IonQ agrees to buy Elisity in all-stock deal worth up to $1.3 billion
The cybersecurity acquisition will be paid for entirely in IonQ stock, with a separate $100 million retention pool for Elisity staff
Published
IonQ has agreed to acquire Elisity, a company that sells Zero Trust network security, in an all-stock deal valued at up to $1.3 billion. The agreement pays $1.15 billion in stock at closing, with up to $150 million more tied to revenue milestones through January 31, 2028.
IonQ will also set aside $100 million in restricted stock units as a retention pool for Elisity employees who stay on, vesting over four years. Elisity will keep its current chief executive, James Winebrenner, after the deal closes. IonQ expects that to happen in the fourth quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval and other customary conditions.
The purchase extends a pattern at IonQ, which has also bought Capella Space and Vector Atomic, funding its expansion almost entirely with its own shares rather than cash. Each of those deals has pushed the company further from its core business in quantum computing and networking, into satellite imaging, sensing, and now network security.
The size of the Elisity deal is large relative to IonQ's current scale, so the stock-funded structure adds meaningfully to the number of shares outstanding. The fourth-quarter closing target is also later than the company's earlier acquisitions, which closed faster. Unlike the sensing and space ties in the Capella and Vector Atomic deals, the strategic case for combining a quantum hardware company with a network security firm is less immediately clear.