In what would be the biggest merger in the tech giant’s 26-year history, has agreed to purchase security firm Wiz for$ 32 billion.
The proposed takeover, which was announced on Tuesday, is a part of Google’s violent expansion into cloud computing in the midst of a boom in artificial intelligence. Google faces off against Microsoft and Amazon, two other software powerhouses, in a violent push toward artificial intelligence, in a quest for more data centers.
Wiz will add Google Cloud if the all-cash transaction is approved by officials, which is Google’s family company’s search and advertising division, which accounts for the majority of its$ 350 billion annual revenues.
Yet, Google’s sky department has grown in popularity with the development of AI. The division’s annual revenue, which was$ 26.3 % in 2022, increased by 64 % to$ 43.2 % in the previous year.
According to Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport,” We are both motivated by the idea that sky security needs to be made easier, more visible, more brilliant, and democratized,” according to Wiz and Google Cloud.
Google Cloud and Wiz did “improve improved sky security and the ability to employ various clouds,” according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a statement.
Wiz, based in New York, was established in 2020 and produces surveillance software for data storage locations far away. Its clients range from small, startup businesses to larger, government institutions.
Google has been looking into Wiz for some time. The$ 23 billion merger Wiz rejected last July was much more substantial than the$ 23 billion sale price that was announced this year, which would have forced it to revert to a previously scheduled initial public offering. However, recent stock market volatility has cooled the Investor industry, and then Rappaport says Wiz expects to “invent even faster” by joining Google.
Analysts at Wedbush called Google’s purchase of Wiz” a shot across the bow” at different tech giants, especially Microsoft and Amazon, who have already placed significant bets on cyber security as the battle to rule cloud computing gets more and more difficult. Wedbush claimed that Google had lost ground to its rivals in the sky market, but Wiz’s consolidation might change things.
What was Google’s largest acquisition, a$ 12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility in 2012 that didn’t turn out as expected, was quickly overshadowed by the bid on Tuesday.
However, Google’s other ventures have turned into gold mining, most somewhat its$ 1.76 billion acquisition of YouTube in 2006 and its$ 3.1 billion order of DoubleClick, an marketing systems platform, in 2008.
The United States Justice Department is currently handling the Promoted package in an antitrust lawsuit involving Google’s technology for displaying ads across the internet. This year is anticipated to see a decision in that case involving allegations that Google has unlawfully exploited its authority to influence modern advertising prices.
Google’s offer for Wiz comes as it defends authorities ‘ attempts to sever the internet kingdom from the business.
A separate case brought by a federal judge last month led the Justice Department to conclude that Google had become an illegal monopoly thanks to a federal prosecutor. The step of that trial’s penalization phase will begin the following month.
The Justice Department is asking for a reprimand that may require Google to offer its Chrome web browser and forbid the company from entering contracts with Apple and other businesses to make its search engine the default resource for online information on iPhones and other devices.
Antitrust authorities will also take a close look at the Wiz offer. While some people anticipate that the Trump administration will approach business deals more favorably, it has also shown a cautious bias toward big tech.
Due to the potential effects on independent computer security vendors and possible upheaval for bigger rivals, the Wiz deal raises antitrust concerns. The market is “ripe for consolidation,” according to Wedbush’s economists, which could result in “massive growth prospects on the horizon heading into this AI Revolution.”
According to Wiz and Google, Wiz’s products may still function across all major clouds, including those from Oracle Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services, as well as from various safety partners.
Google and Wiz anticipate closing the deal in 2026, theme to the regulatory approval and other final conditions.
During Tuesday’s late morning trading, Alphabet’s stock dropped by about 3 %.
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Grantham-Philips made a report from New York.