By Greg Kerry
Tech giant Google has announced its plans to acquire Wiz, an online cloud security platform, for 32 billion dollars in an all-cash transaction.
The Alphabet-owned company expects the acquisition to accelerate cloud security and enhance the ability to use multiple clouds.
The U.S. giant also believes the purchase will help protect against security threats and provide an automated security platform.
Alphabet’s stock was trading at 164.61,million dollars down 1.21 per cent on the Nasdaq.
The acquisition comes after CNBC reported in July that Wiz had walked away from a potential 23 billion dollars acquisition by Google and announced to employees that it would pursue an initial public offering instead
“Saying no to such humbling offers is tough,” Wiz co-founder Assaf Rappaport wrote to employees in a July memo obtained by CNBC. At the time, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC that Wiz walked away from the deal in part due to antitrust and investor concerns.
Wiz was founded in 2020 and has grown rapidly under Rappaport, with the company hitting 100 million dollars in annual recurring revenue after just 18 months.
The company’s cloud security products include prevention, active detection and response, a portfolio that’s appealed to large firms and would have helped Google compete with Microsoft, which also sells security software.
