SentinelOne CEO Dismisses Acquisition Rumors

Cybersecurity company SentinelOne is reportedly not for sale, despite recent rumors.

SentinelOne CEO Tomer Weingarten told CNBC that the company is dedicated to maintaining its status as a publicly traded, independent entity, the media outlet reported Thursday (Aug. 31).

Weingarten’s statement came in response to a media reports that suggested security startup Wiz was considering acquiring SentinelOne.

On Thursday, SentinelOne’s stock price received a 10% boost following the company’s release of stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results. The company reported 46% year-over-year revenue growth, although lower than the previous quarter’s 70% increase. Looking ahead, SentinelOne projects a revenue of $156 million for the fiscal third quarter, surpassing the Refinitiv consensus of $154.2 million.

“I think what you can easily see from our numbers is that we’re a high-growth company, a high-performance company,” Weingarten told CNBC. “We’re solely focused on our individual path.”

While facing competition from cybersecurity giants such as CrowdStrike, VMware and Microsoft, Weingarten remains optimistic about SentinelOne’s market share growth. He believes that the incumbents in the industry are the weakest players, further solidifying SentinelOne’s strong position.

Although SentinelOne’s stock performance has seen a 14% increase this year, it trails behind the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, which experienced a 22% growth during the same period. One of the ETF’s holdings, CrowdStrike, has seen a 55% increase in its stock price this year.

Bloomberg reported Aug. 25 that Wiz was contemplating a potential bid to acquire SentinelOne, in an unusual move that would involve a startup acquiring a listed company with a market valuation of nearly $4.9 billion.

Reached by PYMNTS at the time, a spokesperson for Wiz provided an emailed statement: “Wiz has openly discussed the possibility of acquisition, and we consistently evaluate potential opportunities that will support our business growth and help us maintain our market leadership position. SentinelOne has a strong cybersecurity offering, and we have been following their growth journey for the past several years.”

PYMNTS has reached out to Wiz for comment but has not yet received a reply.

PYMNTS research has found that as today’s connected consumers move more of their interactions with their financial service providers online, they are becoming increasingly concerned with the security of their personal data.

In fact, 81% of consumers believe that data security is “very” or “extremely” important when it comes to sharing personal data online, according to “The Future of Authentication in Financial Services,” a PYMNTS and Entersekt collaboration.