VMware to Buy Carbon Black for $2.1B

VMware plans to acquire cloud-based endpoint security vendor Carbon Black in a cash offer of $26 per share, or $2.1 billion.

That is just one cloud-related mega-deal VMware announced today: It also plans to buy software development firm Pivotal Software, which originally spun out of VMware and Dell in 2013. Dell is the majority stockholder of VMware, which will acquire Pivotal via stock transactions valued at $2.7 billion.

"These acquisitions address two critical technology VMware, Inc. priorities of all businesses today — building modern, enterprise-grade applications and protecting enterprise workloads and clients. With these actions we meaningfully accelerate our subscription and SaaS offerings and expand our ability to enable our customers' digital transformation," Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware, said in a statement.

Carbon Black CEO Patrick Morley, in a blog post today, explained what the deal means technology-wise. "VMware has a vision to create a modern security platform for any app, running on any cloud, delivered to any device — essentially, to build security into the fabric of the compute stack. Carbon Black's cloud-native platform, our ability to see and stop attackers by leveraging the power of our rich data and behavioral analytics, and our deep cybersecurity expertise are all truly differentiating."

Read more here and here.