Israeli-American cybersecurity company Wiz looks set to become Google’s largest-ever acquisition in a deal worth around $50 billion ($US32 billion), after a smaller bid was reportedly rejected last year.
Announced on Wednesday, the all-cash takeover would see Google add Wiz to its growing cloud business, which is heavily investing in security and artificial intelligence.
Google, which is facing regulatory scrutiny over its search and app store businesses, said it expected the Wiz deal to gain regulatory approval in 2026.
The company's previous largest takeover was its acquisition of Motorola Mobility in 2012 for around $20 billion ($US12.5 billion).
In a conference call on Wednesday, Australian time, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the acquisition of Wiz came as data breaches escalated and AI became more of a threat to cybersecurity.
“Together, we believe Wiz and Google Cloud can accelerate the ability of organisations to improve their security, lower the cost to do so, and ultimately spur the adoption of multicloud and cloud computing for customers, partners, and the industry as a whole,” he said.
The Israeli military veterans behind Wiz
Started by four friends who served in the Israeli army, Wiz was founded in Israel in 2020 to develop security tools for data centres.
Three of its founders — CEO Assaf Rappaport, CTO Ami Luttwak, and vice president of R&D Roy Reznik — previously founded cloud security firm Adallom in 2012, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2015.
The trio and their fellow Wiz co-founder Yinon Costica were previously members of the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Unit 8200, which is known for carrying out military intelligence, cyberwarfare, and surveillance operations.
Following his time in the IDF, Rappaport also worked in Australia for global consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
Wiz reportedly knocked back a $36 billion ($US23 billion) offer from Google in July 2024 with the goal of going public on its own, but the deal was later revived and escalated.
Rappaport said Google’s acquisition would help Wiz “improve security and prevent breaches by providing additional resources and deep AI expertise” from Google.
“Wiz and Google Cloud are fully committed to continue supporting and protecting customers across all major clouds, helping keep them safe and secure wherever they operate,” he said.
Wiz’s products would continue to be available on other major cloud platforms such as those from Amazon Web Services, Oracle, and Microsoft, Google and Wiz said.
Wiz was founded in 2020 by four former members of the Israel Defense Forces. Photo: Shutterstock
Google facing ongoing regulatory scrutiny
While Google Cloud is separate to Google’s search and advertising businesses — which generate most of the revenue for its parent company, Alphabet — the tech giant continues to face regulatory scrutiny both in the US and abroad.
However, some industry analysts have suggested the company’s cloud deal with Wiz could have a better chance of gaining regulatory approval under US President Donald Trump’s administration, compared to the former Biden White House.
A US judge ruled Google had become a search engine “monopolist” in August 2024, with the US Justice Department seeking to have the company sell its Chrome web browser and stop making deals to be the default search engine on devices from the likes of Apple and Samsung.
Soon after that ruling, Google claimed it did not dominate the online search market in Australia, despite controlling an estimate 90 per cent of the domestic market.
Google is also facing a US antitrust case over its 2008 acquisition of DoubleClick and its online advertising tech, including allegations Google abused its power to manipulate digital ad prices.
The European Union announced on Wednesday that Google Search and the company’s Play Store were suspected of breaching the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) by treating its own services more favorably than its rivals’.
Google is also facing potentially having to open up its Play Store and mobile payment systems in Australia, following similar moves in the EU.
