U.S. cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks is in advanced negotiations to acquire Israeli cybersecurity company CyberArk in a deal estimated at $20 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday evening. CyberArk, which is traded on the Nasdaq, surged in after-hours trading, reaching a market cap of $21.5 billion.
Cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks is an American company co-founded by Israeli entrepreneur Nir Zuk. The company is currently considered one of the global leaders in the field. There may well be a connection between the acquisition deal for Wiz—which could place Google at the forefront of global cybersecurity—and Palo Alto’s decision to strengthen its capabilities through CyberArk.
If finalized, the acquisition would be the second-largest in the history of Israeli high-tech, second only to Google’s $32 billion purchase of Wiz. According to the report, a formal announcement could come as early as this week.
Palo Alto Networks, co-founded by Israeli entrepreneur Nir Zuk, is considered one of the global leaders in cybersecurity. Some speculate that Google’s acquisition of Waze may have influenced Palo Alto’s decision to strengthen its capabilities by acquiring CyberArk.
Over the past year, CyberArk has become the second-largest Israeli cybersecurity company on the Nasdaq, closing in on industry veteran Check Point. Following reports of the potential deal, CyberArk’s stock jumped around 15%, while Palo Alto’s dropped by 3%.
CyberArk specializes in the field of identity security—one of the foundational components of any computerized system, from logging into a personal computer or accessing work remotely, to managing credentials across hundreds of websites. Its core focus is in Privileged Access Management (PAM), a niche dealing with the identities of users who have broad system privileges, often referred to as “privileged users.”
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In a November interview with Ynet, CyberArk co-founder and chairman Udi Mokady said he intended to keep the company independent and had no plans to sell. “We didn’t just celebrate our 25th anniversary and 10 years as a public company for nothing,” he said at the time. “Our goal is to build a sustainable company that isn’t acquired, but acquires others—and that continues to grow.”
“We aim to reach the scale of Check Point or Palo Alto—we’re on that path,” Mokady added, responding to a question about the company’s ambitions. “Did anyone think CyberArk would one day talk about $1 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR)? I believe identity is a vast and growing field where we can continue building a company that becomes a global powerhouse.”
CyberArk was founded in 1999 by Udi Mokady and Alon Cohen. Mokady served as the company’s COO until 2005, later becoming its president and CEO, and eventually chairman. In 2023, Matt Cohen was appointed CEO, while Mokady moved to the role of executive chairman. The company is headquartered in Massachusetts, with a development center in Petah Tikva, Israel, and employs around 3,500 people.