Google Acquires Cybersecurity Firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion

Google is now in discussions to acquire Mandiant Inc., a cybersecurity company that was previously approached by Microsoft. According to a report from The Information, Google is willing to spend billions on the US-based firm to improve the security aspects of its cloud computing offerings.

In a separate report, Bloomberg revealed that two people familiar with the deliberations said that Microsoft has dropped out of the race to acquire Mandiant more than a week ago. “Microsoft ended its takeover discussions on concerns that Mandiant’s collection of security businesses wasn’t a good enough strategic fit, according to one of the people,” Bloomberg wrote.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Microsoft has already made multiple investments to bolster its cybersecurity capabilities. Last year, the Redmond giant acquired cybersecurity companies RiskIQ, ReFirm Labs, and Cloudknox, and the company has already started to integrate the latter into its technology stack.

Google is in a different situation with its cloud computing business, which has yet to break even despite generating over $19 billion of revenue annually. Anyway, the new reports have already boosted Mandiant’s stock to $22.49 yesterday, with the company’s market capitalization reaching $5.26 billion. This would make Mandiant Google’s second-biggest acquisition after Motorola Mobility ($12.5 billion) ten years ago.

Update: It’s official, Mandiant has just announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Google in an all-cash $5.4 billion deal. “Together with Mandiant, Google Cloud will deliver an end-to-end security operations suite with even greater capabilities as well as advisory services helping customers address critical security challenges and stay protected at every stage of the security lifecycle,” the company said.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 5 comments

  • bluvg

    08 March, 2022 - 11:08 am

    <p>Seems perhaps like a miss for Microsoft not to scoop up Mandiant (seems they could provide a good boost to their IR side of the Defender suite), but quite a bit more of a miss now that it’s going to Google.</p>

    • darkgrayknight

      Premium Member
      08 March, 2022 - 11:23 am

      <p>You can only integrate so much and there is probably too much overlap and not enough to gain to go through with the process for Microsoft. For Google, while this is probably good for their cloud, the fact they aren’t breaking even is just being added to with this purchase and I don’t see them doing better with their cloud any time soon.</p>

  • IanYates82

    Premium Member
    08 March, 2022 - 3:51 pm

    <p>Context is important please. Saying the stock was boosted to $22.49, without any hint of what it previously was, is not useful information (it’s as bad as Microsoft’s way of hiding numbers behind growth % without knowing any actual figures) </p>

    • locust_infested_orchard_inc.

      08 March, 2022 - 4:50 pm

      <p>$MNDT was boosted from $18.68, and has been fluctuating within the $21 range on the 7th and 8th March, equating to approximately a 15% rise.</p>

  • locust_infested_orchard_inc.

    08 March, 2022 - 5:09 pm

    <p>Google’s main reason for acquiring Mandiant (formerly and better known as FireEye), is to secure its obscene yottabytes of ill-gotten user data.</p><p><br></p><p>One of the two-largest data traffickers has come to the realisation it needs to lockdown its acquired data, lest it should become a victim of a cyberattack, resulting in the trafficked data becoming leaked, and the World learning of Google’s vast and unprecedented data siphoning over two decades under the pretence of its mantra – "don’t be evil".</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC