Google said Tuesday it will acquire cloud security platform Wiz for $32 billion, citing the need for greater cybersecurity capacity as artificial intelligence embeds itself in technology infrastructure.
The all-cash deal brings Wiz into the Google Cloud operation, boosting the capacity of consumers to use 鈥榤ultiple clouds鈥� and providing 鈥榓n end-to-end security platform for customers, of all types and sizes, in the AI era,鈥� the companies said in a joint statement.
The deepening influence of AI makes 鈥榗ybersecurity increasingly important in defending against emergent risks and protecting national security,鈥� they added.
The transaction, the largest ever sought by Google or parent Alphabet, will test US President Donald Trump鈥檚 openness to large takeovers after resistance to such deals by the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden.
Alphabet had been close to a Wiz takeover last summer, but company leaders opted to stay independent at the time with an eye towards an initial public offering, Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport said in a message to employees after the earlier deal fell apart.
Started in 2020 by the Israeli-born Rappaport and a team who sold a previous venture to Microsoft, Wiz is based in New York, with offices in three other US cities and Tel Aviv.
In a webcast after the deal was announced, Rappaport said the service 鈥榗ontinuously scans an organization鈥檚 code and cloud environments, monitoring them in real time,鈥� allowing it to 鈥榩rioritize the most critical risk based on real impact and (block) active threats.鈥�
