Insider that ServiceNow’s results show this isn’t happening. Instead, revenue growth remains strong and cash flow is improving, he said.
“The revenue growth is there. The free cash flow and operating margins are accelerating,” he told Business Insider on Wednesday. “We deserve a higher multiple, and we will get it back.”
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