BlackBerry Limited has signed an agreement to fully buy Cylance, a US-based leader in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The deal is estimated to be worth US $1.4 billion in cash. The deal is expected to be completed by February 2019 after obtaining regulatory approvals and other customary obligations.
“Cylance’s leadership in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity will immediately complement our entire portfolio, UEM and QNX in particular. We are very excited to onboard their team and leverage our newly combined expertise,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO of BlackBerry. “We believe adding Cylance’s capabilities to our trusted advantages in privacy, secure mobility, and embedded systems will make BlackBerry Spark indispensable to realizing the Enterprise of Things.”
Blackberry recently conducted a survey on Internet of Things (IoT) and found that security is a major factor for IoT success (35 per cent), along with privacy concerns (25 per cent) and potential risks and liabilities (25 per cent).
Cylance is one of the early starters in integrating artificial intelligence, algorithmic science, and machine learning into cybersecurity domain. It has developed efficient software for predicting and preventing known and unknown threats to fixed endpoints. “Our highly skilled cybersecurity workforce and market leadership in next-generation endpoint solutions will be a perfect fit within BlackBerry where our customers, teams and technologies will gain immediate benefits from BlackBerry’s global reach,” said Stuart McClure, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Cylance. “We are eager to leverage BlackBerry’s mobility and security strengths to adapt our advanced AI technology to deliver a single platform.”
BlackBerry expects that after the anticipated close of the transaction, Cylance will operate as a separate business unit within BlackBerry Limited.