Google has just made its biggest deal ever when it bought cybersecurity company Wiz for $32 billion.
According to the announcement on March 18, Alphabet, Google's parent company, will take over Wiz and pay in cash, but is currently awaiting regulatory approval from the US government. According to CNN, this is considered Google's big bet on cloud security and cybersecurity in the current period of explosive AI development.
At $32 billion, the purchase of Wiz becomes Google's biggest deal ever. The previous biggest acquisition was with Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012. However, this is considered a failure for the search company when it was forced to sell at a loss to Lenovo in 2014 for $2.91 billion.
Meanwhile, Wiz, based in New York, specializes in making cybersecurity software for cloud computing. The company was founded by members of Unit 8200, the cyber intelligence arm of the Israel Defense Forces, including Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica and Roy Reznik. In just five years, the company has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming a sought-after name for many major technology corporations.
"Wiz has achieved a lot in a relatively short time, but cybersecurity is evolving at a breakneck pace and so must we. The time is right," co-founder and CEO Rappaport said in a blog post.
According to CNBC, Google has reportedly been in talks to acquire Wiz since last summer for around $23 billion. However, the two failed to reach an agreement. Meanwhile, experts say part of the reason is related to Lina Khan, the former chair of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who had previously blocked several large deals on antitrust grounds. So, when the Trump administration took over and appointed Andrew N. Ferguson to replace her, the dealmaking was restarted.
"With Lina Khan leaving the FTC, the momentum for M&A is returning to Big Tech," Dan Ives, director of global technology research at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a blog post.
At $32 billion, the Wiz acquisition ranks as the seventh-largest acquisition of a private US company ever, according to Dealogic.