Palo Alto Networks announces acquisition of CyberArk

On Wednesday, Palo Alto Networks and CyberArk announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which the former company will acquire the latter.

The acquisition involves an amount of approximately $25 billion. The goal is to combine Palo Alto Networks’ AI-powered security platforms with CyberArk’s Identity Security and Privileged Access Management (PAM) tools to protect all identity types, including human, machine, and the new wave of autonomous AI agents.

“Our market entry strategy has always been to enter categories at their inflection point, and we believe that moment for Identity Security is now. Today, the rise of AI and the explosion of machine identities have made it clear that the future of security must be built on the vision that every identity requires the right level of privilege controls, not the ‘IAM fallacy,’” Nikesh Arora, Chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks, said in a statement.

“Joining forces with Palo Alto Networks is a powerful next chapter, built on shared values and a deep commitment to solving the toughest identity challenges. Together, we'll bring unmatched expertise across human and machine identities, privileged access, and AI-driven innovation to secure what's next. This is more than a combination of technologies – it's an acceleration of the mission we began over two decades ago,” Udi Mokady, Founder and Executive Chairman of CyberArk, added to his colleague’s remarks.

The acquisition has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both Palo Alto Networks and CyberArk. The transaction is subject to approval from regulators and CyberArk shareholders and is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

Palo Alto Networks is an American cybersecurity firm that was founded 20 years ago and is trusted by over 70,000 businesses and organizations in over 150 countries. The company offers AI-powered security solutions across network, cloud, security operations, and AI, enhanced by the expertise and threat intelligence of the Unit 42 threat research team.

CyberArk is an Israeli security company that provides identity management tools, primarily to companies in the financial, energy, retail, healthcare, and government sectors. With its Privileged Account Security Platform, the company aims to thwart hackers from entering computer systems via either a breach of administrator or key account holder privileges.