Alphabet’s finance chief noted that the $5.4 billion cybersecurity acquisition will help compete against larger-scaled competitors
Alphabet hopes its acquisition of cybersecurity company Mandiant will help it serve the « idiosyncratic » needs of customers in different industries, Alphabet’s finance chief Ruth Porat said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference on Tuesday afternoon. Google parent company Alphabet announced earlier on Tuesday that it plans to buy cybersecurity firm Mandiant for around $5.4 billion, which makes it the second-largest acquisition in the company’s history. Porat gave a bit a more insight into where it falls within the search giant’s investments in its rapidly growing cloud unit. « It’s an extraordinary player in cybersecurity, » Porat said of Mandiant. « It is going to enable us to provide this end-to-end solution in this very important area and, again, it goes to our commitment around cybersecurity but also all we’re doing in cloud. The investments and the focus — it starts with let’s make sure we have the depth and breadth within industry verticals so that we can address the idiosyncratic needs within each industry, whether it’s finance versus retail versus health care.
