What just happened? Google has announced plans to purchase cybersecurity firm Mandiant in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $5.4 billion. Per the terms of the agreement, Google will pay $23.00 per Mandiant share, representing a 57 percent premium over the 10-day trailing average as of February 7, 2022, when rumors first surfaced of a potential sale.

Mandiant was founded in 2004 by Kevin Mandia and has been instrumental in the investigation of several major cybersecurity incidents over the years. In 2013, The New York Times hired the firm to look into an attack it believed originated from China. HBO enlisted Mandiant's help in 2017 after hackers stole 1.5TB of data, as did Equifax following its devastating security breach. Robinhood and Arby's are also former Mandiant clients.

The deal between Google and Mandiant is expected to close later this year and is subject to customary closing conditions. Should everything go according to plan, Mandiant will join Google's Cloud division.

"Organizations around the world are facing unprecedented cybersecurity challenges as the sophistication and severity of attacks that were previously used to target major governments are now being used to target companies in every industry," said Thomas Kurian, chief executive officer of Google Cloud.

Mandiant CEO Kevin Mandia echoed similar sentiments.

"There has never been a more critical time in cybersecurity. Since our founding in 2004, Mandiant's mission has been to combat cyber attacks and protect our customers from the latest threats. To that end, we are thrilled to be joining forces with Google Cloud. Together, we will deliver expertise and intelligence at scale, changing the security industry," Mandia said.

Google said the acquisition will help enterprises globally remain protected at every stage of the security lifecycle, providing customers with advisory services, enhanced automation and response tools, real-time threat detection and intelligence services, and improved managed defenses.