Akamai Technologies shares pop on takeover of Janrain

Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) announced this week that it has acquired Janrain, a privately-held identity management software company.

The acquisition of Janrain’s software will allow the cloud technology group to offer its clients the chance to crack down on identity fraud by identifying bots and guarding against the hacking of online registration features.

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Akamai customers are set to see immediate security benefits when it comes to bot management and threats to intelligence, thanks to the addition of the new software.

The takeover will bolster the abilities of Akamai’s Bot Manager, which slashes the risks of identity theft by detecting and managing bot activity at login and registration time. By leveraging Akamai threat intelligence, customers can decide which users should be allowed to access registration and login pages.

“Janrain’s Identity Cloud, working together with Akamai’s Intelligent Edge Platform, will provide an added layer of security to allow our customers to know more about their end users and potentially drive additional revenues from that deepened relationship,” noted Rick McConnell, president of Akamai Technologies in a statement.

Janrain is a private company headquartered in Portland, Oregon while Akamai is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The financial terms of the all-cash transaction haven’t been disclosed.  

Akamai expects the Janrain acquisition will reduce its earnings per share in 2019 by between $0.05 to $0.06, but will increase earnings per share in 2020.

Akamai shares traded 3% higher in pre-market trade on Wednesday to hit $64.38.

Contact Ellen Kelleher at [email protected]

Story by ProactiveInvestors