Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW) announced last night that founder and CTO Nir Zuk is retiring after more than 20 years in the job. He will be replaced by CPO Lee Klarich, who was part of the cybersecurity company's founding team. Klarich joins the board of directors and will be responsible for the company's technological vision and leading, organizational, product and engineering development.
Zuk founded Palo Alto Networks in 2005 and built it into one of the world's major cybersecurity players. The company's success has made him one of the wealthiest billionaires Israeli high-tech has produced, with estimated wealth of $1.6 billion by Forbes.
Palo Alto said that Zuk is "stepping away to turn his attention to a new set of challenges and untapped ideas he is passionate about pursuing." It is possible that the "challenges" that Zuk is seeking are in the Israeli media, an industry in which he has shown increasing interest in recent years but has struggled to make an impact. For example the failure of his liberal TV channel Relevant followed by his failure in talks to acquire Reshet 13.
Just a few weeks ago, Palo Alto Networks announced that it is acquiring Israeli cybersecurity company CyberArk (Nasdaq: CYBR) for $25 billion - the second largest exit in Israeli history. The deal is mainly in Palo Alto Networks shares.
Despite last night's dramatic announcement, Palo Alto Network's share price has been rising sharply in afterhours trading on Wall Street, probably because the company published strong second quarter results, beating the analysts' expectation of earning per share of $0.89 with $0.95.
"I started Palo Alto Networks with a radical idea"
In his resignation announcement, Zuk said, "I started Palo Alto Networks with a radical idea and the conviction to challenge a stagnant industry with a cybersecurity platform. Our vision has always been to lead from the front, and our recent intent to acquire CyberArk is a testament to that enduring ambition. With the most comprehensive security portfolio today, I am confident in Nikesh's leadership and thrilled to pass the torch to Lee Klarich . He is a phenomenal technologist who will carry that competitive fire into our next chapter. This has been an incredible journey, and I leave with deep satisfaction, knowing the company we built together is stronger than ever."
Zuk, 54, was born and raised in Rehovot. In the army he was the head of the development department in the 8200 intelligence unit and graduated with a B.Sc. in math from Tel Aviv University. After leaving the army he joined a small startup called Check Point Software.
"There were less than ten people there at the time," Zuk once recalled. "In 1997, I moved to the US for the company and stayed there for a few years. Then I left, founded OneSecure, sold it for $45 million in shares, and left. That's when I founded Palo Alto Networks." Since then, his venture has become the most valuable cybersecurity company in the world with a market cap of $117.67 billion.
Palo Alto Networks chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora said, "Niir is a legend in cybersecurity, and his contributions are forever etched in our history books."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 19, 2025.
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