Splunk shares spike on report of Cisco buyout offer
Splunk shares rose as much as 14% in extended trading on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported that Cisco made an offer to buy the data analytics software company for over $20 billion.
At the peak of its after-hours move, Splunk was valued at more than $20 billion, up from $18.2 billion at the close of trading.
Cisco and Splunk representatives declined to comment.
Splunk's software has gained popularity as a tool for spotting security threats. Cisco has sought to expand its security business while also selling data center networking equipment and Webex collaboration software.
Shares of Splunk have fallen 49% since reaching a record in September 2020. The stock fell 18% on Nov. 15, after the company said CEO Doug Merritt, who had been running the company for six years, would be stepping down immediately. The board named Chairman Graham Smith as interim CEO and kicked off a search for a permanent replacement.
Splunk has been in the process of shifting toward providing cloud services to customers, and said in December that almost 37% of revenue in the latest quarter was tied to cloud usage.
Total revenue at Splunk grew 19% from a year earlier, while Cisco's overall revenue in the most recent quarter increased 8%. Cisco has long grown its business through acquisitions and in 2020 it bought networking monitoring company ThousandEyes for about $1 billion.
Should a deal for Splunk be consummated it would be by far Cisco's largest ever.
According to a follow-up report from Bloomberg, talks between the companies broke down in recent weeks.
在华尔街日报报道思科提出以超过 200 亿美元收购这家数据分析软件公司的要约后，Splunk 股价在周五的延长交易中上涨了 14%。 在盘后交易高峰期，Splunk 的估值超过 200 亿美元，高于收盘时的 182 亿美元。
思科和 Splunk 的代表拒绝置评。
Splunk 的软件作为发现安全威胁的工具而广受欢迎。思科寻求扩展其安全业务，同时还销售数据中心网络设备和 Webex 协作软件。
自 2020 年 9 月创下历史新高以来，Splunk 的股价已下跌 49%。在该公司表示已执掌公司六年的首席执行官 Doug Merritt 将立即辞职后，该公司股价在 11 月 15 日下跌了 18%。董事会任命董事长格雷厄姆史密斯为临时首席执行官，并开始寻找永久替代人选。
Splunk 一直在转向为客户提供云服务，并在 12 月表示，最近一个季度近 37% 的收入与云使用有关。
Splunk 的总收入同比增长 19%，而思科最近一个季度的总收入增长了 8%。思科长期以来一直通过收购来发展业务，并在 2020 年以约 10 亿美元的价格收购了网络监控公司 ThousandEyes。
如果完成对 Splunk 的交易，这将是迄今为止思科有史以来最大的一笔交易。
根据彭博社的后续报道，最近几周两家公司之间的谈判破裂了。
