Alphabet, the parent company of Google, seems to be close to buying Wiz, which is a cybersecurity startup. Reportedly Alphabet plans to buy Wiz for about $23 billion.
As reported by Reuters, most of the payment will be in cash. The deal is expected to be finalized soon. It looks like if the deal happens, it will be Alphabet’s biggest purchase ever.
Alphabet to acquire Wiz?
This proposed deal is expected to be notable because the U.S. government, under President Joe Biden, seems to be watching big tech companies. He is expected to prevent tech companies from getting too powerful through acquisitions. However, Alphabet is still moving forward with its plans.
According to The New York Times, Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud boss, has been the driving force behind the acquisition attempt. It looks like Google might be spending $23 billion to buy Wiz with partners that include Amazon and Oracle. “At close to twice what it spent for Motorola Mobility in 2012, it would be the most Google has ever paid for another company,” as per the report.
It is expected that if the proposed deal goes well then it could help solidify Google’s reputation as a secure cloud platform. Early reports suggest that Google had initiated a half-billion dollar purchase of another cloud security startup in 2022. In addition to this Google has the $5.4 billion acquisition of Mandiant, the company that discovered the SolarWinds hack later that year.
The deal ahead
Earlier Alphabet seemed to be considering buying HubSpot, which is an online marketing software company but eventually decided not to. Now, it seems to be focusing on boosting its cybersecurity capabilities by possibly acquiring Wiz.
It looks like the New York City-based Wiz plans to offer siloed security tools and scanners for the enterprise space. It also explained that the company aims to secure a corporate cloud infrastructure “by creating a normalizing layer between cloud environments.” Additionally it also plans to allow businesses to “rapidly identify and remove critical risks.”
However both Alphabet and Wiz have not commented on the potential deal. The tech industry is expected to be watching closely to see if this major acquisition will go through. Furthermore, it is expected that the deal has the potential to create a big impact on cybersecurity and Alphabet’s business. Further rumors suggest that the proposed deal might fall due to the risks associated with the reviews from the US regulators.
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