Palo Alto Acquired a Startup Without Disclosing CEO Nikesh Arora's Investment
Palo Alto has acquired the startup Console for an estimated $500 million, without disclosing the deal's value. It has emerged that Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora was among the startup's early investors.
Alongside the publication of financial reports that caused Palo Alto's stock to fall yesterday, the company released a laconic announcement regarding the acquisition of another startup. The cyber company did not specify the acquisition amount for Console, apparently because it is not a material transaction in terms of its scale. However, according to the technology news site TechCrunch, it involves a significant sum of about 500 million dollars.
No less interesting is the fact that Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto, was among the first investors in the startup. In its last funding round, Console, founded in 2024, was valued at 157 million dollars. The big winner from the exit is Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, who led the two funding rounds for Console through his venture capital fund, Thrive Capital. In total, the company raised 29 million dollars, providing a quick and profitable exit for Kushner, Arora, and the other investors.
For Arora himself, this is relatively small money. He is considered one of the highest-compensated CEOs on Wall Street, with an annual compensation package that reached 100 million dollars in 2025. Just last March, Arora invested 10 million dollars in purchasing Palo Alto shares, which were then suffering from negative sentiment amid concerns about AI companies taking over parts of the cyber market. The timing of the purchase proved particularly successful: the stock was then near a low point, from which it surged more than twofold to an all-time high, bringing Palo Alto close to a valuation of a trillion shekels.
Console developed an AI-based product for automating the activities of IT departments in organizations. The acquisition of the startup is a continuation of Palo Alto's acquisition spree, in which it also acquired the Israeli company Koi in early 2026 for 400 million dollars.
