Cisco is making its largest-ever acquisition and one of the largest ones in general. Using a combination of both cash and debt, the company will acquire Splunk, a cybersecurity firm, for $157 per share in an all-cash deal, according to CNBC.
The cash deal worth is an astronomical amount of $28 billion, as Cisco itself announced recently. As a somewhat predictable aftermath, after the announcement of the acquisition, the shares of Splunk increased by 21%, and Cisco shares decreased by 4%.
You don’t need to be a genius to figure out why Cisco might need to acquire a company like Splunk. Cisco is well-known for bolstering the cybersecurity realm to meet the demands of customers. The technology of the latter helps businesses monitor and analyze data to reduce the risk of cyber threats and get rid of technical problems more easily. Splunk is known for integrating AI into its technology for enhanced protection.
Chuck Robbins, the Cisco CEO, explained as CNBC quotes:
Our combined capabilities will drive the next generation of AI-enabled security and observability,
From threat detection and response to threat prediction and prevention, we will help make organizations of all sizes more secure and resilient.
Cisco is usually known for offering networking, cloud, as well as cybersecurity solutions. Thus, the company aims to ‘transform your business.’ So far, for 2023, the revenue of Cisco is established at 56.99 billion dollars.
Splunk CEO Gary Steele stated, as the same source quotes:
We still have many large customers who are very dependent upon the capabilities that we allow for in a customer managed environment.
Cisco also has subsidiaries such as Cisco Meraki, Webex by Cisco, OpenDNS, and more.
