Google's parent company, Alphabet, is set to buy Israeli-owned cyber security start-up Wiz for $30bn, sources told the Financial Times on Tuesday. The deal is expected to be announced imminently.
This would be the biggest acquisition in Alphabet's history, according to sources speaking to Financial Times.
Alphabet previously attempted to acquire Wiz last year for $23bn, however negotiations collapsed after some of the cyber security company’s directors and investors became worried about antitrust hurdles.
Neither Wiz nor Alphabet responded to Financial Times's requests for comment.
Acquiring Wiz will propel Alphabet as a leader in cloud computing, which has apparently lagged behind competitors in recent years, according to Wall Street Journal reporting at the time of the first acquisition negotiations.
What is Wiz?
Wiz is a cloud security start-up founded in 2020 by Israelis Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak, several of whom were alumni of the IDF cyber intelligence unit 81.
Its headquarters are in New York City, though it has offices in the US and Israel. The company's valuation has sharply risen since its founding, and the Wall Street Journal stated that it raised $1 billion earlier in 2024 at a valuation of $12 billion.
According to the Financial Times, the company is one of the fastest-growing software start-ups of all time.
The acquisition would far surpass any of Alphabet’s previous deals, Financial Times added, given the company’s biggest deal to date was its $12.5bn acquisition of gadget maker Motorola Mobility.
