I'm not sure I would call it technical merit, but sentiment and reputation do play a role in negotiations. No cloud provider wants to be perceived as having a weakness in terms of security compared to its closest competitors.

There are debates about risks when large companies move to the cloud - in some industries more than in others. Opposing groups within companies as well as competitors' sales people will be looking for weak spots to make their case.

In isolation, incidents like this don't make a difference. If it looks like a pattern that would be bad for business though.