Palo Alto Networks Strikes $25 Billion Deal To Acquire CyberArk

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) on Wednesday announced that it has reached a deal to acquire CyberArk Software (CYBR) in a $25 billion deal.

Palo Alto will pay CyberArk investors $45 per share and 2.2005 PANW shares, according to a statement from the Santa Clara, California-headquartered company.

Palo Alto Networks’ stock plunged nearly 7% in Wednesday’s pre-market trading session following the news. Stocktwits data showed the retail sentiment around the PANW stock was in the ‘extremely bullish’ territory.

CyberArk’s shares declined marginally by 0.6% at the time of writing, with retail sentiment in the ‘bullish’ territory.

The cash-and-stock deal represents a 26% premium to CyberArk’s 10-day weighted average stock price as of Friday, July 25, the company said.

Palo Alto’s acquisition of CyberArk marks the entry of the Nikesh Arora-led company into the identity security segment.

“Today, the rise of AI and the explosion of machine identities have made it clear that the future of security must be built on the vision that every identity requires the right level of privilege controls, not the ‘IAM fallacy’,” Arora said.

Palo Alto’s $25 billion CyberArk deal comes at a time when other industry giants are doubling down on cybersecurity. Earlier this year, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) (GOOGL) agreed to acquire Israeli-American cloud security startup Wiz in a $32 billion all-cash deal.

PANW stock is up nearly 7% year-to-date (YTD) and 22% over the past 12 months.

CYBR stock is up more than 30% YTD and 69% in the past 12 months.

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