FICO is an analytics software and data company best known for the FICO Score, the dominant measure of consumer credit risk in the U.S. FICO operates two segments: Scores and Software. The FICO Score is a three-digit number that tells lenders how risky a borrower is, and is used across virtually every step of the credit lifecycle — from loan origination to account management to secondary market pricing. FICO does not collect credit data itself; instead, FICO's algorithms run on data held by the three major U.S. credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax), which pay FICO a royalty each time a lender pulls a score. This bureau channel drives the vast majority of Scores revenue. FICO also sells scores directly to consumers through myFICO.com. Scores revenue grows through a combination of origination volumes and price increases — FICO has consistently raised royalty rates, arguing that a large gap remains between what it charges and the value it delivers. The Software segment sells analytics and decision management software to financial institutions, primarily through the flagship FICO Platform, a cloud-based system used for credit origination, fraud detection, account management, and customer communications. Software is sold as multi-year SaaS subscriptions tied to usage metrics, and FICO pursues a land-and-expand model — landing customers on a specific use case, then growing revenue as customers add use cases and process more transactions. FICO returns essentially all free cash flow to shareholders through share buybacks and does not pay a dividend.