Davos: Business leaders and chief executive officers are showing greater confidence in their own companies than in the global economy, even as overall sentiment weakens amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty, according to the latest EY-Parthenon CEO Outlook Survey.
The quarterly survey of 1,200 CEOs across 21 countries shows that the CEO Confidence Index fell to 78.5 in Q4 2025 from 83.0 in Q3 2025, reflecting concerns around geopolitical tensions, supply-chain disruption, rising cost pressures, slowing activity in major markets and a muted global economic outlook.
Despite this dip, nine in 10 CEOs surveyed expect revenue growth and higher profitability in 2026. While 61% anticipate increases in operating costs, respondents said productivity gains and internal performance improvements would support profitability.
The survey indicates that CEOs are leaning more on internal levers to manage uncertainty. Around 40% of respondents are prioritising customer engagement and retention as consumer behaviour shifts, while 37% are focusing on product and process innovation.
Investment decisions are also tilting towards action rather than caution, with 40% of CEOs saying they would accelerate investments in response to geopolitical or trade policy changes, compared with 31% who would delay and 10% who would stop investment activity.
"Today's most-successful CEOs are confident in their ability to operate under uncertainty, acting boldly to embrace new technologies at speed and foster confident collaboration to gain competitive advantage," said Janet Truncale, EY global chair and CEO.
In the year ahead, according to her, business leaders need to execute decisively and intentionally by scaling innovation, investing in talent and working closely within their organisation and across industries to create new value.
The year 2026 is expected to be a turning point for AI investments, as CEOs shift from piloting technologies to scaling them across their organisations to accelerate transformation. Around 58% of surveyed leaders expect AI to be a major growth engine in the next two years, while 32% believe it will fundamentally reshape operations as they scale these technologies enterprise-wide.
Most CEOs surveyed have either begun (52%) or plan to begin (45%) significant transformation initiatives this year. However, only 20% said AI investments had significantly exceeded expectations over the past year.
Talent remains a parallel focus, as 79% of CEOs said they are optimistic about their ability to attract and retain critical talent.
Over two-thirds believe AI investments will help them maintain current employment levels or hire new talent in the coming year. The share of CEOs who expect AI to reduce headcount fell to 24% in December 2025 from 46% in January 2025.
Mergers and acquisitions are also expected to play a larger role in 2026. More than half (53%) of CEO respondents plan to pursue acquisitions aligned with growth priorities such as digitalisation, productivity and operational improvement, a 5% increase from Q3 2025.
The quarterly survey of 1,200 CEOs across 21 countries shows that the CEO Confidence Index fell to 78.5 in Q4 2025 from 83.0 in Q3 2025, reflecting concerns around geopolitical tensions, supply-chain disruption, rising cost pressures, slowing activity in major markets and a muted global economic outlook.
Despite this dip, nine in 10 CEOs surveyed expect revenue growth and higher profitability in 2026. While 61% anticipate increases in operating costs, respondents said productivity gains and internal performance improvements would support profitability.
The survey indicates that CEOs are leaning more on internal levers to manage uncertainty. Around 40% of respondents are prioritising customer engagement and retention as consumer behaviour shifts, while 37% are focusing on product and process innovation.
Investment decisions are also tilting towards action rather than caution, with 40% of CEOs saying they would accelerate investments in response to geopolitical or trade policy changes, compared with 31% who would delay and 10% who would stop investment activity.
"Today's most-successful CEOs are confident in their ability to operate under uncertainty, acting boldly to embrace new technologies at speed and foster confident collaboration to gain competitive advantage," said Janet Truncale, EY global chair and CEO.
In the year ahead, according to her, business leaders need to execute decisively and intentionally by scaling innovation, investing in talent and working closely within their organisation and across industries to create new value.
The year 2026 is expected to be a turning point for AI investments, as CEOs shift from piloting technologies to scaling them across their organisations to accelerate transformation. Around 58% of surveyed leaders expect AI to be a major growth engine in the next two years, while 32% believe it will fundamentally reshape operations as they scale these technologies enterprise-wide.
Most CEOs surveyed have either begun (52%) or plan to begin (45%) significant transformation initiatives this year. However, only 20% said AI investments had significantly exceeded expectations over the past year.
Talent remains a parallel focus, as 79% of CEOs said they are optimistic about their ability to attract and retain critical talent.
Over two-thirds believe AI investments will help them maintain current employment levels or hire new talent in the coming year. The share of CEOs who expect AI to reduce headcount fell to 24% in December 2025 from 46% in January 2025.
Mergers and acquisitions are also expected to play a larger role in 2026. More than half (53%) of CEO respondents plan to pursue acquisitions aligned with growth priorities such as digitalisation, productivity and operational improvement, a 5% increase from Q3 2025.
