Amid rumors of Microsoft acquisition, Mandiant reports Q4 revenue of $132 million

Microsoft Corp. is in talks to acquire cybersecurity research and incident response company Mandiant Inc., according to people familiar with the discussions, a deal that would bolster efforts to protect customers from hacks and breaches.

The deliberations may not result in an offer, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Mandiant and Microsoft declined to comment. Mandiant shares surged 18% in New York, bringing its market value to almost $4.3 billion. Microsoft stock gained 1.2% to $304.56.

Adding Mandiant would build up Microsoft’s arsenal of products for protecting clients and responding to cybersecurity threats. The software giant bought two smaller cybersecurity companies last year, and said last month that it had amassed $15 billion in security software sales in 2021, up almost 45% from a year earlier. The company last year named former Amazon.com Inc. cloud executive Charlie Bell to oversee its security efforts, and said it had 3,500 employees working to safeguard customers “from the chip to the cloud.”