Robbins told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday that he expects organizational synergies between Cisco and Splunk to become clear within 12 to 18 months. The company will finance the deal with a combination of cash and debt, he said.
"Together, we will become one of the largest software companies globally," Robbins said in a conference call with analysts.
Following the announcement, some analysts raised concerns about potential product overlap, regulatory scrutiny and the price Cisco paid. Oppenheimer's Ittai Kidron noted on the call that Splunk's pivot to the cloud has been "underwhelming."
In recent years, Splunk turned away from an on-premises "customer-managed" approach to focus on a cloud-oriented offering.
Splunk CEO Gary Steele, who will join Cisco's executive team after the deal closes, said on the call with analysts that, "We still have many large customers who are very dependent upon the capabilities that we allow for in a customer managed environment."
Steele joined Splunk a little over a year ago. Prior to that, he was CEO of Proofpoint, a cybersecurity firm that was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2021 for .
If Cisco backs out of the deal or if it's blocked by regulators, Cisco will pay Splunk a termination fee of $1.48 billion, . Should Splunk walk away, it will pay a $1 billion breakup fee to Cisco.
In 2023, Cisco has acquired four companies focused on security: Armorblox, a threat detection platform; Oort, which does identity management; and Valtix and Lightspin, both in cloud security.
Tidal Partners, Simpson Thacher, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore advised Cisco. Qatalyst Partners, Morgan Stanley, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advised Splunk.
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