Dell Investigating Sale Of RSA Security For At Least $1 Billion: Report

Dell is conducting early-stage conversations about selling RSA Security, and is hoping to get at least $1 billion from the sale, including debt, according to Bloomberg.

There is no guarantee Round Rock, Texas-based Dell will end up selling RSA, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Dell gained control over the Bedford, Mass.-based cybersecurity player as part of its monster 2016 purchase of Hopkinton, Mass-based EMC. EMC initially bought RSA for $2.1 billion back in 2006.

Dell’s stock is down $0.26 (0.47 percent) to $54.80 per share in trading Tuesday morning. Dell declined to comment on the report, while RSA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Related: RSA Vet Brian Breton Replaces Faraz Siraj As Americas Channel Leader]

RSA has offerings spread across several disparate areas of cybersecurity. These include: RSA Archer for governance, risk and compliance; RSA NetWitness for security incident event management and threat detection and response; RSA SecurID for identity and access management; and RSA Fraud & Risk Intelligence. The company is probably best known for its SecurID authentication tokens.

The company has significantly grown its presence in the channel over the past half-decade, with partners going from accounting for 35 percent of RSA’s business in 2014 to 70 percent of the company’s business in 2018, the company told CRN last year. This was achieved largely through the acquisition of primarily direct companies and subsequent introduction of their products to RSA’s channel program.

RSA increased the number of partners at its top two levels – Titanium and Platinum – by 25 percent between 2018 and 2019, according to a CRN 2019 Channel Chiefs submission. These partners are enjoying both more revenue as well as additional rebate opportunities, RSA said at the time.

The company has seen some turnover atop its channel organization, with global channel strategy veteran Brian Breton taking the reins in February leading RSA’s Americas channel sales operation. Breton replaced Faraz Siraj, who spent nearly two years spearheading RSA’s channels and distribution efforts in the Americas. Siraj is now an advisor at FKS Channel Consulting, according to LinkedIn.

Under Siraj, RSA rolled out updates to its channel program in February 2018 that rewarded incremental growth with existing clients, incumbency renewal, and partners with strong marketing proposals. The enhancements also included a managed services program for its RSA NetWitness offering that provided MSPs with technical resources are a more flexible business model.