Who Owns Splunk?
Splunk is a cybersecurity and observability software brand owned by Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), which acquired the company in March 2024 for approximately $28 billion. Founded in San Francisco in 2003 by Michael Baum, Rob Das, and Erik Swan, Splunk was publicly traded as SPLK until the acquisition. It now operates as Cisco's data platform for security, observability, and AI.
Parent Company
Acquired
2024
Status
Publicly Traded
Headquarters
Splunk Timeline
GlobalOfficial Website
Who Owns Splunk?
- Parent Company: Cisco Systems, Inc.
- Ownership Type: Wholly owned
- Acquisition Year: 2024
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock Ticker: NASDAQ: CSCO
| Brand | Parent Company | Ownership Type |
|---|---|---|
| Splunk | Cisco Systems, Inc. | Wholly owned |
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History of Splunk
- Founded: 2003
- Founders: Michael Baum, Rob Das, Erik Swan
- Acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc.: 2024
Michael Baum, Rob Das, and Erik Swan founded Splunk in October 2003 in San Francisco. The product began as a search engine for machine-generated data: log files that IT teams could not easily query with conventional databases. The name riffed on "spelunking," digging through data caves.
Early adopters were system administrators debugging web infrastructure. Venture backing from August Capital, Sevin Rosen, Ignition Partners, and JK&B funded expansion, and by the late 2000s Splunk had turned log search into a commercial platform for IT operations.
Splunk went public on NASDAQ in April 2012 under ticker SPLK. Through the 2010s it layered new businesses onto the core engine: Splunk Enterprise Security became a leading SIEM product, and acquisitions added IT service intelligence, user behavior analytics, and security orchestration through Phantom (renamed Splunk SOAR).
The observability push came through two major deals: SignalFx in 2019 for roughly $1.05 billion and VictorOps, building what became the Splunk Observability Cloud for metrics, traces, and application monitoring.
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CEO transitions marked the later years. Godfrey Sullivan, Doug Merritt, and then Gary Steele led the company as it shifted from perpetual licenses to cloud subscriptions. In its final public year, fiscal 2024 ended January 31, 2024, Splunk reported $4.216 billion in revenue and $4.2 billion in ARR.
Cisco announced its acquisition in September 2023 and closed in March 2024. Since then Cisco has positioned Splunk as the data and observability layer of its AI strategy, integrating Splunk data federation, security operations, and AI observability across the Cisco portfolio.
About Cisco Systems, Inc.
What does Cisco Systems own?
Cisco Systems owns a portfolio of networking, security, collaboration, and observability brands. Key products include Cisco routers and switches, Cisco Silicon One chips, Webex collaboration platform, Meraki cloud-managed networking, Cisco Security solutions (firewalls, XDR, Hypershield, Duo), Splunk data analytics and observability, ThousandEyes network monitoring, and AppDynamics application monitoring.
Is Cisco Systems publicly traded?
Yes, Cisco Systems, Inc. is publicly traded on NASDAQ under ticker symbol CSCO. The company has been publicly traded since its IPO in 1990 and is a component of major stock market indices including the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
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Who founded Cisco Systems?
Cisco Systems was founded in 1984 by Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner, two Stanford University computer scientists who developed the first commercially successful router. The company's name was derived from "San Francisco." The founders are no longer involved in operations.
Where is Cisco Systems headquartered?
Cisco Systems is headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. The company maintains major operations across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with research and development centers, sales offices, and customer support operations worldwide.
How many employees does Cisco have?
Cisco employs approximately 86,200 people worldwide as of fiscal 2025. Approximately 25,600 employees work in sales and marketing functions. The company reduced its workforce by approximately 7% in 2024 as part of a restructuring to focus on higher-growth areas.
Who owns Cisco Systems?
Cisco Systems is publicly owned with a dispersed shareholder base. Institutional investors hold the majority of shares, with no single controlling shareholder. Major institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street Global Advisors, typical of large-cap technology companies.
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What is Cisco's revenue?
For FY2025 (fiscal year ended July 26, 2025), Cisco reported total revenue of $56.7 billion, up 5% from $53.8 billion in FY2024. GAAP net income was $10.5 billion, or $2.61 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income was $15.2 billion, or $3.81 per share. Q1 FY2026 revenue was $14.9 billion, up 8% year over year.
What was the Splunk acquisition?
Cisco acquired Splunk for $28 billion in March 2024. Splunk is a data analytics and observability platform that added approximately $4 billion in annual revenue to Cisco. The acquisition significantly enhanced Cisco's security and observability capabilities, integrating SIEM functionality with Cisco's networking and security portfolio. Cisco has completed over a dozen data integrations between Splunk and its existing products.
- Founded: 1984
- Headquarters: San Jose, California, USA
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock: NASDAQ: CSCO
- Revenue: $56.7 billion (FY2025, year ended July 2025)
- Employees: Approximately 86,200
Where Is Splunk Made / Based?
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Splunk Categories & Tags
Splunk Recalls & Controversies
Splunk's public controversies are modest. The ingestion-based pricing model has been a recurring customer grievance, driving some enterprises to rival platforms and pushing Splunk to introduce workload and entity-based pricing options.
In 2024, shortly after the acquisition closed, Cisco carried out layoffs that affected parts of Splunk's workforce alongside broader company restructuring. Security researchers have also published vulnerabilities in Splunk Enterprise over the years, which the company patches through regular security advisories; none has produced a major public breach attributed to Splunk software itself.
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Brands Owned by Cisco Systems, Inc.
Splunk Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Cisco's enterprise sales channel gives Splunk global reach it could not build alone
- +Integration with Cisco security and networking creates a broader platform pitch
- +$28 billion acquisition value validated the business at a premium
- +Cisco's balance sheet supports continued R&D in observability and AI
Considerations
- -Ingestion pricing remains a competitive vulnerability as rivals push cheaper models
- -Product roadmap now depends on Cisco's corporate priorities rather than Splunk's own
- -Integration complexity has occasionally slowed Cisco's security segment results
- -Key-person departures are a normal post-acquisition risk
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Frequently Asked Questions About Splunk
Sources & Further Reading
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Competitors to Splunk
No direct competitors found in the same category. This could be because Splunkoperates in a unique market segment or we're still building our competitor database.
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Independent Alternatives to Splunk
Looking for brands with different ownership structures? These similar brands are not owned by Cisco Systems, Inc., giving you alternative choices that support different corporate structures.
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ExpressVPN is privately owned, unlike Splunk which is under a publicly traded parent company.
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Technology SoftwareKnowBe4
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KnowBe4 is privately owned, unlike Splunk which is under a publicly traded parent company.
Cisco Systems, Inc. Stock Information
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Jobs at Cisco Systems, Inc.
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