Google Parent, Alphabet in Talks to Make Its Biggest Acquisition Ever with Cybersecurity Startup Wiz for $23 Billion

Nitin Konde

Jul 15, 2024 — 3 min read

Google Parent, Alphabet in Talks to Make Its Biggest Acquisition Ever with Wiz for $23 Billion

The parent company of Google, Alphabet, is reportedly in negotiations to acquire the cyber security startup Wiz for approximately $23 billion. This would be the biggest acquisition that Alphabet has ever made. The talks may not go through because many aspects have not been worked out yet, according to a report from a well-known media outlet. A little over ten years ago, Alphabet paid $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility.

What is Wiz?

Wiz, with headquarters in New York and founded in 2020, has raised over $2 billion in funding. Assaf Rappaport, an Israeli entrepreneur and former Microsoft executive, is the CEO of this $12 billion firm. Thrive and Sequoia Capital are among its backers. Tel Aviv is home to Wiz's R&D facilities.

With more and more enterprises storing data and software in the cloud, Wiz assists them in securing their cloud programs. Reports indicate that the company's yearly recurring revenue has surpassed $350 million.

An agreement to purchase Wiz would rank among the biggest purchases of a company funded by venture capital in history.

This young company claims, on its website, to be "mission-driven to assist organizations in developing safe cloud environments that power their enterprises." To rephrase, it is a cybersecurity company that aids businesses in protecting themselves from potential dangers when they utilize cloud computing services.

Colgate-Palmolive, AON, IHG Hotels & Resorts, BMW, and many more prominent brands are Wiz customers. In 2023, WIZ introduced its Digital Forensics capabilities, which enable organizations to promptly address threats in contemporary cloud environments by autonomously obtaining forensic-level detail on incidents through a cloud-native approach.

By downloading a forensic investigation package that contains the information needed for the incident's first evaluation, businesses can quickly access the critical security logs and artifacts of the potentially infected system. Without executing any collection tools or scripts created in-house on the compromised workload, the forensics package is collected in an agentless manner.

Why is Google Showing a Keen Interest in Wiz?

The CEO of Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian, reportedly spearheaded the effort to purchase Wiz, according to a well-known news outlet. According to the article, Kurien and Google are working on a plan to elevate Google Cloud's cybersecurity offerings.

It is believed that Google would make its largest acquisition to date if the $23 billion deal for Wiz goes through. Before this, in 2011, Google paid an astronomical $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola. The business, however, sold it to Lenovo for $3 billion two years down the road. One such cybersecurity company that Google purchased in 2022 for $5.4 billion was Mandiant.

Not long ago, Alphabet considered acquiring HubSpot, a provider of marketing tools for the web but ultimately opted against it. It looks to be shifting its attention now to strengthening its cybersecurity skills, perhaps through the acquisition of Wiz.

As of yet, neither Alphabet nor Wiz have made any statements about the potential merger. Because of the potential influence on cybersecurity and Alphabet's bottom line, the IT industry is keeping a careful eye on the outcome of this massive transaction.