RESEARCH REPORT
The great value migration
Reimagining growth in the age of AI
5-MINUTE READ
December 3, 2025
In brief
- $27 trillion in enterprise value (EV) traded hands during the last decade and the pace of “migration” has doubled in the last two years—the Age of AI.
- A new group of Value Leaders has emerged and, amid a historic reshuffling, they have captured the vast majority of market gains—growing EV at 7x the rate of peers.
- Our research reveals the DNA of these Value Leaders—the six characteristics that distinguish them and the strategic behaviors that help separate them from the pack.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the business landscape at a historic pace and elevating market expectations. Over the past decade, markets experienced a great value migration as $27 trillion in enterprise value changed hands. And, the pace of value migration is accelerating, having doubled in what we call the Age of AI (Figure 1).
Figure 1: $27 trillion in enterprise value “migrated” over the last decade
The Great Value Migration is shifting the balance of power and giving rise to a new set of corporate Value Leaders. Consider that 20% of the world’s largest companies by revenue weren’t even on the list a decade ago. And, over that same time span, one in four former Value Leaders have fallen from their perch. These market dynamics are accelerating, and the stakes have never been higher—the market is now 25% more future-focused [as defined by rising earnings multiples and future value expectations].
Our findings reveal a stark gap between Value Leaders and others that played it safe. These leaders grew earnings at nearly 3x the pace of competitors; at the same time, leaders increased their enterprise valuations by more than 7x when compared to their peers (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Value Leaders significantly outpaced peers in growing earnings and expanding EV
This raises critical questions. Who are these Value Leaders? And what distinguishes them? Is market leadership something that companies are born into—with innovation—or can companies (re)make their way to the top? Is leadership obtained by fortunate circumstances (such as having the right offerings at the right time)? Or is leadership predestined to be the domain of those already at the top?
To answer these questions, we analyzed more than 1,300 companies across 35 industry segments and identified Value Leaders on the basis of several factors: their ability to deliver EV gains over the past decade; the extent to which they accelerated growth in the past two years; and their current market position [as defined by EV-to-earnings ratio].
The good (or bad) news is that a company’s current position does not dictate its future. In the Age of AI, legacy “moats” offer limited protection against the rising tide, and disruptors are emerging in every industry. Meanwhile, a number of companies are embracing AI in new ways and are separating themselves from the pack. These leaders differentiate by better monetizing their existing business and by activating new revenue models, while also delivering against day-to-day expectations.
Value Leaders, shown as purple dots in Figure 3, are more likely to occupy the upper-right quadrant with accelerating growth rates in the Age of AI for both EV and earnings. In short, investors are rewarding companies that don’t just execute well today, but that also demonstrate they’re building business models positioned to deliver future growth.
Figure 3: A new set of Value Leaders are emerging in each Industry
But the numbers alone don’t tell the full story. We looked deeper to understand what separates these leaders from everyone else. The answer is not industry sector, company size, or geography. It’s behavior.
Across the leaders, we found six characteristics that define how they operate. These characteristics guide the strategic behaviors of these businesses and form the basis of what we call the Value Leader DNA:
While there is not one single profile for success, the most highly valued companies excel in at least three of the six characteristics. They prioritize what’s right for them based on the unique dynamics of their industry. And they hardwire these characteristics into their ways of working to power the evolution of their business models.
The precise success recipe varies based on industry context. In High Tech, for example, value has migrated from unit economics to ecosystem economics. Accordingly, Value Hunters and Outcome Evangelists have thrived by turning their hardware into intelligent, service-driven infrastructure. And while the MedTech industry moves from devices to data, the most valued companies are both Innovation Accelerators and Commitment Builders. They are building recurring, AI-enabled platforms that make healthcare smarter and more connected.
To map your path to value leadership, embrace your inner strengths: Where are the growth opportunities hiding in plain sight? What is your competitive positioning? What are your customers’ unmet needs? Then get expansive: Are you optimizing for cost or engineering for growth? When did you last kill a major initiative—and redeploy those resources? Where can AI help you accelerate?
AI isn’t just another wave of innovation. It’s a structural shift in how value is created, captured and compounded. How will you embrace AI and define your growth future?
