Blackberry and Arctic Wolf announced a deal for the sale of Cylance, “the pioneer of AI-based endpoint protection,” for $160 million.
Once one of the leading smartphone makers, Blackberry has shifted almost entirely to providing cybersecurity solutions. As part of that transformation, the company purchased cybersecurity startup Cylance in 2018 for a whopping $1.4 billion.
“Cylance’s leadership in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity will immediately complement our entire portfolio, UEM and QNX in particular. We are very excited to onboard their team and leverage our newly combined expertise,” John Chen, CEO of Blackberry at the time, said of the acquisition. “We believe adding Cylance’s capabilities to our trusted advantages in privacy, secure mobility, and embedded systems will make BlackBerry Spark indispensable to realizing the Enterprise of Things.”
Fast-forward six years, and Blackberry is selling Cylance for a fraction of its original cost. Arctic Wolf, “a leader in AI-powered security operations,” sees the acquisition as a way to bolster its position in the market and proved security solutions “from the endpoint to the edge.”
Under the terms of the agreement, BlackBerry will sell its Cylance assets to Arctic Wolf for $160 million of cash, subject to certain adjustments, and approximately 5.5 million common shares of Arctic Wolf. After allowing for the purchase price adjustments, BlackBerry will receive approximately $80 million of cash at closing and approximately $40 million of cash one year following the closing.
“Security has an operations and effectiveness problem and endpoint solutions alone have failed to live up to the outcomes they have promised for years,” said Nick Schneider, president and chief executive officer, Arctic Wolf. “By incorporating Cylance’s endpoint security capabilities into our open-XDR Aurora platform, we will be addressing a rampant need for a truly unified, effective security operations that delivers better outcomes for customers. We believe we will be able to rapidly eliminate alert fatigue, reduce total risk exposure, and help customers unlock further value with our warranty and insurability programs.”
“I am incredibly excited to partner with Arctic Wolf through this agreement,” said John Giamatteo, chief executive officer of BlackBerry. “We see this transaction as a win-win for our shareholders and all other stakeholders. Our customers will realize the benefits of continuity of service and the expertise that a global cybersecurity leader like Arctic Wolf provides. Arctic Wolf benefits by adding Cylance’s endpoint security solutions to its native platform. Finally, as Arctic Wolf leverages its scale to build upon and grow the Cylance business, BlackBerry will benefit as a reseller of the portfolio to our large government customers and as a shareholder of the company.”
from WebProNews https://ift.tt/RL1OedE
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