ServiceNow sets aside about $500 million to retain Armis employees
Roughly 950 staff are expected to join the enterprise software group following the cybersecurity acquisition.
When ServiceNow completes its acquisition of Armis, approximately 950 employees from the Israeli cybersecurity company are expected to join the enterprise software group. To secure that transition, ServiceNow is expected to grant retention packages totaling roughly $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The size of the retention pool underscores the strategic importance ServiceNow is placing on Armis’ workforce. Averaged across the incoming employees, the grants amount to more than half a million dollars per person.
Retention packages are typically used to prevent employee departures in the period following a takeover, protecting the value of the acquisition by ensuring continuity across engineering, security research, and customer-facing teams. In this case, the scale of the payments suggests ServiceNow sees Armis’ talent as a core asset of the deal rather than a secondary consideration.
The retention grants are expected to vest over time, tying employees to the company beyond the closing of the deal.
The emphasis on retention reflects the competitive market for cybersecurity expertise and the growing tendency among large technology companies to treat acquisitions as purchases of teams as much as products.
