Mandiant acquired by FireEye

I was lounging on the sofa this afternoon enjoying my vacation time and I decided to pick up my phone which had suddenly started to buzz madly. I didn’t quite know what to expect.

The wow goes to 11 today. I have to be honest that I did not see this story coming. Apparently, Mandiant is being purchased by FireEye Inc…

Wait for it… (cue the Dr Evil voice over)

For $1 billion. 

From Washington Post:

Now Mandiant is being acquired by another major player in the space. FireEye, Inc. has purchased the Alexandria-based firm in a $989 million mix of stock and cash, executives said Thursday. The deal, which closed on Dec. 30, involves 21.5 million shares of FireEye and $106.5 million in cash.

 

With Thursday’s announcement, Mandiant will become a publicly-held company for the first time. The decade-old firm does $100 million a year in sales, and its 500 employees serve around 500 customers, most of which are in the Fortune 500, said CEO Kevin Mandia in an interview.

So, I’m curious at that purchase price. Mind you, I guess some rational thought could be put to this purchase when you consider that Facebook paid more than that for Instagram who had a staff of 13 people at the time if I recall correctly. Yes, I realize that they’re different beasts entirely. 

For a moment I thought that this was a prank but, sure enough, there it is on Mandiant’s website.

The deal apparently closed on Decemenber 20th, 2013.

Mandiant Press Release:

The acquisition, which recognizes the ever-increasing intensity of cyber attacks and follows nearly two years of collaboration, creates the industry’s leading advanced threat protection vendor with the ability to find and stop attacks at every stage of the attack life cycle. The transaction closed on December 30, 2013.

I had no idea that FireEye had that big of a war chest. A little surprised to be honest. What are your thoughts on this news? Drop me a note in the comments section.

Now, back to my vacation. 

(Image used under CC from Weidmaier)