IPO Season Gets Another Boost with Palo Alto Networks’ New Executive
Palo Alto Networks, a company that develops a firewall offering that filters web traffic based on the type of application generating it, announced its latest hire as it’s starting to prep for an initial public offering. Mark McLaughlin, who served in various positions at VeriSign throughout the past decade, most recently as the CEO of the web authentication & security giant, will become chief executive of Palo Alto Networks.
McLaughlin will start after Aug. 25 or one day after his last day at VeriSign, said Palo Alto Networks spokesman Mike Haro.
Some more info on the hire:
“The Palo Alto Networks board, which started the CEO search in December, was impressed with McLaughlin because references said he had a good track record of working with large customers, particularly in government agencies, an area the company is targeting for growth,” Haro said.
The company plans on increasing its staff by over 75 percent, by hiring 300 more people in this fiscal year, starting today. Palo Alto Networks generates about $200 million in annual revenue and hit profitability five quarters ago, which probably gives it a good chance to follow the path of LinkedIn, Yandex and other companies that managed to comfortably reach IPO expectations.
The tech industry IPO season, which really kicked off with LinkedIn’s highly successful public offering, has been going at it for several months now. Home-valuation site Zillow is one of the latest companies to take this route – according to an SEC filing, the company plans to sell about 3.5 million shares in hopes of raising $69.2 million. Social media marketing firm IZEA also had some IPO news recently–the company raised $3.3 million in a public offering finalized on May 12.
A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:
Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.
- 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more
- 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network.
About SiliconANGLE Media
SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios — with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI.
Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.
