Update:

September 1: SentinelOne CEO Tomer Weingarten told CNBC the company is not for sale. Weingarten said during the Q2 2024 earnings call that "our focus is on building an independent company for the long-term ...We believe we can do that the best as possible as a public independent transparent company." He also commented on the Wiz takeover rumors: "it's all pure speculation on their part and far from fact."

BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen responded to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz's comments about the company on X (also known as Twitter): "Every action BlackBerry takes is because we are committed to our customers - to enabling our customers' security and success. Our strategy is to further increase our focus on these objectives.

The strength of our cybersecurity innovations and the breadth of our product portfolio mean we are recognized as just one of a few companies well-positioned to marry enterprise cybersecurity solutions with loT platforms - the key to unlocking a $750B convergence market predicted for 2030.

That's the 'Cylance BlackBerry movie' to watch."

Recent news about potential sales of security vendors like SentinelOne and BlackBerry have brought uncertainty to the security market, and CrowdStrike sees the opportunity to capitalize on the competitive landscape changes and gain market share, particularly in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) sector.

During this week’s earnings call for the second fiscal quarter of 2024, CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz responded to an analyst's question about whether the vendor is already generating strong share gain opportunities in the SMB market as SentinelOne and BlackBerry Cylance are potentially up for sale.

“We already see that in the marketplace. We've got customers that are very concerned about the uncertainty. They have seen the Cylance [by] BlackBerry movie before, and they're concerned and uncertainty is never a good thing for a security buyer,” Kurtz said.

“So we've already seen deals come our way,” he continued. “We'll see how everything shakes out, but for sure, what we're hearing from partners and customers about some of the latest movements in our space is concerning in terms of other competitors.”

Similar to CrowdStrike, SentinelOne offers extended detection and response (XDR), endpoint, cloud and identity security. The company with about $5 billion market value reportedly has hired investment bank Qatalyst Partners to advise on a potential sale.

BlackBerry, meanwhile, now focuses on services for security including managed detection and response (MDR), critical event management and the internet of things (IoT). The company said in May that it initiated a view of its portfolio of business to consider various strategic alternatives including the possible separation of one or more of its business units. This month, the private equity firm Veritas Capital is reportedly considering a potential offer for BlackBerry.

CrowdStrike was listed by analysts as one of the potential buyers for SentinelOne. The company’s recent acquisitions include Reposify, Preempt Security, SecureCircle and Humio.

“When we think about the current environment, I think everyone is seeing there is a shift in the competitive environment and companies that are moving around in terms of M&A [mergers and acquisitions] activity,” Kurtz said during the earnings call.

In light of the current market conditions, CrowdStrike is actively evaluating various acquisition candidates, according to Kurtz. "We think the back half of the year will be a great opportunity. We continue to evaluate many, many different candidates as we normally do. And we think the environment is getting better from an M&A perspective."

“And we're very diligent in how we buy things in the bar and how we look to integration because we focus on a seamless one-platform approach, and we remain true to that,” he added.

Security is experiencing a shift toward a more consolidated industry, Kurtz noted.

“Working in cybersecurity for the past 30 years, I have recognized and created tectonic shifts in this industry and we are in the midst of one right now,” he said.

Organizations are looking for better, faster and more cost-effective protection with automation capabilities, he added. “The competitive battlefield of cybersecurity today reflects these realities, separating the wheat from the chaff. Those who have platforms versus those with point products masquerading as platform stories.”

Amid this shift from point products to platforms, smaller vendors offering single-feature solutions are increasingly at risk of being snapped up by larger vendors or private equity firms.

“What was a market littered with dozens of companies is quickly consolidating to several vendors,” Kurtz said. “Smaller, narrower point-product companies are being left behind. These companies are quickly going the way of legacy AV [antivirus], already in the hands or looking for the safe hands of strategic or private equity buyers. Point products, single-feature cloud security companies are learning the hard way that platforms built by design win at scale. ”