SentinelOne terminates cooperation with Wiz amidst takeover talk
SentinelOne terminates cooperation with Wiz amidst takeover talk
Wiz expressed its intention to acquire SentinelOne this past weekend despite being a relatively young startup while the latter is a decade-old public company employing almost three times its workforce
The management of SentinelOne, led by Tomer Weingarten, sent an email to the company's sales employees on Tuesday informing them that the company has decided to unilaterally terminate its cooperation with Wiz. The two firms embarked on a strategic partnership six months ago, jointly marketing their cloud security solutions to detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to cloud security threats.
This announcement comes just a few days after Wiz expressed its intention to acquire SentinelOne. This audacious deal involves a relatively young startup, merely three years old, seeking to acquire a decade-old public company employing almost three times its workforce.
SentinelOne has fallen from a $9 billion IPO valuation to around $4.8 billion presently, making it a prime target for takeover. However, Weingarten, the Israeli founder and CEO of SentinelOne, prefers a buyer aiming to consolidate its already strong position in the sector that has substantial financial backing - an investment fund or a major player in the cyber sector like Microsoft or even IBM.
Wiz also received the email regarding the termination of the cooperation. The agreement was initially contracted for a duration of one and a half years, and given that only six months have elapsed, the two companies remain bound by a non-competition clause. Consequently, Wiz will be precluded from partnering with the likes of CrowdStrike, which specializes in similar solutions to SentinelOne, while SentinelOne won’t be able to collaborate with the likes of Orca Security, which directly competes with Wiz.
The current decision to sever ties with Wiz stands as a clear indication of Weingarten's hesitance to be controlled by Assaf Rappaport, co-founder and CEO of Wiz. Calcalist has learned that Weingarten’s main message to SentinelOne employees was that Wiz “wants to position itself as an acquiring company in response to Palo Alto’s presentation regarding the cyber market released two weeks ago which clearly highlighted the start of a consolidation trend in the cybersecurity sector.”
Wiz declined to respond to Calcalist’s questions.
