Bloomberg Talks Palo Alto Networks CEO Talks CyberArk Acquisition
Feb 18, 2026
Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks and veteran technology executive, discusses the CyberArk acquisition and how it changed the company’s guidance. He explains differing ARR accounting approaches and share dilution. Conversation also covers a large Chronosphere observability deal, why frontier labs pick external observability, and Palo Alto’s Koi acquisition for endpoint AI security.
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Acquisition Changes How Guidance Reads
- Palo Alto's guidance includes CyberArk and appears diluted due to share-count effects from the acquisition.
- Adjusting CyberArk ARR to Palo Alto's more conservative methodology shows collective guidance above consensus.
ARR Accounting Differences Matter
- CyberArk computes ARR differently and more aggressively than Palo Alto's conservative method.
- Normalizing CyberArk ARR to Palo Alto's approach increases combined ARR guidance materially.
Chronosphere Landed A Major LLM Customer
- Chronosphere delivered a nine-figure deal with a major LLM customer and will replace an incumbent vendor.
- Nikesh says 250 engineers built an observability leapfrog that scales to LLM volumes and lowers cost.