Israeli cloud security startup Wiz has rejected a $23 billion acquisition offer from Google.
Instead, Wiz, co-founded in 2020 by CEO Assaf Rappaport, plans to go public, aiming for $1 billion in annual recurring revenues.
Google’s offer would have doubled Wiz’s $12 billion valuation from a private investment round in May.
According to CNBC, Wiz executives were concerned about increasing antitrust scrutiny and investor reluctance to accept Google’s offer, which was never formally announced.
This marks Alphabet’s second failed acquisition attempt this year, following the abandoned plan to acquire HubSpot. Acquiring Wiz would have bolstered Google’s position against Microsoft Azure. Wiz offers a platform that scans the entire cloud environment without needing agents.
If successful, this would have been Google’s largest acquisition, surpassing its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola in 2014. In 2022, Google bought Mandiant for $5.4 billion.
However, global regulators are scrutinising large tech acquisitions more closely. The US Justice Department has two ongoing antitrust lawsuits against Google over its search engine and digital advertising businesses.
