SPLK Splunk Inc

By Colin Kellaher

Splunk shares surged in premarket trading Thursday after the analytics and security software company agreed to be acquired by Cisco Systems in a $28 billion deal.

Shares of Splunk jumped than 22% to $146.25 in premarket trading, while shares of networking-equipment giant Cisco, which closed Wednesday at $55.50, fell 4.5% to $52.99.

Cisco is paying $157 a share in cash for Splunk, a 31% premium to Wednesday's closing price of $119.59 and nearly 25% above the stock's 52-week high of $125.91 reached earlier this month.

Cisco said it expects to wrap up the acquisition by the end of next September, adding that the deal will accelerate its revenue growth and gross margin expansion.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 21, 2023 08:38 ET (12:38 GMT)

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