2 min Security

Cisco buys cybersecurity and observability company Splunk for $28 billion

Cisco buys cybersecurity and observability company Splunk for $28 billion

Cisco is intending to acquire Splunk. To make this happen, Splunk will be delisted. Cisco offers $157 per share. Consequently, the total acquisition will cost Cisco about $28 billion.

The acquisition has already received unanimous support from the boards of directors of both parties, Cisco indicates in the announcement. But the plans are not yet final. Cisco must first buy up Splunk’s shares, for which Cisco offers $157 per share. The parties expect to finalize the acquisition in the third quarter of 2024.

Cisco can then add solutions from a major player in cybersecurity and observability. Although the tech company is not unfamiliar with acquisitions, acquisitions of such size are rather the exception for this party.

Increasing digital resilience of companies

Together, the parties hope to increase the digital resilience of companies. Detecting and responding to threats should be complemented by anticipating and protecting against upcoming threats.

“Together, we will form a global leader in security and observation that harnesses the power of data and AI to deliver outstanding customer outcomes and transform the industry,” says Gary Steele, CEO of Splunk.

Full-stack observability

Splunk turns data into insights to arm your business against cybercriminals. Cybersecurity and observability are not separate components in the view of the company, they work together as one.

Cisco can leverage this expertise to build on its full-stack observability idea. This term encompasses the idea that all logs, metrics and traces come together in one place to keep an overview of the status of an IT environment. The companies themselves say the acquisition will enable observation in hybrid and multi-cloud environments, allowing users to deliver smoother application experiences that support their digital operations.

Tip: Earlier this year, we attended Splunk’s .conf23 event, which provided a comprehensive overview of the company’s activities: Ever-growing data piles lead to an ever-growing Splunk