Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora held acquisition talks with Okta between late 2024 and early 2025, but the discussions broke down over price.

Arora also approached Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel in spring 2025 with the idea of a deal, but Pomel was not interested and no formal offer was made.

Palo Alto later moved ahead with other transactions, agreeing to acquire CyberArk for $25 billion in July 2025 and Chronosphere for $3.35 billion in January 2026. Those two deals contributed $338 million to the $3 billion in revenue Palo Alto reported for the April quarter.

According to a report from The Information published Wednesday, Palo Alto Networks (PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora had been exploring acquisitions of both Okta and Datadog before those efforts fell through.

Between late 2024 and early 2025, Arora met several times with Okta CEO Todd McKinnon. The two companies discussed how their products could work together, but the conversations stalled because of disagreements over price.

Okta was valued at about $13.5 billion at the start of last year. Since then, its value has risen by roughly 30%, giving it a market cap near $23 billion.

In spring 2025, Arora approached Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel about a potential deal. At the time, Datadog was publicly valued at more than $40 billion. Pomel was not interested, and no formal offer was made.

Datadog’s market cap has since roughly doubled to more than $80 billion. That valuation makes any future transaction far less likely.

With Okta and Datadog no longer in play, Palo Alto turned to two other acquisitions. In July 2025, the company agreed to buy CyberArk for $25 billion. Then in January 2026, it paid $3.35 billion for Chronosphere, a log data and observability platform that competes with Datadog.

Together, those acquisitions contributed $338 million of Palo Alto’s $3 billion in revenue for the April quarter, underscoring how quickly the company has been folding purchased products into its business mix.

Palo Alto stock was down 0.38% on Wednesday, trading at $338.60. Datadog rose 2.95% on the news, while Okta fell 1.12%.

A Palo Alto spokesperson said the company does not comment on “rumors or speculation.” Spokespeople for Datadog and Okta did not comment.

Arora appears to be continuing to look at acquisitions. He is reportedly evaluating companies that could complement Chronosphere’s capabilities.

Cribl, a data management startup valued at $3.5 billion, is one company reportedly on his radar. ClickHouse, a database company that raised funding at a $15 billion valuation in January 2026, is another.

Arora is also said to be looking at deals in the AI security space. The idea is that AI tools are changing how cyberattacks are carried out, which is increasing the importance of continuous monitoring for enterprises.

Chronosphere, which trades under the ticker CHRN, was down 4.64% on Wednesday.