What is happening to independent cybersecurity companies?

I feel the pace of acquisitions of independent cybersecurity companies has quickened this past year, and in general, it is getting difficult to point to cybersecurity companies with solid growing GAAP profits.

Here are some of most well-known cybersecurity companies that have recently lost or may be losing their independence.

  • LastPass owner LogMeIn is being bought by private equity firm Francisco Partners and Elliott Management Corp

  • RiskRecon is being acquired by MasterCard

  • Sophos is being acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo

  • Imperva was acquired by Thoma Bravo

  • Carbon Black has been acquired by VMware

  • Symantec has been acquired by Singapore-based Avago (renamed “Broadcom” after acquiring that company)

  • Cylance has been acquired by BlackBerry

  • Webroot has been acquired by Carbonite

  • WhiteHat Security has been acquired by NTT Security Corporation

  • McAfee is majority owned by private equity firm TPG Capital with Intel and Thoma Bravo (them again) owning minority stakes

  • FireEye (Mandiant), which acquired iSight a few years ago, has reportedly hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer with a private equity firm the most likely candidate