Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc., during Stanford’s 2024 Business, Government, and Society forum in Stanford, California, April 3, 2024.
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Google is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity firm Wiz for $23 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The people familiar told the Journal that a deal could come soon.
Wiz was founded in 2020, and has grown at a rapid clip under CEO Assaf Rappaport. It had been eyeing an IPO as recently as May, when the company achieved a valuation of $12 billion.
A representative for Wiz declined to comment.
Wiz’s cloud security offering gives executives and cybersecurity professionals insight into the company’s full cloud presence, something appealing to large firms with significant computing resources. It is backed by a roster of blue chip firms, including Israeli VC firm Cyberstarts, Index Ventures, Insight Partners and Sequoia Capital.
If completed, the deal would be Google’s largest ever acquisition. It would also underline a clear and continued bet on cybersecurity, at a time when nation state and criminal actors have managed to disrupt governments and large organizations. Google has made large cyber acquisitions before: The company acquired cybersecurity firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion two years ago.
But the company now faces unprecedented levels of antitrust scrutiny. The Justice Department has sued Google twice on antitrust grounds. The company’s acquisition practices were highlighted in the most recent litigation, filed in 2023.
But its reported talks with Wiz would suggest that the company has developed a fresh appetite for M&A, competitive concerns notwithstanding. Google had been in talks to acquire sales software maker Hubspot, CNBC previously reported, but its pursuit had reportedly cooled.
Google did not immediately return a request for comment.