Google's $23bn Wiz bid fizzles

Startup cites antitrust and investor concerns

Israeli cloud security startup Wiz has turned down a $23 billion acquisition offer from Google.

Instead, the startup, co-founded in 2020 by CEO Assaf Rappaport, will seek to go public, as it had planned before Google showed an interest, aiming for recurring revenues of $1 billion per year.

Google's offer would have doubled Wiz's current $12 billion valuation, achieved via a private investment round in May.

CNBC quoted an unnamed inside source saying that Wiz executives were concerned about increasing antitrust action against big tech by regulators, and also the reluctance of investors to accept Google's offer – which was never formally announced by either party.

For Google parent Alphabet, this is the second collapsed acquisition attempt this year. Two weeks ago the cloud giant abandoned plans, initially reported in April, to take over online marketing software company HubSpot.

For Google, the acquisition of Wiz would have strengthened its hand against cloud rival Microsoft Azure, which offers its own native cloud security products.

The Israeli company offers a platform that connects scans the entire cloud environment without requiring the installation of agents.

Had it gone through, Wiz would have been by far Google's largest acquisition to date, the previous record being its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola in 2014. In 2022 it bought incident response, threat intelligence and security consulting firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion.

However, regulators around the world are looking harder at acquisitions by the largest tech firms. The US Justice Department has two antitrust lawsuits ongoing against Google over its search engine and digital advertising businesses.