Analytics and security software company Splunk will be acquired by networking equipment giant Cisco for an estimated $28 billion in a deal announced Thursday.
This is arguably the biggest acquisition involving a cybersecurity-oriented company this year, and Cisco is paying for it $157 per share — a 31% premium to Splunk’s Wednesday closing price of $119.59.
Splunk’s strength lies in its ability to help organizations collect, search, organize, and analyze data, including network activity.
Chuck Robbins, Cisco Chairman and CEO, said the partnership is designed to improve the way Cisco customers predict, prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats. It is part of the company’s commitment to providing “AI-enabled security and observability.”
Cisco already has a prominent and very active cybersecurity research and threat intelligence department. Taloscreated about 10 years ago.
“Splunk’s security capabilities complement Cisco’s existing portfolio and together provide cutting-edge security analytics, spanning devices to applications to the cloud,” the companies said in a joint news release.
The biggest deals for cybersecurity companies this year include French defense and aerospace company Thales’ acquisition of U.S.-based Imperva in July for $3.6 billion. That same month, private equity firm TPG completed a $2.4 billion deal with the government services arm of cybersecurity firm Forcepoint.and his acquisition of KnowBe4 by investment firm Vista Equity Partners $4.6 billion During February.
With the deal with Splunk, Cisco continues its cybersecurity acquisitions this year, including cloud-oriented companies. light spin and Valticsas well as Armorblox, which specializes in artificial intelligence and machine learning software.
Cisco was close to making a bid for endpoint security company SenintelOne earlier this year. pulled out According to Israeli business news site Calcalist, the reason for this is “a problem with the company’s earnings reporting.”
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Joe Warminski
Joe Warminsky is the news editor at Recorded Future News. He has over 25 years of experience as an editor and writer in the Washington, DC area. Most recently, he served as a leader at CyberScoop for over five years. Previously, he was a digital editor at NPR affiliate WAMU 88.5 in Washington, where he spent more than a decade editing Congressional coverage for CQ Roll Call.