From the back of it expanding the concept of agent AI securityIdentity specialist Okta delivered a strong third-quarter performance with revenue up 12% to $742 million (£562 million), erased a multimillion-dollar GAAP operating loss 12 months ago and posted GAAP net income of $43 million, up from $16 million year-on-year.
In a sign that strategic decisions made earlier this year may be paying off, Okta also said it currently has a subscription backlog of more than $4 billion, with approximately $2.3 billion of that amount due to be recognized in the next 12 months.
Okta CEO Todd McKinnon, who a few weeks ago said identity security and agent AI security essentially the same thingdescribed solid results, highlighted by ongoing collaboration with major clients and the introduction of new products.
Speaking to Computer Weekly before the results were announced, President and Chief Operating Officer Eric Kelleher said, “We had an important shift in strategy at the end of last year. We realized that by the fourth quarter” [1 November 2024 – 31 January 2025] Our product innovation has accelerated to such an extent that our sales organization has become burdened with the burden of having to sell all products to all people.
“We have made significant changes to focus our go-to-market organization on two buyers: enterprise buyers, primarily CIOs. [CIOs] and Director of Information Security [CISOs] and developer buyer, and specialize in our platforms—the Auth0 platform for developers and the Okta platform for CIOs and CISOs.”
Kelleher said that based on this, the first quarter of 2026 was broadly on schedule, the second quarter showed improvement and the third quarter was “good in line with our plans and expectations.”
He said the firm is now having better conversations with both of its core audiences, and called identity security more important than ever—something consumers are beginning to realize, especially those that have deployed multipoint solutions for various identity scenarios.
“They're looking for an identity partner that can help them solve all of these use cases in one pane of glass… so we give them an administrative layer to make their business more secure.
“When you add in the industry dynamics around agents and people who now face a whole new challenge of protecting the identity of agents deployed in their environments, we are very optimistic about what the future holds,” he added.
Artificial Intelligence Bubble?
Amid ongoing talk of an AI bubble – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) latest forecast for the USA Kelleher said that at some point in every level of the AI world there will be winners and losers, but no matter who they may turn out to be, AI agents are here to stay.
“People will use agents… and the existence of agents is what creates the need for a platform to protect their identity, no matter what bubble there may or may not be,” he said.
