Dive Brief:
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FireEye announced that its CEO and chairman of the board, David DeWalt, will step down on June 15, according to Fortune. DeWalt led FireEye for four years.
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Kevin Mandia, the company’s president, will take over as CEO for the cybersecurity firm.
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The announcement accompanied a lower-than-expected first quarter earnings report. FireEye marked down its revenue forecast to a range of $780 million to $810 million from a range of $815 million to $845 million.
Dive Insight:
Rumors of leadership changes have swirled around the cybersecurity firm. DeWalt led the company during a time of huge growth, with shares jumping to $85 in early 2014. But since then, FireEye’s shares have steadily gone down. DeWalt will not be leaving the company completely—he will assume the title of executive chairman on June 15.
Vitor De Souza, FireEye’s head of communications, said the leadership transitions were part of "well thought out" succession plan, according to Fortune's report.
FireEye recently reported that its first quarter revenue grew to $168 million from $125.4 million during the same period last year. But the company’s losses also grew significantly during that time. The company said its quarterly losses stem from a change in business model—it’s now selling software as a service.
FireEye is not the only security company struggling. In late April, Symantec announced that its president and CEO Michael Brown was stepping down. A number of Symantec executives have left the security vendor over the past several months.
Other cybersecurity firms have seen their valuations plummet over the last six months. Analysts say high-profile data breaches drove security spending up in 2015, making cybersecurity company valuations too high.
