• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

2

‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion

3

'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic

1

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

2

‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion

3

'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
TechFIREEYE

Cybersecurity Firm FireEye Blames Tanking Stock On U.S.-China Hacking Deal

Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
Down Arrow Button Icon
Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 5, 2015, 7:37 PM ET
U.S.-WASHINGTON D.C.-CHINA-XI JINPING-BARACK OBAMA-PRESS
WASHINGTON D.C., Sept. 25, 2015-- Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, shakes hands with U.S. President Barack Obama during their talks in Washington D.C., the United States, Sept. 25, 2015. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang via Getty Images)Photograph by Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Truces do not a cybersecurity business make.

Shares of FireEye, one of the biggest names in computer security, tanked on Thursday, hitting an all time low a day after the company reported weak third quarter billings and lowered full-year revenue guidance. The company is known for its Mandiant division, a firm it acquired in 2014 that investigates and responds to big data breaches.

On a call with investors on Wednesday, CEO Dave DeWalt blamed the company’s poor performance on an oral agreement recently struck between President Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, that forbids their respective countries from hacking each other for economic gain. He also cited “growing pains” as another reason for the softened outlook.

“The frontal assault the Chinese military had on commercial operations in America was in pretty high gear for a few years here,” DeWalt told MarketWatch. “But the pivot of China policy is causing some differences.”

Differences indeed. FireEye reported quarterly billings of $210.6 million, less than the $225 million to $230 million it had predicted in July. The company also revised its expected yearly revenue to $620 million to $628 million from the $630 million to $645 million it had predicted in July.

By market close, FireEye shares (FEYE) had tumbled 23% to $22.46.

Other cybersecurity companies like Tanium, CrowdStrike, and Trend Micro say they have not seen the number of cyberattacks subside, as the Wall Street Journal noted. Stocks for some of FireEye’s public market rivals such as Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Imperva (IMPV), and Proofpoint (PFPT) have also lately, in contrast, been on the up and up.

CrowdStrike, a hot cybersecurity startup, for instance, reported last month that the U.S.-China hacking deal had not stopped Chinese state sponsored hackers from trying to break into American companies. The firm recorded 11 Chinese hacking attempts against U.S.-based technology and pharmaceutical companies that it determined were economically motivated, it said.

 

After issuing the report, CrowdStrike Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Dimitri Alperovitch told Fortune that some of his company’s customers had taken the U.S.-China deal to mean that they should be less concerned about defending against Chinese hackers. He said the firm published the report to make clear that the hacking threat has not abated.

FireEye’s stock debuted on the public markets at $36 in 2013 before soaring to more than $85 per share five months later. Then it tumbled as low as $25.76 in Oct. 2014.

Daniel H. Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets, wrote in an email to Fortune that he expects “darker days ahead” for FireEye. His research firm downgraded the company’s rating from “outperform” to “market perform” upon learning its earnings news.

“While we (and many on the Street) have been patient during this roller coaster ride over the past 18 months, it appears DeWalt and the FireEye growth story have run into a brick wall,” he said. “While FireEye (and DeWalt) is blaming weakness on a number of issues (China threats, Europe weakness, macro), we believe execution/product challenges are not fixable overnight and will cause more pain ahead.”

FireEye spokesperson Vitor De Souza, meanwhile, has stood behind the CEO’s statements. “We’re convinced the threat landscape is every bit as dangerous as it ever was,” he told the Journal, “but short-term the decrease of market urgency has changed the buying patterns.”

Subscribe to Fortune’s daily business-tech newsletter Data Sheet.

For more about hackers, watch this Fortune video:

[fortune-brightcove videoid=4503529281001]

About the Author
Robert Hackett
By Robert Hackett
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

LaLiga president says tech is already making the fan experience better, and it could solve football’s money problem too
AISports
LaLiga president says tech is already making the fan experience better, and it could solve football’s money problem too
By Catherina GioinoJuly 20, 2026
7 hours ago
A 13-year-old teenage boy looks at an iPhone screen displaying various social media apps.
PoliticsSocial Media
French President Macron backs effort to ban kids under 15 from social media before departing office next year
By The Associated Press and Samuel PetrequinJuly 20, 2026
8 hours ago
Photo of Hugging Face cofounder and CEO Clement Delangue.
CybersecurityAI agents
Hugging Face says it resorted to a Chinese AI model to battle a fully autonomous cyberattack because U.S. model guardrails stymied its defense
By Emily ForliniJuly 20, 2026
9 hours ago
Sumeet Agrawal is VP of Product Management (Data, AI Governance & Context Engineering for Agentic Systems) at Salesforce.
CommentaryAI agents
Salesforce VP on the leaky AI pipeline: why cheaper tokens won’t fix enterprise AI
By Sumeet AgrawalJuly 20, 2026
14 hours ago
Artificial Intelligence technology and futuristic technology transformation
C-SuiteCFO Daily
How CFOs can tell if AI is actually creating value
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 20, 2026
15 hours ago
uk
PoliticsSocial Media
France wants to ban social media for kids — but Brussels says the bill breaks EU law
By Samuel Petrequin and The Associated PressJuly 20, 2026
15 hours ago

Most Popular

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
10 hours ago
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
Success
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
By Sydney LakeJuly 20, 2026
14 hours ago
'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
AI
'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini says we're headed for universal basic income or 'some form of socialism' as AI revolutionizes work—He calls that optimistic
By Jason MaJuly 18, 2026
2 days ago
Warren Buffett says his $147 billion investing career was an accident: ‘I may be one of the 10 luckiest in the world’
Future of Work
Warren Buffett says his $147 billion investing career was an accident: ‘I may be one of the 10 luckiest in the world’
By Sarah GlodekJuly 20, 2026
21 hours ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 20, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 20, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 20, 2026
18 hours ago
Power companies are using eminent domain to seize land for data centers as 70% of Americans say not in my backyard
AI
Power companies are using eminent domain to seize land for data centers as 70% of Americans say not in my backyard
By Aaron Walayat and The ConversationJuly 19, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.