HireRight Holdings Corporation is a global family of background screening companies based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. The company became public via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in 2021 with a listing on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. In 2024,

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firms

General Atlantic General Atlantic, legal main entity General Atlantic Service Company, L.P., (also known as "GA") is an American growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for global growth companies, headquartered in New York, United States. T ...

and Stone Point Capital agreed to acquire the company for $1.65 billion. The transaction closed on June 28, 2024.

Acquisitions and mergers

Powerchex

On June 23, 2010, HireRight announced that it had acquired Powerchex, a UK-based pre-employment screening company specialising in the financial services sector in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. Powerchex was a full member of the UK chapter of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners or NAPBS, and was started by

Alexandra Kelly Alexandra Filia Kelly is the founder and former managing director of UK pre-employment screening company, Powerchex, and formerly the MD of HireRight's background screening operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Alexandra was ...

in 2005 who is the former

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and owner of the company. In October 2010, Powerchex was rebranded as HireRight. Both Powerchex and Kroll Background Screening (below) are now fully owned subsidiaries of HireRight.

Kroll

On August 3, 2010, HireRight then-parent company Altegrity Risk International announced it had completed the acquisition of Kroll Inc. from

Marsh & McLennan Companies Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., doing business as Marsh McLennan, is a global professional services firm, headquartered in New York City with businesses in insurance brokerage, risk management, reinsurance services, talent management, inves ...

in an all-cash transaction valued at US$1.13 billion. In October 2010, Kroll Background Worldwide was rebranded as HireRight. On March 13, 2018, it was reported that

Duff & Phelps Duff may refer to: People * Duff (surname) * Duff (given name) * Duff (nickname) * Karen Duffy, an actress, model, and former MTV VJ once known as "Duff" * Duff Roman, on-air name of Canadian radio personality and executive David Mostoway (b ...

Corp. would buy Kroll, Inc. (which did not include background screening portion of the former Kroll business that had been rebranded with HireRight brands). On June 4, 2018, the transaction was completed.

General Information Services

On Friday, May 25, 2018, HireRight and General Information Services (GIS) announced their intent and agreement to a merger. The companies announced the closing of the merger on July 12, 2018. The resulting combined group is the largest provider of background screening services in the United States. Following the merger, HireRight rebranded, with both HireRight and GIS using the new branding.

J-Screen and PeopleCheck

On October 12, 2019, HireRight announced the acquisition of J-Screen in Japan and PeopleCheck in Australia.

Legal issues with service

HireRight was the subject of a number of class-action and

Fair Credit Reporting Act The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 ''et seq.'', is federal legislation enacted to promote the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of consumer information contained in the files of consumer reporting agencies. It was intended ...

(FCRA) lawsuits. In 2011 the company paid $28 million to plaintiffs who accused HireRight of failing to provide copies of reports to job applicants and failing to resolve disputes. And on August 8, 2012, the US Department of Justice announced HireRight settled charges of violating the FCRA for $2.6M. Companies that use background check services must follow FCRA procedures or face class-action liability with millions of dollars in exposure. According to a Wall Street Journal investigation into hiring practices in the trucking industry, class-action lawsuits were brought against trucking companies over how they use HireRight. HireRight customer U.S. Xpress settled in 2013 for $2.75M, and Swift in 2014 for $4.4M over their failure to disclose hiring practices.

References

External links

* {{authority control, state=expanded Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee American companies established in 1995 Business services companies established in 1995 Business services companies of the United States Private equity portfolio companies 2021 initial public offerings 2024 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Privately held companies based in Tennessee