Rapid7 Names Wael Mohamed CEO Amid Ongoing Development Struggles

Rapid7 has tapped former Forescout CEO Wael Mohamed to be its subsequent chief because the beleaguered vulnerability administration vendor pushes into the safety operations market.

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Mohamed, 58, will substitute Corey Thomas, 50, who had served as Rapid7’s CEO since October 2012 and now returns to being chairman, a job he had held till June 2025. Mohamed joined Rapid7’s board in March 2025 as a part of a truce with activist investor Jana Companions that additionally resulted in Rapid7 including former Imperva and Gigamon CFO Michael Burns and Jana Director of Analysis Kevin Galligan to its board.

“I be a part of Rapid7 with gratitude, confidence and pleasure,” Mohamed stated in a press release. “We’ve got the shoppers, expertise, management and expertise to personal the unreal intelligence-SOC market. I’m dedicated to driving deal with the core companies the place Rapid7 is great and honing all of our sources and energy into the success of that imaginative and prescient.”

Rapid7’s inventory was up $0.45 – or 5.43% – to $8.84 per share Monday afternoon, which is the very best the corporate’s inventory has traded since Feb. 10. However the firm’s inventory has struggled mightily this decade as vulnerability administration turns into commoditized, with Rapid7’s valuation dropping a whopping 62% over the previous yr and almost 90% over the previous half-decade. Rapid7 right now is price simply $584.4 million.

As Rapid7’s CEO, Mohamed will obtain an annual base wage of $625,000, an annual efficiency bonus equaling as much as $625,000, a $6 million restricted inventory unit award vesting over a three-year interval and a performance-based RSU award overlaying 2.13 million Rapid7 shares. Thomas in 2025 acquired $9.2 million of inventory awards, a base wage of $545,000 and a efficiency bonus of $315,000 (see: Rapid7 Will get Truce With Activist Investor, Provides 3 Board Seats).

Rapid7’s Gross sales, Inventory Weaken Since Mohamed Joined Board

Rapid7 stated Thomas and Mohamed have collaborated carefully over the past yr to outline and develop the corporate’s technique, with the corporate bringing on a brand new CFO, chief business officer, and chief product and expertise officer. Regardless of all these modifications, Rapid7’s inventory worth has fallen by 68.6% since Mohamed joined the board. Jana is Rapid7’s largest stockholder, proudly owning 10.1% of the corporate’s shares.

The corporate’s gross sales inched forward in 2025 to $859.8 million, up simply 1.9% from $844 million the yr prior. Rapid7’s internet revenue dipped to $23.4 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, down 8.4% from $25.5 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, the yr prior. This yr has been even worse, with gross sales falling 0.3% to $209.7 million within the quarter ended March 31 and anticipated to sink 2% within the quarter ended June 30.

“After becoming a member of our board final yr, Wael shortly grew to become a useful strategic advisor and associate to me,” Thomas stated in a press release. “He has constructed and remodeled cybersecurity corporations, balancing exact execution with strategic funding and his management will assist prospects see the good thing about Rapid7’s imaginative and prescient quicker.”

Mohamed most just lately served as CEO of IoT safety vendor Forescout from March 2021 to October 2022, the place he spearheaded the acquisition of medical gadget safety agency CyberMDX and menace detection and response vendor Cysiv. Forescout carried out layoffs on the time of Mohamed’s resignation. Previous to that, Mohamed spent greater than three years as Development Micro’s president and COO.

Jana in October 2024 disclosed a 13% financial curiosity in Rapid7 and stated points with operational execution, forecasting, investor communication, company governance, board composition and employee retention have led to the corporate’s inventory being undervalued. However the firm’s inventory is down a staggering 77.5% since Jana disclosed its stake in Rapid7.

Rapid7’s present valuation is nicely under opponents Qualys and Tenable, that are price $4.04 billion and $3.25 billion, respectively. The corporate’s inventory is down 93.6% from its all-time excessive of $138.41 per share in November 2021. Thomas took Rapid7 public in July 2015 at $16 per share, elevating $110.4 million on a valuation of $605 million.

Regardless of Rapid7’s monetary troubles, the corporate continues to extend headcount, which has grown to 2,613 staff as of Dec. 31, 2025, up 17.3% from 2,228 staff on the finish of 2023 and 41.5% from 1,847 staff on the finish of 2020. However the geographic mixture of Rapid7’s workforce has shifted quickly, with simply 45.2% of staff primarily based within the U.S. right now, down from 57.3% in late 2023 and 71.3% in late 2020.

Rapid7 has solely disclosed one spherical of layoffs lately, slicing 18% of its workforce in August 2023 to streamline administration layers, cut back function overlap and optimize its mixture of onshore and offshore expertise. Rapid7 stated on the time the layoffs would assist the corporate realign its enterprise towards increasing its managed detection and response capabilities throughout all of safety operations.