Bulletins

Akamai is buying Linode for $900 million

The acquisition is part of Akamai's strategy to expand beyond security and delivery.

Akamai is buying Linode for $900 million

Akamai is acquiring Linode to expand its cloud services.

PRNewsfoto/Akamai Technologies, Inc.

Akamai is buying infrastructure-as-a-service provider Linode for $900 million, the companies announced Tuesday. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Akamai is mainly know for its content delivery and edge computing, services but also has offerings in security. Linode, which provides the typical cloud computing services, has positioned itself as an alternative to AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

Together, the two companies plan to offer a range of compute, storage and security services all the way "from cloud to edge." The acquisition is also part of Akamai's broader strategy to expand beyond security and delivery.

“The opportunity to combine Linode’s developer-friendly cloud computing capabilities with Akamai’s market-leading edge platform and security services is transformational for Akamai,” said co-founder and CEO Tom Leighton, in the announcement.

The announcement comes on the heels of Akamai's fourth-quarter earnings call, which showed modest growth overall, but large free cash flows that helped fuel the acquisition of Guardicore last quarter,and now Linode. Akamai estimates that Linode will help accelerate growth, adding $100 million in revenue for the company this fiscal year.

Aisha Counts

Aisha Counts (@aishacounts) is a reporter at Protocol covering enterprise software. Formerly, she was a management consultant for EY. She's based in Los Angeles and can be reached at acounts@protocol.com.

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