[achow]

Interesting. A month back Microsoft was exploring this acquisition.

Microsoft Corp. is in talks to acquire cybersecurity research and incident response company Mandiant Inc... Mandiant shares surged 18% in New York, bringing its market value to almost $4.3 billion.. A deal might also push cloud rivals Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to pursue their own similar acquisitions

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-08/microsoft...

And from the current event:

..acquired by Google LLC for $23.00 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.4 billion

[qzw]

Seems like they have ~500 employees, so the price is over $10M/employee. Obviously a good time to sell a security company right now.

[htrp]

its also 10mn per employee for a services company (afaik their saas revenue streams are secondary)

[tonyedgecombe]

It’s an interesting concept buying a services business like that. Nearly all the value is in the staff who are all free to walk if they feel inclined.

[djrogers]

> Nearly all the value is in the staff who are all free to walk if they feel inclined.

That hasn't been my experience with security services companies. Sure, people matter, but the processes, technology, and leadership can keep a good one on track regardless of who leaves.

[moneywoes]

Wouldn’t the better comparison be based on revenue?

[ocdtrekkie]

Google doesn't buy revenue, they buy employees.

[ISL]

and in this case, an organization.

[bobberkarl]

what makes you ssay that?

[ocdtrekkie]

Google is well known for the acquihire. They aren't Berkshire Hathaway, they aren't just assembling a portfolio of companies. They have their own product plans, and generally buy out other companies as a way to get pre-built teams with the right specialties to accomplish that.

Also, it's very unlikely Google wants to be in the incident response consulting space: Google entirely hates any line of business that can't be automated into a smooth profit paste. Flying security professionals out to clients isn't in their DNA.

[RC_ITR]

Likely MS made the offer, and Mandiant's bankers shopped it around to Google.

As much as Investment Bankers maybe be a drain on society, they DO provide value to certain capital-holders.