CrowdStrike has denied having any significant acquisition talks with patch management firm Action1 following rumors of a potential $1 billion deal.
CSO Online reported earlier this month that it had learned from an anonymous source that Action1’s CEO and co-founder, Alex Vovk, had sent an email to employees informing them about a potential acquisition by CrowdStrike.
The email, whose authenticity was confirmed at the time by Action1, read, “In light of the rumors inside the company, I would like to confirm that CrowdStrike is interested in acquiring Action1 with an estimated transaction value close to one billion dollars.”
Neither Action1 nor CrowdStrike confirmed or denied the acquisition rumors at the time. However, since the news came shortly after the major CrowdStrike outage, the cybersecurity giant potentially buying a patch management firm made sense to some members of the industry.
On August 20, however, Action1 put out a statement announcing its decision to “remain a founder-led company”.
“We are honored by the interest we have received from major industry players, as it validates our strategy and leadership in the space,” Vovk said. “However, after careful consideration, we have determined that remaining founder-led is the best path forward. While it is tough to turn away from significant financial opportunities, we believe our future is far brighter as an independent company.”
CrowdStrike hit back one day later, with its VP of corporate development, Gur Talpaz, saying in a LinkedIn post that there were no real acquisition talks with Action1.
“CrowdStrike had one, 45-minute group conversation following RSA with Action1. Not one single senior member of the CrowdStrike team was a part of this conversation – me included. Action1 signed no NDA. We did not receive a single diligence item of any kind and disengaged after a surface level conversation,” Talpaz said.
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
He added, “Nearly three months later, false reports of an offer and process emerged in the press, driven by a ‘leaked’ email with outrageous claims, including a valuation that was never discussed and an M&A process that never happened. This behavior destroys trust and undermines the credibility of our industry.”