Google parent company Alphabet has resumed talks to acquire cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz. The two companies were close to a $23 billion deal in the summer of 2024, but it never materialized, TechCrunch reported, citing anonymous sources.
This time, the price is higher, around $30 billion. Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian is leading the negotiations. Google Cloud believes Wiz's cloud security products are a good fit for its customer base.
Wiz closed its latest round of external financing for $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation in May 2024. Its valuation reportedly rose to $16 billion during an employee tender offer late last year.
One of the reasons for the failure of past negotiations was the inability of the two companies to agree on whether Wiz would remain a separate unit or be integrated into Google Cloud.
The return to the negotiating table is tied to the hope that the new Federal Trade Commission chairman, Andrew Ferguson, will be less strict about big deals than former chairman Lina Han.
Wiz, which has offices in New York and Israel, was founded in 2020 by four former Israeli military personnel who previously co-founded cloud cybersecurity company Adallom, which Microsoft acquired for $320 million.