Google To Acquire Cybersecurity Firm Mandiant, Marking Google’s Second-Biggest Acquisition

Mandiant, Inc announced that it had entered into an agreement to be acquired by Google LLC  in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.4 billion, inclusive of Mandiant’s net cash. “The offer price represents a 57% premium to the undisturbed 10-day trailing volume-weighted average price as of February 7, 2022, the last full trading day prior to published market speculation regarding a potential sale of the Company. Upon the close of the acquisition, Mandiant will join Google Cloud,” reads a section of Mandiant’s press release published on March 8, 2022. 

Upon closure, Mandiant will join Google Cloud to strengthen its security amid a spike in organizations facing cybersecurity headwinds. “Together, we will deliver our expertise and intelligence at scale via the Mandiant Advantage SaaS platform, as part of the Google Cloud security portfolio. These efforts will help organizations to effectively, efficiently and continuously manage and configure their complex mix of security products,” said Kevin Mandia, Mandiant CEO.

Pursuant to filings, the deal is Google’s second-biggest just behind its acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012. The acquisition comes barely two months after Google acquired Siemplify, a leading security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) provider for $500 million in early January 2022. The acquisitions are part of Google’s mega plan to commit $10 billion to advance cybersecurity which it announced in August 2021. 

“As a recognized leader in strategic security advisory and incident response services, Mandiant brings real-time and in-depth threat intelligence gained on the frontlines of cybersecurity with the largest organizations in the world. Combined with Google Cloud’s cloud-native security offerings, the acquisition will help enterprises globally stay protected at every stage of the security lifecycle,” Google said in a press release. 

Mandiant is a leader in threat intelligence discovering thousands of cyberattacks every year. One of the notable discovered attacks that gave Mandiant public eminence is the SolarWinds security breach. 

According to the press release, The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of Mandiant stockholder and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close later this year. 

Until the deal closes, Google has several snags to overcome such as getting regulators to approve the deal amid antitrust investigations — the same component that subjected Google’s acquisition of Fitbit to a months-long probe before closing earlier January this year.