Google To Aquire Cybersecurity StartUp Wiz For $23 Billion

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has moved forward in discussions to acquire Wiz, a cybersecurity startup, for around $23 billion. According to Reuters, yesterday an anonymous source familiar with the matter provided more details on the negotiation.

If Alphabet buys Wiz for that amount, it would become the company’s largest acquisition ever. The deal will be funded mostly in cash—according to the source— and will be happening soon.

Wiz, the New York-based cybersecurity firm, has been valued at $12 billion recently, after raising $1 billion during a private funding round. It generated around $350 million in revenue last year and works with prestigious companies around the world including Microsoft and Amazon.

The decision to buy Wiz may incur disputes with the U.S. government as regulators across the country—under Joe Biden’s administration—have previously acted against large tech companies acquiring big companies by blocking these kinds of deals. And it could happen again.

Google and Wiz haven’t shared public statements regarding the new deal, but, as explained by sources, both companies are committed to moving forward.

According to the New York Times, Google has previously been sued by the Justice Department in two cases and the verdict should be shared in the following days.

Google has been working on strategies to diversify revenues, but most of it still comes from online advertising on its platforms. “Buying Wiz would not move the needle overnight, but would forge a connection between Google Cloud and companies that use Wiz to safeguard data held in AWS, Azure, and other cloud computing systems,” wrote The New York Times.

Google’s last big acquisition was FitBit, the fitness tracker company, a deal for $2.1 billion in 2021 that also faced regulatory scrutiny from American regulators, but it was later approved.

The tech Giant has been working on multiple projects this year. Just a few weeks ago, Google announced a partnership with the augmented reality startup Magic Leap to provide new solutions for the AR Market.