Google has announced its biggest acquisition yet, signing an agreement to buy cloud cybersecurity company Wiz. Wiz will then become part of Google Cloud.
Google's previous largest acquisition was Motorola Mobility in 2012 for $12.5 billion. Incidentally, this is Google's second attempt to buy Wiz, as negotiations in 2024 failed. At that time, the amount discussed was $23 billion.
Wiz partners with companies like Microsoft and Amazon to offer cloud-based cybersecurity solutions. In May 2024, the company was valued at $16 billion after an employee offering and was working on preparing for an initial public offering (IPO).
"We expect this change to enable us to execute and innovate even faster," Wiz co-founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport wrote in a blog post. "Becoming part of Google Cloud is effectively strapping a rocket to our backs: it will accelerate our rate of innovation faster than what we could achieve as a standalone company."
The deal is still awaiting antitrust review by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Alphabet and Wiz are hoping that the current U.S. administration and new FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson will be more friendly to the companies. Google confirmed that Wiz's products will remain available on competing cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud.