Google's historic acquisition of Israeli cloud security firm Wiz, valued at $32 billion, marks a major push in the cybersecurity market.
Google’s $32 billion acquisition for Wiz
Recently, news has come that Google is acquiring cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion (about Rs 2.6 lakh crore). This is the largest acquisition in Google’s history and has also surpassed the $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility in 2012. This big deal is facing antitrust review which reflects its complexity and potential market effects. Let’s understand all aspects of this deal in detail.
What does Wiz do?
Wiz is an Israeli cybersecurity startup founded in 2020. Online It has made a leading name in the field of cloud infrastructure protection in a very short time. Wiz mainly provides solutions to companies to protect and detect cyber threats. It helps companies to keep their cloud programs document software and data storage secure. Online Wiz works with major cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, and its customers include big names such as Morgan Stanley BMW and luxury brand LVMH. Wiz’s platform connects to every cloud environment, scans every layer, and covers every aspect of cloud security.
Why is Google buying Wiz?
This acquisition is important for Google in many ways Strengthening cloud security: Google wants to give tough competition to giants like Amazon and Microsoft in the field of cloud computing. And Wiz’s AI-enabled cybersecurity technology helps companies overcome critical risks. Online With this acquisition, Google will be able to further strengthen its cloud business, especially at a time when generative AI services such as ChatGPT are becoming increasingly popular and the risk of cyber attacks is also increasing. And Strengthening position in the market.
The cloud security market is growing rapidly. By buying a company like Wiz, Google wants to increase its share and dominance in this growing market. Wiz’s customer list and its advanced technology could help Google get ahead of its competitors. And talking about security in the AI era, the growing role of AI and the adoption of cloud services have dramatically changed the security landscape for customers. Google believes that the acquisition of Wiz will enable it to provide better cloud security in the AI era and promote the ability to use multiple clouds (multicloud). And looking at the strategic investment, this acquisition of Google represents a major strategic investment by the company aimed at accelerating two big and growing trends: better cloud security and the ability to use multicloud.
What does antitrust review mean?
Antitrust review means that regulatory bodies such as the US Department of Justice (and the Federal Trade Commission will investigate this acquisition deal. Their main purpose is to ensure that this deal does not harm healthy competition in the market. And Google has already been accused of creating a monopoly and violating competition laws. The US Department of Justice and several states have sued Google for abusing its dominant position in areas such as online search advertising technology and app distribution. In such an environment, the acquisition of a large and successful cybersecurity startup like Wiz has come under the radar of regulatory bodies.
Possible reasons for antitrust review
Market concentration Regulators will investigate whether Google will gain an excessive monopoly in the cloud security market by acquiring Wiz, making it difficult for other smaller companies to compete. And Impact on innovation There may be concerns that if a large company buys a successful startup, it may stifle innovation or reduce incentives for other smaller companies to develop new solutions. And Access to data Wiz has access to large amounts of sensitive data from the cloud environment Will the acquisition give Google an unfair advantage over its cloud rivals (such as Amazon and Microsoft) that will reduce competition in the market overall?
Deal History and Current Status
This is not the first time Google has tried to buy Wiz. Google had offered to buy Wiz for $23 billion in July 2024 but Wiz turned down the offer citing concerns over antitrust approval and a desire to focus on an IPO (listing on the stock market). And now with an offer of $32 billion, the deal is more than double Wiz’s valuation. Wiz CEO and co-founder Assaf Rapoport has confirmed that he has signed a deal to be acquired by Google. The deal is subject to regulatory review, and Wiz will become part of Google Cloud once the deal is completed.
Experts believe that this deal will be a success under President Donald Trump The deal has moved quickly since its formation as it was expected that the regulatory environment under the new government would be more favorable than before. However, given the many antitrust lawsuits already going on against Google, the review of this deal is likely to be intense.
