Feb 9, 2022 - Economy

Report: Microsoft in talks to buy cybersecurity giant

Dan Primack

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is in talks to buy Mandiant (Nasdaq: MNDT), a Reston, Va.-based cybersecurity firm with a $4.4 billion market cap, per Bloomberg.

Why it matters: Not only isn't Big Tech pumping the brakes on multi-billion dollar acquisitions in the Biden era, it's ramping up. This would be Microsoft's second major play of the year, following its agreement to buy Activision Blizzard, and comes amidst reports that Amazon is kicking Peloton's tires (after already signing papers on MGM).

History: Mandiant was a VC-backed company bought in 2013 by FireEye, with founder and CEO Kevin Mandia taking over the combined operation. In 2020 it garnered attention for discovering the SolarWinds cyberattack, and last year it sold off FireEye's products (and name) to Symphony Technology Group for $1.2 billion.

The bottom line: "Adding Mandiant would build up Microsoft's arsenal of products for protecting clients and responding to cybersecurity threats. The software giant bought two smaller cybersecurity companies last year, and said last month that it had amassed $15 billion in security software sales in 2021, up almost 45% from a year earlier." — Bloomberg

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Report: Microsoft in talks to buy cybersecurity giant

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