Google Plans To Acquire Cybersecurity Firm In $5.4 Billion Deal
TECHDIGEST – Google has announced its plans to acquire cybersecurity firm, Mandiant, for $5.4 billion and a goal to boost its cloud customers’ protection.
Google affirms that it will pay $23 per share for the publicly traded cybersecurity firm operating since 2004.
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If the deal, which is expected to close later this year, gets approved by regulators, it will be Google’s second-largest acquisition ever behind its $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility deal in 2012, which was sold to Lenovo for $2.9 billion two years later. The tech giant’s third-largest acquisition is smart home product maker, Nest, bought for $3.2 billion in 2014.
Mandiant will join Google’s cloud computing division, which is yet to grow to the same size as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, emphasised the unprecedented cybersecurity challenges faced by organisations globally, as the sophistication and severity of attacks that were previously used to target major governments are now being used to target companies in every industry.
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He further stated the company’s delight in welcoming Mandiant to Google Cloud, with a goal to further enhance its security operations suite and advisory services, ultimately helping customers address their most important security challenges.
On Monday, following the gradual publicity of the information of Google’s interest in acquiring Mandiant, the company’s shares closed up 16%.
Mandiant has a market value of around $5.25 billion and was previously under the FireEye umbrella before the brand was sold. FireEye was credited with helping Microsoft discover the SolarWinds hack that attacked government systems in 2019 and 2020.
In a note to investors by Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, he said: “With cyber-attacks increasing by the day and cyber warfare underway from Russia/state-sponsored cyber-terrorism organisations, Google is doubling down on its cyber security footprint at the right time with Mandiant and looking to differentiate itself from the likes of behemoths Microsoft and Amazon in the cloud arms race.”
The acquisition of Mandiant is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of Mandiant stockholder and regulatory approvals. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is acting as exclusive financial advisor, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati P.C. is acting as legal advisor to Mandiant.
