Google announced a deal on Tuesday to buy the rapidly growing cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion, marking the tech giant’s biggest-ever acquisition. The all-cash takeover of the privately held Wiz underscores Google’s commitment to enhancing its cloud security and cybersecurity capabilities during a period of explosive growth in artificial intelligence. The Wiz deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, easily surpasses Google’s previous largest acquisition—a 2012 deal to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.
Google later sold Motorola at a significant loss. Wiz, which develops cybersecurity software for cloud computing, has experienced significant growth since it was founded in 2018. The company was established by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, and Roy Reznik, who originally met while serving in Unit 8200, the cyber intelligence division of the Israel Defense Forces.
“Wiz has achieved so much in a relatively short period, but cybersecurity moves at warp speed and so must we.
Google’s largest-ever Wiz acquisition
The time is now,” Rappaport said in a statement.
At $32 billion, the Wiz acquisition ranks as the seventh-biggest takeover of a private US firm on record, according to Dealogic. Some on Wall Street hope the Google-Wiz deal will signify the start of a recovery in dealmaking, which has slowed in recent months due to turbulence in financial markets and weakening CEO confidence. The revived talks and subsequent sale agreement come following the departure of Biden antitrust regulators who had a stringent approach to mega mergers.
Former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan moved to block numerous transactions on antitrust grounds. However, with Khan’s departure, M&A activities in Big Tech appear to be resuming. Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday, “With Lina Khan gone at the FTC…the M&A engines are back underway in Big Tech.”
The consolidation within the tech sector demonstrates the ongoing strategic importance of cybersecurity amid the growing threat landscape and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technologies.
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