NSO To Be Acquired By US Investors, Ending Israeli Control of Pegasus Maker

An anonymous reader shares a report: Control of NSO Group is set to leave Israeli hands. A group of American investors led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds has agreed to acquire the controversial spyware developer in a deal valued at several tens of millions of dollars. The transaction is expected to be signed in the coming days, though its completion will require approval from Israel's Defense Export Control Agency (DECA) at the Ministry of Defense.

Since March 2023, NSO's shares have been held by a Luxembourg-based holding company wholly owned by founder Omri Lavie. The company's lender syndicate, which had extended roughly $500 million in loans to finance a share buyback from the private equity fund Francisco Partners, transferred ownership to Lavie following the restructuring.

Yeah

[Djdatlondon]

So out of the frying pan into the fire.

Re:

[piojo]

Yeah, it was always funny that some people implied Pegasus was more evil because it was owned by an Israeli entity, as though other powerful countries would roll over and become pacifists when under threat.

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[Rujiel]

I' m marvelling at the mental gymnastics it takes to frame selling spyware that gets innocent people and journalists killed by their governments is "not rolling over". Other people get to die for existing and you get to pretend you were protecting yourself in selling the software that got them killed, even implying that the murder assistance software is a victim of antisemitism. Typical zionist sociopathy

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[piojo]

That's not what I said.

Typical zionist sociopathy

Okay. I will not be reading your posts anymore.

Hmmm

[flippy]

U.S. ownership doesn't make it less dangerous spyware.

Very useful for Trump...

[Lavandera]

Now he will be able to spy on oponnents more easily...

And this all for a small price of accepting Gaza destruction...

Re:Very useful for Trump...

[smooth wombat]

Now he will be able to spy on oponnents more easily...

And this all for a small price of accepting Gaza destruction...

Correction. A small price for accepting genocide.

What the hell?

[Iamthecheese]

This is exactly like a group of private investors acquiring a missile cruiser. In Russia I would believe it more easily.

Re:

[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

Read TFS. It was already owned by private capital (a Luxembourg company).

Re:

[Iamthecheese]

A Hollywood producer buying an Israeli cyber-arms firm from a Luxembourg shell to sell zero-click exploits once blacklisted by Washington.You can almost hear the hum of obsolete servers in some rain-slick basement and the glow of a corporate logo reflected off a wet street. All we're missing is a burned-out hacker mumbling about "market forces" while patching code for a warlord's private AI and a former Ukrainian drone soldier hired out for his expertise. The strangest part is how banal it all feels. The cy

Re:

[easyTree]

I'd buy this game if reasonably priced :-)

Re:

[DrMrLordX]

V won't have any problems infiltrating that basement.

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[Rujiel]

This deflection was so important for you to put out that you said the exact same thing as AC. Good boyyyy

\o/

[easyTree]

So, sanctions are coming? Extract everything of value before it's too late?

To Be...

[nospam007]

"will require approval from Israel's Defense Export Control Agency (DECA) at the Ministry of Defense." ..Or NOT TO BE.

I don't see how this gets approved.

[Fly Swatter]

Once it's under US ownership, now lawsuits can't just be ignored (in theory).

An alternative headline

[nut]

US Acquired By Israeli Investors, Ending US Control of US

Re:

[bn-7bc]

Way would Netanyahu want the us, have you checked the books latly, if iy wasn't for the favt the At the USD is a reserve currency you might be begging the IMF for a bailout. Nor even one as crazy as he wants all those probkems, current and future