00: 00 Speaker A
Google and Wiz, a New York-based sky security company, announced a clear agreement today to get the company for$ 32 billion in an all-cash deal. If approved, it will be the largest transaction in Google’s past. Yahoo! is joining us right then with more information on the regulatory hurdles. Alexis Keenan, a financial legitimate writer. Alexis,
00: 22 Alexis Keenan
Yes, it sounds like this isn’t going to be a free pass, correct? According to what it sounds like when I speak with Antitrust lawyers. That either the Court or the FTC will be looking into this because they are the ones who have been conducting extensive Google research and the litigation is now pending. Um, but this$ 32 billion offer, um, in the end, it’s anticipated that it will be approved. Why? One is correct: it’s a horizontal consolidation. Lateral merger were looked at a little more closely in recent years, both in Trump 1.0 and in the Biden Administration. There is a clear sense that it will be looked at closely. But maybe, just maybe, the Trump Administration will have a little bit of a lighter effect when it comes to a horizontal acquisition. Perhaps even making a bargain if it must be made in order to, uh, pass muster in order for all parties involved to find comfort in the deal. You have to look up at the Biden Administration, where these events had already decided, in part due to governmental issues, that they would simply withdraw from this package. However, the events appear to be fairly comfortable. In this agreement, Google would be required to pay a$ 3.2 billion breakup fee if it weren’t made. Additionally, attorneys claim that no matter what, the deal will result in at least a minute request, and regulatory bodies ask more information to help them assess its impact on the market. Therefore, we don’t exactly have the data for the market for cloud cyber security. Google is not really in that sector right then. They are not in the sky computer security market, but rather the security market. So, if you consider Amazon as the market leader, 30 %, followed by Microsoft Azure at 21 %, and Google at 12 % in that market, you’ll see that figure. That’s definitely going to matter to the FTC or the Court, too. However, the main inquiry that these officials will want to address is whether Google will buy Wiz and then strategically use that to start blocking its rivals, these competitors, these big tech rivals, and another rivals.
03: 04 Alexis Keenan
also has a tiny technology. Will they use that to censor those adversaries ‘ services using that? That’s going to be the main issue. There is a lot to be told, and there is a lot of history around. The pre-merger observe interval has been lengthened a little due to some new requirements, or fresh, new thresholds that the Court or the FTC you look at, timeline clever. You have to factor in the fact that the Trump Administration has actually stated they want to get, um, aware, I suppose, of, and, um, uh, of enforcements that are related to AI. You could also say that there is a hint of that here, given that computer protection and the cloud are both becoming more important as the AI market expands.
04: 08 Speaker A
Great. Yes, I recall that when Alexis and Trump were campaigning, they sort of made the distinction between what he called Big Tech and Little Tech.
04: 16 Alexis Keenan
Little Tech and Big Tech.
04: 17 Speaker A
He enjoyed the former. The past is not always a big lover.
04: 24 Alexis Keenan
Yeah.
04: 25 Speaker A
We’ll see how this turns out. Bless you, Alexis.
04: 28 Alexis Keenan
Yeah.